Mustadrak al-Hakim — Hadith 7256

It is narrated from Abdullah bin Shaqiq that he said: I was a neighbour of Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) for two years. He said: O Ibn Shaqiq, do you see these rooms of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? By Allah, I have seen the time when we would be near these rooms and none of us had enough food to fill his stomach, to the point that, from the severity of hunger, one of us would take a stone and tie it over the hollow of his (empty) stomach with a rope or some cord. By the One in whose Hand is my soul, I have also seen the time when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) distributed dates among us, and each one of us received seven dates. Among my seven there was a hashafah (an extremely dry, poor-quality date), yet I would not have been pleased to get a fine date in its place. (The narrator says:) I asked: Why is that, O Abu Hurayrah? He said: "Because it was tougher for my jaws (that is, it stayed longer in the mouth), so I kept chewing it."
This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim), but they did not record it.