Sunan an-Nasa’i: Book 23, Hadith 28

It was narrated that Muslim bin Thafihan said: “Ibn ‘Alqamah appointed my father to be in charge of his people, and he commanded him to collect their Sadaqah. My father sent me to a group of them to bring their Sadaqah to him. I set out and came to an old man who was called Sa’r. I said: My father has sent me to collect the Sadaqah of your sheep. ‘He said: O son of my brother, how will you decode what you want to take?’ I said” ‘We choose, and we even measure the sheep’s udders.’ He said: O son of my brother, I tell you that I was in one of these mountain passes at the time of the Messenger of Allah with some sheep of mine. Two men came on a camel and said: We are the messengers of the Messengers of Allah, we come to take the Sadaqah of your sheep. I said: What do I have to give? They said: A sheep. So I went to a sheep that I knew was filled with milk and was fat, and brought it out to them. He said: This is a Shafi – a sheep that has a child or is pregnant – and the Messenger of Allah forbade us to take a Shafi’. So I went to a Mu’tat she-goat – a Mutat is one that has not given birth before, but has reached the age where it could produce young- and brought it out to them. They said: We will take it. So I lifted it up to them, and they took it with them on their camel and left.”‘ (Daif)