A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "I have found a woman of noble lineage and beauty, but she cannot bear children. Shall I marry her?"He replied, "No."Then the man came to him a second time, and he again forbade him. Then he came to him a third time, and the Prophet ﷺ said, "Marry the loving and fertile, for I will take pride in your numbers before the other nations."
حدثنا أحمد بن إبراهيم حدثنا يزيد بن هارون أخبرنا مستلم بن سعيد ابن أخت منصور بن زاذان عن منصور يعني ابن زاذان عن معاوية بن قرة
جاء رجل إلى النبي ﷺ فقال إني أصبت امرأة ذات حسب وجمال وإنها لا تلد أفأتزوجها قال لا ثم أتاه الثانية فنهاه ثم أتاه الثالثة فقال تزوجوا الودود الولود فإني مكاثر بكم الأمم
Sourcing, (a) and (b) [hasan]. Nasai narrated it in the Book of Marriage, chapter on the dislike of marrying an infertile person, hadith no. 3229, from the hadith of Yazid bin Harun, with this wording. Ibn Hibban graded it sahih, hadith nos. 1229 and 1230, as did Hakim (2/62), and Dhahabi agreed with him. This hadith has many corroborating narrations.His saying, "It falls to the right and to the left," its chain is sahih. His saying, "He did not lay his side on the ground for forty years," its chain is daif because of a break in it. "And he remained seventy days without drinking water," its chain is daif because of the break.Ibn Arabi said, Muhammad bin Mubarak, Abu Bakr bin Hammad the Quran reciter, narrated to us, he said, I heard Abu Thabit Khattab say, I heard Yazid bin Harun say, Mustalim bin Saeed would not drink water for forty days except once... and so on (Mujam 1/203, and so on, Mujam 1/203, 204, hadith no. 319), and its chain is daif.As for the Quran reciter and Abu Thabit, I do not know them. Even if it were sound, its meaning would be that he did not drink water, but rather used to drink milk, nabidh, and the like.