While he was dispatching troops to Mecca, he said, "Permit me, commander, to relate to you something the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said the day after the Conquest. My own ears heard it, my heart retained it, and my eyes saw him as he spoke. He praised Allah and extolled Him, then said, 'Mecca was made sacred by Allah, not by people. It is not lawful for any person who believes in Allah and the Last Day to shed blood within it or to cut down a tree within it. If anyone seeks license by citing the Messenger of Allah's ﷺ fighting in it, tell him that Allah granted permission to His Messenger but did not grant it to you. He permitted me only for a single hour of one day, and its sanctity has returned today as it was yesterday. Let the one present convey this to the one absent.'"
أخبرنا قتيبة قال حدثنا الليث عن سعيد بن أبي سعيد عن أبي شريح أنه
وهو يبعث البعوث إلى مكة ائذن لي أيها الأمير أحدثك قولا قام به رسول الله ﷺ الغد من يوم الفتح سمعته أذناي ووعاه قلبي وأبصرته عيناي حين تكلم به حمد الله وأثنى عليه ثم قال إن مكة حرمها الله ولم يحرمها الناس ولا يحل لامرئ يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر أن يسفك بها دما ولا يعضد بها شجرا فإن ترخص أحد لقتال رسول الله ﷺ فيها فقولوا له إن الله أذن لرسوله ولم يأذن لكم وإنما أذن لي فيها ساعة من نهار وقد عادت حرمتها اليوم كحرمتها بالأمس وليبلغ الشاهد الغائب
Bukhari related it in the Book of the Recompense of Hunting, in the chapter "One should not cut the trees of the sacred sanctuary," hadith no. 1832, and Muslim related it in the Book of Hajj, in the chapter "The prohibition of Makkah and the prohibition of its game, its vegetation, and its trees," etc., hadith no. 1354, both from Qutayba through this chain. It is also found in Al-Kubra, hadith no. 3859.