been lost. So he slaughtered one for the wolf, for it had become his teacher.” [^261]

[^261]: Musnad, iii, 83, 88; Musnad (Taḥqīq: Aḥmad Shākir), xv, 202-3, nos: 8049, 11864, 11867; Qāḍī Iyāḍ, al-Shifā’, i, 310; al-Ḥākim, al-Mustadrak, iv, 467; Ibn Ḥibbān, Ṣaḥīḥ, viii, 144; al-Haythamī, Majma‘ al-Zawā’id, viii, 291-2.

According to one chain of transmission, one of the chiefs of Quraysh, Abu Sufyan, and Safwan saw a wolf pursuing a gazelle into the enclosure of the Ka‘ba. As it returned, the wolf spoke, telling of the messengership of Muhammad (UWBP). They were astonished. Abu Sufyan said to Safwan: ‘Don’t let’s tell anyone about this; I’m frightened everyone will join him and Mecca will be emptied.’ [^262]

[^262]: Qāḍī Iyāḍ, al-Shifā’, i, 311; al-Khafājī, Sharḥ al-Shifā’, iii, 84.

In Short: The story of the wolf gives one complete conviction, and is as certain as those unanimous reports about which there is ‘consensus in meaning.’

The Third Incident: This is the narrative of the camel, which was unanimously related through some five or six chains of transmission by such famous Companions as Abu Hurayra, Tha‘laba b. Malik, Jabir b. ‘Abdullah, ‘Abdullah b. Ja‘far, and ‘Abdullah b. Abi Awfa, who are at the start of the chains. A camel approached God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), prostrated itself before him as if saluting him, and spoke. According to a number of lines of transmission, the camel had been angered in a garden and become wild, attacking anyone who approached it. When God’s Messenger (UWBP) appeared, it came to him, prostrated as a sign of respect, and knelt down. He put a bridle on it, and the camel said to him: “They made me do the heaviest work and now they want to slaughter me. That’s why I went wild.” The Messenger (UWBP) asked its owner if this was true. “Yes,” he replied. [^263]

[^263]: Dārimī, Muqaddima, 4; Musnad, iv, 173; al-Haythamī, Majma‘ al-Zawā’id, ix, 4; al-Sā‘atī, al-Fatḥ al-Rabbānī, xxii, 50-1; al-Khafājī, Sharḥ al-Shifā’, iii, 87; Ibn Kathīr, al-Bidāya wa’l-Nihāya, vi, 135; al-Albānī, Silsilat al-Aḥādīth al-Ṣaḥīḥa, 485; al-Ḥākim, al-Mustadrak, ii, 99, 100, 618.

Also, God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) had a camel called ‘Adba’. After he died, out of its grief, the camel neither ate nor drank, till it died. [^264] A number of important authorities including Abu Ishaq Isfara’ini related that it spoke with the Messenger (UWBP) about a certain story. [^265] In another instance, in an authentic narration, Jabir b. ‘Abdullah’s camel became exhausted on a journey and could no longer continue. God’s Messenger (UWBP) gave it a slight prod. Such joy and

[^264]: Qāḍī Iyāḍ, al-Shifā’, i, 313.

[^265]: ‘Alī al-Qārī, Sharḥ al-Shifā’, i, 637.