Whenever Abdullah bin Umar heard something from the Prophet of Allah ﷺ or witnessed an event with him, he would not fall short of it nor go beyond it.While he was sitting one day, Ubayd bin Umayr was telling stories to the people of Makkah when he said, "The likeness of the hypocrite is like a sheep between two flocks. If she heads toward this flock, they butt her, and if she heads toward that one, they butt her too."Abdullah bin Umar said, "It is not like that."Ubayd bin Umayr became angry. Abdullah bin Safwan was present in the gathering, so he said, "Abu Abdul-Rahman, how did he say it, may Allah have mercy on you?"Abdullah replied, "He said, 'The likeness of the hypocrite is like a sheep between two folds. If she heads toward this fold, they butt her, and if she heads toward that fold, they butt her.'"Abdullah bin Safwan said to him, "May Allah have mercy on you, the two are the same."He answered, "This is how I heard it."
حدثنا مصعب بن سلام حدثنا محمد بن سوقة سمعت
كان عبد الله بن عمر إذا سمع من نبي الله ﷺ شيئا أو شهد معه مشهدا لم يقصر دونه أو يعدوه قال فبينما هو جالس وعبيد بن عمير يقص على أهل مكة إذ قال عبيد بن عمير مثل المنافق كمثل الشاة بين الغنمين إن أقبلت إلى هذه الغنم نطحتها وإن أقبلت إلى هذه نطحتها فقال عبد الله بن عمر ليس هكذا فغضب عبيد بن عمير وفي المجلس عبد الله بن صفوان فقال يا أبا عبد الرحمن كيف قال رحمك الله فقال قال مثل المنافق مثل الشاة بين الربيضين إن أقبلت إلى ذا الربيض نطحتها وإن أقبلت إلى ذا الربيض نطحتها فقال له رحمك الله هما واحد قال كذا سمعت
Its chain of transmission is sahih. Musab bin Salam Tamimi is one of the teachers of Ahmad. Ajli deemed him trustworthy, and Harun bin Hatim Bazzar said, "He was a truthful teacher." Yahya bin Main said, "I have written down narrations from him, there is no harm in him." Abu Dawud and Ibn Main, in another report, deemed him daif. Bukhari gave his biography in Tarikh al-Kabir 14/354.It is reported that Ahmad said, "The narrations of Yusuf bin Suhayb became mixed up for Musab bin Salam, and he attributed them to Zubarqan Sarraj. Ibn Abu Shayba came forward and began relating from him narrations from Shuba, when in fact they belonged to Hasan bin Umara." This last statement is corrupted in Tarikh al-Kabir, and we have corrected it based on Tarikh Saghir and on his biography in Tarikh Baghdad 13:108–110.Ibn Adi said, "He has narrations that are unusual, but I hope there is no harm in him. Whatever became mixed up for him was a genuine mistake on his part, not intentional." Neither Bukhari nor Nasai mentioned him among the daif narrators.So he is a truthful teacher, one of the teachers of Ahmad, who was careful about his teachers and careful about their narrations. He has been known to make mistakes in certain specific narrations, but this narration is not among them. You will not find Ahmad narrating from his teachers something he knew they had erred or made mistakes in, unless he makes that clear, if Allah wills. For this reason we gave preference to affirming his reliability over this reservation.Abu Jafar is Baqir Muhammad bin Ali bin Husayn. Something similar in meaning to this hadith has already appeared through the route of Masudi from Abu Jafar Baqir, number 4872, and its meaning has also appeared, in shortened and expanded forms, through two other routes, numbers 5079 and 5359.Abdullah bin Safwan, mentioned in the account, is Abdullah bin Safwan bin Umaya bin Khalaf Jumahi, one of the early Tabiin and one of the nobles of Makkah. He was killed alongside Ibn Zubayr while clinging to the curtains of the Kaaba, in the year 73, having refused to abandon him.In (h) it reads that Umayr bin Ubayd became angry, which is a clear error, we have corrected it based on (k) and (m). Also in (h), it reads, "If she comes toward the one with two heads, I will butt her," just once without repetition, which is an error with something missing. The one who prepared the text pointed out that this passage seemed doubtful to him. We have corrected the wording and established it based on (k) and (m).