Sahl bin Abi Hathmah says that once I saw Sayyiduna Muhammad bin Maslamah looking at a woman. I said to him, "You are a companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him), yet you look at a non-mahram woman?" He replied, "I heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) say: If Allah puts the thought of sending a marriage proposal to a woman in a person's heart, then there is no harm in looking at her."

Abu Burdah says that once I was passing by the place of Rabdhah when I saw a tent there. I asked the people whose tent it was. The people told me that it belonged to Muhammad bin Maslamah. I went there, sought permission from him, and entered inside. I said to him: May Allah send His mercy upon you, you have secluded yourself in this place regarding this matter, why don’t you go out among the people and enjoin good and forbid evil? He replied that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Soon there will be tribulations, divisions, and differences. When this begins to happen, take your sword and go to Mount Uhud, strike it on the mountain from its width, break its blade, break your bow, and sit in your house. And now this has happened, and I have done exactly what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded me. Then he took down a sword that was hanging from the pole of the tent, unsheathed it, and it was a wooden sword. He said: I have done what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded me, and I had this made so that I could frighten people with it, and thus I too have a sword.

The previous hadith is also narrated through this second chain of transmission.

Narrated to us Affan, he said: Narrated to us Hammad ibn Salamah, informed us Ali ibn Zayd, from Abu Burdah ibn Abi Musa, he said: We passed by al-Rabadhah, and there was a tent, so I said: Whose is this? Then he mentioned the hadith.