According  to  one  chain  of  transmission,  one  of  the  chiefs  of  Quraysh,  Abu Sufyan, and Safwan saw a wolf pursuing a gazelle into the enclosure of the Ka‘ba. As it returned,  the wolf spoke,  telling  of the messengership  of Muhammad  (UWBP). They were astonished. Abu Sufyan said to Safwan: ‘Don’t let’s tell anyone about this; I’m frightened everyone will join him and Mecca will be emptied.’[262]

In Short: The story of the wolf gives one complete conviction, and is as certain as those unanimous reports about which there is ‘consensus in meaning.’

The Third Incident: This is the narrative of the camel, which was unanimously related through some five or six chains of transmission by such famous Companions as  Abu  Hurayra,  Tha‘laba  b.  Malik,  Jabir  b.  ‘Abdullah,  ‘Abdullah  b.  Ja‘far,  and ‘Abdullah b. Abi Awfa, who are at the start of the chains. A camel approached God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), prostrated itself before him as if saluting him, and spoke. According to a number of lines of transmission, the camel had been angered in a garden and become wild, attacking anyone who approached it. When God’s Messenger (UWBP) appeared, it came to him, prostrated as a sign of respect, and knelt down. He put a bridle on it, and the camel said to him: “They made me do the heaviest work and now they want to slaughter me. That’s why I went wild.” The Messenger (UWBP) asked its owner if this was true. “Yes,” he replied.[263]

Also, God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) had a camel called ‘Adba’. After he died, out of its grief, the camel neither ate nor drank, till it died.[264]  A number of important authorities including Abu Ishaq Isfara’ini related that it spoke with the Messenger (UWBP) about a certain story.[265]  In another instance, in an authentic narration, Jabir b. ‘Abdullah’s camel became exhausted on a journey and could no longer continue. God’s Messenger (UWBP) gave it a slight prod. Such joy and nimbleness did the camel receive from that prod of the Prophet (UWBP) that due to its speed it could not be caught up with, nor could its reins be seized.[266]

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[262] Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 311; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa’, iii, 84.

[263] Darimi, Muqaddima, 4; Musnad, iv, 173; al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id, ix, 4; al-Sa’ati, al-Fath al-Rabbani, xxii, 50-1; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa’, iii, 87; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, vi, 135; al-Albani, Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahiha, 485; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak, ii, 99, 100, 618.

[264] Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa’, i, 313.

[265] ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa’, i, 637.

[266] Muslim, Mithaqat, 109, no: 715; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa’, iii, 145.