Question: There are some Ahadith that seem to be of a ‘historical’ nature, recounting stories that do not seem to make any sense. It is acceptable to leave these Ahadith and not consider them?
    Answer: With regard to the issue of accepting ‘historical’ Ahadith that don’t make sense to us, the issue of ‘acceptance’ must first be clarified. It should be clear that the Sunnah (simply put: the established or perpetual practice of the Prophet (sws), and Prophets before him) is distinct from Hadith. Ahadith itself are not an independent source of the Shari‘ah, nor a necessary component of it. However, this does not preclude the importance of Ahadith literature as an important means of ascertaining information on the life of the Prophet (sws), historical occurrences of the time, the Prophet’s perfect example, and even elements related to his religious understanding. Having placed Ahadith in their proper place, there are certain principles regarding acceptance or rejection of a Hadith, upon which a person can apply the Hadith to their actions or thoughts. Of these principles, one of them relates to a Hadith not negating established fact or reason. However, it is vital that two things be kept in mind. First, a person must be sure that a Hadith he believes to be against reason is not simply a Hadith that he is failing to properly understand. There is a distinct difference between something being misunderstood, as opposed to, unreasonable. Second, the determination of the acceptance or rejection of a particular Hadith should primarily be left to scholars trained in this field. This is primarily because it often happens that one Hadith might give a particular sense which is in direct opposition to the sense obtained from examining all pertinent Ahadith related to the topic. This is in addition to a scholarly examination of whether the Hadith in question fulfills the other requirements for acceptance, for instance, it should not negate the Qur’an, etc.
Bearing this in mind, in the case you mentioned, if the ‘historical’ Hadith makes no sense to you, despite your best efforts/intent to understand it, then it is fine to disregard it.