Musnad Ahmad

The previous narration is also reported from Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) in this way: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave us a bag of dates as provisions during a military expedition, and nothing else. At first, Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah would give us each a handful of dates, then he started giving just one date. The narrator asked, "What would you do with a single date?" He replied, "We would chew and suck it like children, then drink water over it, and that would be our food until night." When the dates ran out, we would knock down leaves from the trees with our sticks, soak them in water, and eat them. In this way, we suffered from severe hunger. One day, while we were at the seashore, the sea cast out a dead fish for us. At first, Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah said, "This is carrion," then he said, "We are warriors and hungry, so eat it." We stayed there for a month; we were three hundred men, and by eating it, we became healthy. We saw that we would extract oil from its eye sockets with a jug, and we would cut its meat like that of a bull. Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah would set up one of its ribs, and a man mounted on a camel could pass underneath it, and a group of five men would sit in its eye socket. We ate it abundantly and applied its oil to our bodies until our bodies became healthy and our cheeks filled out. After returning to Madinah, we mentioned this to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said: "That was provision from Allah which Allah granted you. If you have any of it left, feed us as well." We had some of it left, which we sent to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he also ate from it.