Musnad Ahmad

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent us on a military expedition and appointed Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah as our commander. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave us a bag of dates as provisions, and nothing else. At first, Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah would give us each a handful of dates, then he started giving just one date each. 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 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 threw out a dead fish for us. At first, Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah said, "This is carrion," but then he said, "We are warriors and hungry, so eat it." We stayed there for a month. We were three hundred men, and after eating it, we became healthy and strong. We saw that we would extract oil from its eye sockets with pitchers, and we would cut its meat like beef. Upon returning to Madinah, we mentioned this to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said, "This was provision from Allah, which Allah granted you. If you have any of it left, let us eat it too." We had some of it left, which we sent to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he also ate from it.