I saw Mustalim, and he would lean to the right and to the left.Hasan bin Ali said, "He did not lay his side upon the ground for forty years."Abu Dawud said, "Mustalim bin Saeed was the nephew, either through a brother or a sister, of Mansur bin Zazan. He once went seventy days without drinking water."
حدثنا الحسن بن علي: سمعت
رأيت مستلما فكان يقع يمنة ويسرة. قال الحسن بن علي: لم يضع جنبه إلى الأرض أربعين سنة. قال أبو داود: مستلم بن سعيد ابن أخي أو ابن أخت منصور بن زاذان، مكث سبعين يوما لم يشرب الماء.
No references are available.
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.