When Ayesha set out, intending to go to Basra, she drew near a place and heard the sounds of dogs barking.She asked, "What is this place?" Or, "What is the name of this place?"They answered, "Hawab."She said, "I think I must turn back."They said, "Do not do that."She said again, "I think I must turn back. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say to his wives, 'Which of you will it be at whom the dogs of Hawab will bark?'"Then a group of people came to her and kept speaking with her until she went on, meaning to Basra.In another wording, when Ayesha came forward and reached the watering places of Banu Amir at night, the dogs barked.She asked, "What water is this?"They replied, "The water of Hawab."She said, "I do not think I am anything but going back."One of those with her said, "Rather, go forward, so the Muslims may see you, and Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will set their affairs right between them."She said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to her one day, 'How will it be with one of you when the dogs of Hawab bark at her?'"
لما خرجت عائشة، تريد البصرة، فقربت سمعت أصوات كلاب، قالت: ما هذا الموضع؟ أو ما اسم هذا الموضع؟ قالوا: الحوأب، قالت: ما أراني إلا راجعة، قالوا: لا تفعلي، قالت: ما أراني إلا راجعة، إني سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول لأزواجه: أيتكن تنبح عليها كلاب حوأب، فأتاها أقوام، فما زالو يكلمونها، حتى مضت يعني البصرة. وفي لفظ: لما أقبلت عائشة بلغت مياه بني عامر ليلا، نبحت الكلاب. قالت: أي ماء هذا؟ قالوا: ماء الحوأب، قالت: ما أظنني إلا أني راجعة، فقال بعض من كان معها: بل تقدمين، فيراك المسلمون، فيصلح الله عزوجل ذات بينهم، قالت: إن رسول الله ﷺ قال لها ذات يوم: كيف بإحداكن تنبح عليها كلاب الحوأب؟
Ahmad (24254), Bazzar in Kashf Astar (3275), and Abu Yaala (4868) all narrated it, and Ibn Hibban (6732) and Hakim (3/120) graded it sahih, all of them through the route of Ismail bin Abu Khalid, from Qays bin Abu Hazim, who related it. Its chain of transmission is sahih.Haythami said in Majma (7/234), "Ahmad, Abu Yaala, and Bazzar narrated it, and the men of Ahmad's chain are the men of the sahih."Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari (13/55), "Its chain meets the standard of the sahih."His saying "Hawab" refers to a place on the route to Basra.A note of caution. Mizzi, in his Tahzib, in the biography of Qays bin Abu Hazim, transmitted from Ali bin Madini that he said, Yahya bin Saeed (that is, Qattan) said to me, "Qays bin Abu Hazim is munkar al-hadith [one whose narrations are rejected]." Then Yahya mentioned to him several munkar hadiths of his, among them the hadith of the dogs of Hawab. Ibn Hajar said, "What Qattan meant by munkar is an absolutely isolated narration."See Tahdhib al-Tahdhib, biography of Qays bin Abu Hazim.