A man camped at al-Harrah with his wife and children. Another man said to him, "A she-camel of mine has wandered off. If you find her, hold on to her."He found the camel but could not locate her owner. Then she fell ill, and his wife said, "Slaughter her."He refused, and the camel died.His wife then said, "Skin her so we can dry her fat and meat and eat it."He replied, "Not until I ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ."So he went to him and asked. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Do you have anything else to sustain you?"He answered, "No."He said, "Then eat from it."Later, the camel's owner came, and the man told him what had happened. The owner said, "Why did you not slaughter her?"He replied, "I felt too embarrassed before you to do so."
أن رجلا نزل الحرة ومعه أهله وولده، فقال رجل: إن ناقة لي ضلت، فإن وجدتها فأمسكها. فوجدها فلم يجد صاحبها فمرضت فقالت امرأته: انحرها، فأبى فنفقت، فقالت: اسلخها حتى نقدد شحمها ولحمها ونأكله. فقال: حتى أسأل رسول الله ﷺ، فأتاه فسأله فقال: هل عندك غنى يغنيك؟ قال: لا. قال: فكلوها، قال فجاء صاحبها، فأخبره الخبر فقال: هلا كنت نحرتها، قال: استحييت منك.
Reported by Abu Dawud (3816), Ahmad (20993), and his son Abdullah (20903), all through routes from Hammad bin Salama, who said, Simak narrated to us, from Jabir bin Samura, and he mentioned it. Its chain is hasan because of Simak bin Harb, for his narration is hasan when he narrates from someone other than Ikrima, except that he changed in his later years. However, Hammad bin Salama and Abu Awana Al-Waddah Al-Yashkuri both narrated from him, and their narrations from him appear in Sahih Muslim. Ahmad also reported it (20824) from Affan, who said, Abu Awana narrated to us, from Simak, from Jabir bin Samura, who said, "A mule died," and Hammad bin Salama said "a she-camel," "belonging to a man, so he came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to ask him for a ruling. Jabir bin Samura claimed that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to its owner, 'Do you not have something else that would suffice you instead of it?' He said, 'No.' He said, 'Go and eat it.'"Abu Abdul-Rahman (that is, Abdullah bin Ahmad) said, "The correct version is 'she-camel.'" Hakim graded it sahih (4/125) from this route.