I said, "Messenger of Allah, tell me what is lawful for me and what is forbidden to me."He looked me up and down, then said, "A small calamity."I asked, "Messenger of Allah, a small calamity of good or a small calamity of evil?"He replied, "Rather, a small calamity of good. Do not eat the flesh of the domestic donkey, nor any predator with fangs."
قلت: يا رسول الله أخبرني بما يحل لي مما يحرم علي، قال: فصعد في النظر وصوب، ثم قال: نويبتة. قال: قلت: يا رسول الله، نويبتة خير، أم نويبتة شر؟ قال: بل نويبتة خير، لا تأكل لحم الحمار الأهلي، ولا كل ذي ناب من السباع.
Ahmad narrated it (17745), and Tabarani in Al-Kabir (22/218), both through the route of Abu Mughira Abdullah bin Hajjaj, who said, "Abdullah bin Ala bin Zabr narrated to us, Muslim bin Mishkam narrated to me, saying, 'I heard Abu Thalaba Khushani,'" and he mentioned it. Its chain of transmission is sahih.Haythami said in Al-Majmu (9/394), "Ahmad narrated it, and Tabarani in Al-Kabir and Al-Awsat with several chains, and one of Ahmad's chains has narrators who are the narrators of sahih."His saying "nuwaybita" is the diminutive of "nabita," meaning a young generation grew up among them who caught up with the elders and became an addition to their numbers.A note of caution, in the printed edition of Al-Musnad it appears as "Abu Ala bin Zabr narrated to us." The correct reading is "Abdullah bin Ala," as is found in Ithaf Mahra (17426), and as it appears in Tabarani, "Abdullah bin Ala bin Zabr," because none of those who wrote biographical entries on Abdullah mentioned that his kunya was Abu Ala. Rather, his kunya was Abu Zabr, or Abu Abdul-Rahman.