The Prophet ﷺ performed Hajj three times, twice before he migrated and once after his migration, and along with it an Umrah. He drove sixty-three sacrificial camels, and Ali brought the remainder from Yemen, among which was a camel that had belonged to Abu Jahl with a silver nose-ring in its nose. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ slaughtered them, then he ordered that a piece be taken from each camel. These pieces were cooked, and he drank from the broth.
أن النبي ﷺ حج ثلاث حجج، حجتين قبل أن يهاجر، وحجة بعد ما هاجر، ومعها عمرة. فساق ثلاثة وستين بدنة، وجاء علي من اليمن ببقيتها، فيها جمل لأبي جهل في أنفه برة من فضة، فنحرها رسول الله ﷺ، وأمر رسول الله ﷺ من كل بدنة ببعضه، فطبخت و شرب من مرقها.
Narrated by Tirmidhi (815) and Ibn Majah (3076), and Ibn Khuzayma (3056) graded it sahih, all of them from the hadith of Sufyan Thawri, from Jafar bin Muhammad, from his father, from Jabir bin Abdullah, and he related it. Ibn Khuzayma abridged it. Tirmidhi identified two flaws in this hadith. The first is that no one narrated this hadith except Zayd bin Hubab, from Sufyan Thawri. The second is that he reported from Bukhari that he did not know of the hadith of Thawri from Jafar bin Muhammad, from his father, from Jabir, from the Prophet ﷺ, and that he did not consider this hadith to be preserved. He said, "It is only narrated from Thawri, from Abu Ishaq, from Mujahid, as a mursal report."I say, as for the first flaw, that this hadith is only narrated through Zayd bin Hubab. I say that Zayd bin Hubab is trustworthy. Ibn Madini, Ajli, Daraqutni, and Ibn Hibban all deemed him trustworthy. Abu Hatim said, "Truthful and sound." However, Ibn Main said that he used to confuse the wording of Thawri's hadiths, though there was nothing seriously wrong with him. Ibn Adi said, "He has many hadiths, and he is among the most reliable teachers of Kufa, one whose truthfulness is not doubted. What Ibn Main said about his hadiths from Thawri only applies to certain hadiths of his from Thawri that are considered unusual in their chain of transmission, some of which he alone reports as being directly attributed to the Prophet, while the rest, whether from Thawri or others, are all sound."I say, the summary of this discussion is that when he alone narrates a hadith from Thawri without anyone corroborating him, he may have erred in it. But we have found a corroborator for Zayd bin Hubab, which is what Ibn Majah (3076) narrated from Qasim bin Muhammad bin Abbad bin Abbad Muhallabi, who said, Abdullah bin Dawud narrated to us, who said, Sufyan narrated to us, and he related the hadith. He was asked, "Who mentioned it?" He said, "Jafar, from his father, from Jabir." This Abdullah bin Dawud is al-Hamdani, Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Khuraybi, a trustworthy and excellent narrator. This is a strong corroboration for Zayd bin Hubab.As for the second flaw, that it was narrated from Thawri, from Abu Ishaq, from Mujahid, as a mursal report, this does not harm the standing of the one who narrated it as a connected chain through another route, as has already been shown, and lack of knowledge is not itself knowledge, as is said.Ibn Khuzayma, after mentioning the hadith through the route of Zayd bin Hubab from Thawri, said, "A mention of the evidence for the soundness of this text, and a clarification that the Prophet ﷺ had indeed performed the hajj before his migration to Madinah, contrary to what was claimed by those who criticized this report and asserted that no one narrated this report except Zayd bin Hubab." He then cited the hadith of Jubayr bin Mutim, who said, "I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ before revelation had come down to him, standing on his camel at Arafat along with the people, moving on from there together with them." Its sourcing was previously given in the discussion on standing at Arafat.