Source: Fatāwā ʿIlmiyyah (Tawḍīḥ al-Aḥkām), Vol. 2, p. 460The Original Story
In March 2006, the monthly magazine al-Muhaddith published a Friday sermon delivered by Imām of the Ḥaram, Shaykh Rāshid al-Khālid, in the courtyard of the Kaʿbah. Within this sermon, an incident was narrated that later became a motivation for the Teḥrīk Nāmūs-e-Risālah ﷺ. The incident is as follows:
Sayyidunā Zayd ibn Arqam رضي الله عنه narrates:
We were passing with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ through a street of Madīnah. A Bedouin had hunted a deer from the wilderness and tied it up. As we passed by, the deer saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and began to plead:
"This Bedouin has hunted me. The milk in my udders is heavy for me. Please release me so that I may go to my young ones, feed them, and find relief myself."
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
"If I let you go, will you return?"
The deer replied:
"Yes, I will return."
At that moment, the Bedouin who had tied her came. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked:
"Will you sell this deer?"
The Bedouin replied:
"O Messenger of Allah ﷺ! She is yours."
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ released the deer.
Sayyidunā Zayd ibn Arqam رضي الله عنه said:
"By Allah! I heard her calling in the desert:
لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله"
It is also claimed that similar versions exist from Umm Salamah رضي الله عنها and other Companions.
(al-Muhaddith, April 2006, pp. 28–29)
Authenticity and Scholarly Analysis
Narration 1 – Attributed to Zayd ibn Arqam رضي الله عنه
- Sources: Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqī (6/35), Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah by Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣbahānī (p. 133, ḥadīth 273), Talkhīṣ al-Mutashābih by al-Khaṭīb (2/730)
- Chain: Yaʿlā ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ghazāl → al-Haytham ibn Ḥammād → Abū Kathīr → Zayd ibn Arqam
Criticism of Narrators:
- Hāfiẓ al-Dhahabī: "I do not know him; he has a false report from a weak shaykh." (Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl, 4/456)
- Hāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar: "This is fabricated." (Lisān al-Mīzān, 6/314)
- Al-Haytham ibn Ḥammād and Abū Kathīr are both unknown.
Conclusion: Severely weak and fabricated.
Narration 2 – Attributed to Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī رضي الله عنه
- Source: Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah by al-Bayhaqī (6/34)
- Chain: ʿAlī ibn Qādim → Abū al-ʿAlāʾ Khālid ibn Ṭahmān → ʿAṭiyyah → Abū Saʿīd
Criticism of Narrators:
- ʿAṭiyyah ibn Saʿd al-ʿAwfī is weak according to the majority.
- He was a mudallis, narrating from al-Kalbī, a known liar.
Conclusion: Fabricated and unacceptable.
Narration 3 – Attributed to Anas ibn Mālik رضي الله عنه
- Sources: al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ by al-Ṭabarānī (ḥadīth 5543), Dalāʾil al-Nubuwwah by Abū Nuʿaym (p. 133, ḥadīth 274)
- Chain: Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah → Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Maymūn → ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Hilāl → Ṣāliḥ al-Murrī → Thābit → Anas
Criticism of Narrators:
- Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Maymūn is Shīʿī and weak.
- ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Hilāl is unknown.
- Ṣāliḥ al-Murrī is weak.
Conclusion: Weak, rejected, and not authoritative.
Narration 4 – Reported by al-Ṭabarānī and Abū Nuʿaym
- Sources: al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr (23/331–332, ḥadīth 763), al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah by Ibn Kathīr (6/155)
- Criticism of Narrators:
- Ḥibbān ibn Aghlab ibn Tamīm is munkar al-ḥadīth (Bukhārī).
- Aghlab ibn Tamīm is weak.
Conclusion: Severely weak.
Narration 5 – Reported by Ibn Abī Khaythamah
- Chain: Shurayk → ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allāh → Yaʿlā ibn Murrah → his father → his grandfather
Criticism of Narrators:
- Shurayk is a mudallis.
- ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaʿlā is weak.
- ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaʿlā ibn Murrah is also weak.
- This narration is not found in al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr and was not located by Ibn Ḥajar.
Conclusion: Rejected.
Final Summary
All versions of the “deer reciting the Kalimah” story are either weak, fabricated, or rely on unreliable narrators.
No authentic or ḥasan chain exists to support it.
Thus, narrating this story without scholarly verification is incorrect.
ھذا ما عندي والله أعلم بالصواب
