A man asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about Saba, what was it, a man, a woman, or a land?He replied, "Rather, he was a man who had ten sons. Six of them settled in Yemen, and four of them in Syria. As for the Yemeni ones, they are Madhhij, Kindah, al-Azd, al-Ashariyun, Anmar, and Himyar, all pure Arabs. As for the Syrian ones, they are Lakhm, Judham, Amilah, and Ghassan."
إن رجلا سأل رسول الله ﷺ عن سبأ، ما هو: أرجل، أم امرأة، أم أرض؟ فقال: بل هو رجل ولد عشرة، فسكن اليمن منهم ستة، وبالشام منهم أربعة، فأما اليمانيون: فمذحج وكندة والأزد والأشعريون وأنمار، وحمير عرباء كلها، وأما الشامية: فلخم وجذام وعاملة وغسان.
Ahmad (2898) and Hakim (2/423) both narrated it through the route of Abu Abdul-Rahman Abdullah bin Yazid Muqri, who said, Abdullah bin Lahia bin Uqba Hadrami Abu Abdul-Rahman narrated to us, from Abdullah bin Hubayra Sabai, from Abdul-Rahman bin Waala, who said, I heard Ibn Abbas say what has already been mentioned. Hakim said, "This is a hadith sahih in isnad." Its isnad is hasan because of Abdullah bin Lahia, who has been criticized, but Abdullah bin Yazid's narration from him is sound, and Ibn Kathir graded it hasan in his tafsir.Note, in the printed copy of Mustadrak, "Abdullah bin Ayyash" appears in place of "Abdullah bin Lahia," and it appears that this is a scribal error, because the scholars did not list Abdullah bin Ayyash among the students of Abdullah bin Hubayra. This is an old scribal error, since it likewise appears in Ithaf Mahra (7/363).