ذِكْرُ الْبَيَانِ بِأَنَّ الْمُصْطَفَى ﷺ أَكَلَ مِمَّا حَمَلَهُ أَهْلُ ذَلِكَ الْجَيْشِ مِنَ الْعَنْبَرِ الَّذِي قَذَفَهُ الْبَحْرُ لَهُمْ
Messenger of Allah (may peace he upon him) sent us (on an expedition) and appointed Abu 'Ubaida our chief that we might intercept a caravan of the Quraish and provided us with a bag of dates. And he found for us nothing besides it. Abu Ubaida gave each of us one date (everyday). I (Abu Zubair, one of the narrators) said: What did you do with that? He said: We sucked that just as a baby sucks and then drank water over that, and it sufficed us for the day until night. We beat off leaves with the help of our staffs, then drenched them with water and ate them. We then went to the coast of the sea, and there rose before us on the coast of the sea something like a big mound. We came near that and we found that it was a beast, called al-'Anbar (spermaceti whale). Abu 'Ubaida said. It is dead. He then said: No (but it does not matter), we have been sent by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the path of Allah and you are hard pressed (on account of the scarcity of food), so you eat that. We three hundred in number stayed there for a month, until we grew bulky. He (Jabir) said: I saw how we extracted pitcher after pitcher full of fat from the cavity of its eye, and sliced from it compact piece of meat equal to a bull or like a bull. Abu 'Ubaida called forth thirteen men from us and he made them sit in the cavity of its eye, and he took hold of one of the ribs of its chest and made it stand and then saddled the biggest of the camels we had with us and it passed under it (the arched rib), and we provided ourselves with pieces of boiled meat (especially for use in our journey). When we came back to Medina, we went to Messenger of Allah ﷺ and made a mention of that to him, whereupon he said: That was a provision which Allah had brought forth for you. Is there any piece of meat (left) with you, so tnat you give to us that? He (Jabir) said: We sent to Messenger of Allah ﷺ tome of that (a piece of meat) and he ate it. (Using translation from Muslim 1935a)
بَعَثَنَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ وَأَمَّرَ عَلَيْنَا أَبَا عُبَيْدَةَ بْنَ الْجَرَّاحِ يَتَلَقَّى عِيرًا لِقُرَيْشٍ وَزَوَّدَنَا جِرَابَ تَمْرٍ لَمْ يَجِدْ لَنَا غَيْرَهُ فَكَانَ أَبُو عُبَيْدَةَ يُطْعِمُنَا تَمْرَةً تَمْرَةً قُلْتُ فَكَيْفَ كُنْتُمْ تَصْنَعُونَ بِهَا؟ قَالَ نَمُصُّهَا كَمَا يَمُصُّ الصَّبِيُّ ثُمَّ نَشْرَبُ عَلَيْهَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ فَيَكْفِينَا يَوْمَنَا إِلَى اللَّيْلِ قَالَ وَكُنَّا نَضْرِبُ بِعِصِيِّنَا الْخَبَطَ ثُمَّ نَبُلُّهُ بِالْمَاءِ فَنَأْكُلُهُ قَالَ فَانْطَلَقْنَا فَرُفِعَ لَنَا عَلَى سَاحِلِ الْبَحْرِ كَهَيْئَةِ الْكَثِيبِ الضَّخْمِ فَأَتَيْنَاهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ دَابَّةٌ تُدْعَى الْعَنْبَرَ فَقَالَ أَبُو عُبَيْدَةَ مَيْتَةٌ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَا نَحْنُ رُسُلُ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ وَفِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَقَدِ اضْطُرِرْتُمْ فَكُلُوا قَالَ فَأَقَمْنَا عَلَيْهِ شَهْرًا وَنَحْنُ ثَلَاثُ مِائَةٍ حَتَّى سَمِنَّا وَلَقَدْ رَأَيْتُنَا نَغْتَرِفُ مِنْ وَقَبِ عَيْنَيْهِ بِالْقِلَالِ وَنَقْطَعُ مِنْهُ الْفِدَرَ كَالثَّوْرِ أَوْ كَقَدْرِ الثَّوْرِ وَلَقَدْ أَخَذَ مِنَّا أَبُو عُبَيْدَةَ ثَلَاثَةَ عَشَرَ رَجُلًا فَأَقْعَدَهُمْ فِي وَقَبِ عَيْنِهِ وَأَخَذَ ضِلَعًا مِنْ أَضْلَاعِهِ فَأَقَامَهَا ثُمَّ أَرْحَلَ أَعْظَمَ بَعِيرٍ مِنَّا فَمَرَّ تَحْتَهَا قَالَ وَتَزَوَّدْنَا مِنْ لَحْمِهِ وَشَائِقَ فَلَمَّا قَدِمْنَا الْمَدِينَةَ أَتَيْنَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ فَذَكَرْنَا ذَلِكَ لَهُ فَقَالَ «هُوَ رِزْقٌ أَخْرَجَهُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ فَهَلْ مِنْ لَحْمِهِ مَعَكُمْ شَيْءٌ تُطْعِمُونَا؟ » فَأَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِ مِنْهُ فَأَكَلَهُ