Sunan Abi Dawud 2563
سنن أبي داود#2563Sahihحَدَّثَنَا حَفْصُ بْنُ عُمَرَ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ هِشَامِ بْنِ زَيْدٍ، عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، قَالَ أَتَيْتُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم بِأَخٍ لِي حِينَ وُلِدَ لِيُحَنِّكَهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ فِي مِرْبَدٍ يَسِمُ غَنَمًا - أَحْسِبُهُ قَالَ - فِي آذَانِهَا .
Anas bin Malik said “I brought my brother when he was born to Prophet(ﷺ) to chew something for him and rub his palate with it and found him in a sheep pen branding the sheep, I think, on their ears.”
Scholarly Authentication
The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave — one dissenting opinion no longer speaks for all of them. If any scholar calls a narration fabricated, that verdict is shown instead, whatever the others say. Each scholar's own wording:
Al-AlbaniSahih
Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul HamidSahih
Shuaib Al ArnautSahih
Zubair Ali ZaiSahih Bukhari (5542) Sahih Muslim (2119)
In-book reference: 15:87