A
Gift After Hardships
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) dispatched towards
the sea-shore an expedition of three hundred men, under the
command of Abu Ubaidah (ra) in 8 A.H. He gave them a bag full
of dates for their rations. They had been hardly out for fifteen
days when they ran short of rations. In order to provide the
contingent with food, Qais (ra) began buying three camels
daily from his own men, to feed the Mujahideen, with a promise
to pay on return to Madinah. The Amir seeing that the slaugther
of camels would deprive the party of their only means of transport,
prohibited him to do so. He collected the dates that had been
left with each person and stored them in a bag. He would issue
one date to each man as his daily ration. When Jabir (ra)
later on narrated this story to the people, one of his audience
inquired:
"How did you manage to live upon one date only for the whole
day?" He replied: "We longed even for that one date, when
the whole stock was exhausted. We were on the verge of starvation.
We moistened the dry tree-leaves with water and ate them."
When they reached this stage, Allah had mercy on them for
He always brings ease after every hardship, provided it is
endured patiently. A big fish known as "Ambar" was thrown
out of the sea for them. The fish was so big that they lived
on it for eighteen days altogether. They also filled their
satchels with the remaining portion, which lasted them right
up to Madinah. When the episode was narrated to the Prophet
(peace be upon him), he said: "The fish was a provision arranged
for you by Allah."
Source: From the book "Stories of the Sahabah" by Shaikh
Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhalvi.
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