Ibn Shihāb said: It reached me that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, designated al-Naqīʿ as a protected pasture.

3084 — Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr narrated to us, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith, from Ibn Shihāb, from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAbd Allāh, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās, from al-Ṣaʿb ibn Jaththāma: that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, designated al-Naqīʿ as a protected pasture, and said: "There is no protected pasture except for Allah and His Messenger."

‌‌40 — Chapter: What has come concerning al-Rikāz (buried treasure)

3085 — Musaddad narrated to us, Sufyān narrated to us, from al-Zuhrī, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab and Abū Salama
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= It is in "Musnad Aḥmad" (16422) and (16425), and "Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān" (136) and (4684). See also what follows it.

Al-Khaṭṭābī said: His statement, "There is no protected pasture except for Allah and His Messenger," means: there is no protected pasture except in accordance with what the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, permitted, and in the manner in which he designated it. In this is the nullification of what the people of the Jāhiliyyah used to do in this regard. When a powerful man among them sought out a fertile land, he would ascend with a dog to a mountain or a high place of the earth, then call the dog, and someone would stand to listen to the extent of his voice in howling. Wherever his voice reached, he would designate it as a protected pasture for himself from every direction and prevent the people from it.

As for what the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, designated as a protected pasture for the emaciated camels of charity and the weak horses — such as al-Naqīʿ (which is a place near Medina, about twenty farsakhs from it, a catchment for water in which vegetation grows) — it may be said that it is not a place of such vast extent that its like would constrict pasture for the Muslims, so it is permissible. And it is for the leaders to do such a thing according to their judgment, as long as it does not constrict pasture for the general public. This statement that I have conveyed is the meaning of al-Shāfiʿī's words in some of his books.

(1) A sound ḥadīth, and this chain is fair in follow-ups due to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith — who is Ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAyyāsh al-Makhzūmī — for he is weak but considered in follow-ups and supporting witnesses, and he has been followed as in the preceding chain.