He used to say, "Even if I saw gazelles grazing freely in Medina, I would not disturb them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, 'What lies between its two lava fields is sacred.'"
أنه كان يقول: لو رأيت الظباء بالمدينة ترتع ماذكرتها، قال رسول الله ﷺ: ما بين لابتيها حرام.
Malik narrated it in Jami (11), from Ibn Shihab, from Saeed bin Musayab, from Abu Hurairah, and mentioned it. Bukhari narrated it in the Virtues of Madinah (1873), and Muslim in Hajj (1372:471), by way of Malik, with the same wording.In another version by Bukhari (1869), from Abu Hurairah, that the Prophet ﷺ said, "I have declared sacred, by my own tongue, what lies between the two lava tracts of Madinah." He said, and the Prophet ﷺ came to Banu Haritha and said, "I see, O Banu Haritha, that you have gone outside the sanctuary." Then he turned and said, "No, you are within it."In another version by Muslim (1372:472), from Abu Hurairah, that he said, "The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared sacred what lies between the two lava tracts of Madinah." Abu Hurairah said, "If I found the gazelles between its two lava tracts, I would not disturb them," and he made twelve miles around Madinah a protected reserve.As for his saying "Banu Haritha," they were a well known clan of Aws, namely Haritha bin Harith bin Khazraj bin Amr bin Malik bin Aws. Their dwelling place was to the north of Madinah, between it and the cemetery of Hamza.