“The Prophet ﷺ was in need of food, and news of that reached 'Ali. He went out seeking work so that he could earn something to give to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He came to a garden belonging to a Jewish man, and he drew seventeen buckets of water for him, each bucket for a date. The Jew gave him the option to take seventeen of his 'Ajwah dates (a high quality of dates) and he brought them to the Prophet of Allah ﷺ.”  

أَصَابَ نَبِيَّ اللَّهِ ﷺ خَصَاصَةٌ فَبَلَغَ ذَلِكَ عَلِيًّا فَخَرَجَ يَلْتَمِسُ عَمَلاً يُصِيبُ فِيهِ شَيْئًا لِيُغِيثَ بِهِ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ فَأَتَى بُسْتَانًا لِرَجُلٍ مِنَ الْيَهُودِ فَاسْتَقَى لَهُ سَبْعَةَ عَشَرَ دَلْوًا كُلُّ دَلْوٍ بِتَمْرَةٍ فَخَيَّرَهُ الْيَهُودِيُّ مِنْ تَمْرِهِ سَبْعَ عَشَرَةَ عَجْوَةً فَجَاءَ بِهَا إِلَى نَبِيِّ اللَّهِ ﷺ  

“I used to draw water, one bucket for a date, and I stipulated that they should be good quality, dried dates.”  

أَنَّهَا جَلْدَةٌ  

“A man from among the Ansar Came and said: 'O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, why do I see that your color has changed?' He said: 'Hunger.' So the Ansari went to his dwelling, but he did not find anything in his dwelling, so he went out looking, and he found a Jew watering his date-palm trees. The Ansari stipulated that he would not take any dates that were black (rotten), hard and dried out or inferior, and he would only take good quality dates. He earned nearly two Sa's (of dates), and he brought it to the Prophet ﷺ.”  

يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ مَا لِي أَرَى لَوْنَكَ مُنْكَفِئًا قَالَ الْخَمْصُ فَانْطَلَقَ الأَنْصَارِيُّ إِلَى رَحْلِهِ فَلَمْ يَجِدْ فِي رَحْلِهِ شَيْئًا فَخَرَجَ يَطْلُبُ فَإِذَا هُوَ بِيَهُودِيٍّ يَسْقِي نَخْلاً فَقَالَ الأَنْصَارِيُّ لِلْيَهُودِيِّ أَسْقِي نَخْلَكَ قَالَ نَعَمْ قَالَ كُلُّ دَلْوٍ بِتَمْرَةٍ وَاشْتَرَطَ الأَنْصَارِيُّ أَنْ لاَ يَأْخُذَ خَدِرَةً وَلاَ تَارِزَةً وَلاَ حَشَفَةً وَلاَ يَأْخُذَ إِلاَّ جَلْدَةً فَاسْتَقَى بِنَحْوٍ مِنْ صَاعَيْنِ فَجَاءَ بِهِ إِلَى النَّبِيِّ ﷺ