Chapter

Fighting for the Cause of Allah (Jihaad)

كتاب الجهاد والسير

Arabic Text

حَدَّثَنَا صَدَقَةُ بْنُ الْفَضْلِ، أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدَةُ، عَنْ هِشَامٍ، عَنْ وَهْبِ بْنِ كَيْسَانَ، عَنْ جَابِرٍ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ خَرَجْنَا وَنَحْنُ ثَلاَثُمِائَةٍ نَحْمِلُ زَادَنَا عَلَى رِقَابِنَا، فَفَنِيَ زَادُنَا، حَتَّى كَانَ الرَّجُلُ مِنَّا يَأْكُلُ فِي كُلِّ يَوْمٍ تَمْرَةً‏.‏ قَالَ رَجُلٌ يَا أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، وَأَيْنَ كَانَتِ التَّمْرَةُ تَقَعُ مِنَ الرَّجُلِ قَالَ لَقَدْ وَجَدْنَا فَقْدَهَا حِينَ فَقَدْنَاهَا، حَتَّى أَتَيْنَا الْبَحْرَ فَإِذَا حُوتٌ قَدْ قَذَفَهُ الْبَحْرُ، فَأَكَلْنَا مِنْهَا ثَمَانِيَةَ عَشَرَ يَوْمًا مَا أَحْبَبْنَا‏.‏

English Translation

Narrated Wahb bin Kaisan:

Jabir bin `Abdullah said, "We set out, and we were three-hundred men carrying our journey-food on our shoulders. Then we began to eat a single date each per day." A man asked (Jabir), "O Abu `Abdullah! How could a person be satisfied with a single date?" Jabir replied, "We realized the value of that one date when we could not even have that much till we reached the sea-shore, when all of a sudden we saw a huge fish cast by the sea. So, we ate of it as much as we wished for eighteen days."