"The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w) dispatched us, and there were three-hundred of us. We were carrying our provisions on our shoulders. Then our provisions ran out such that each man among us could eat only a date per day." It was said to him: "O Abu 'Abdullah! How could one date be enough for a man?'" He said: "We realized its value when we did not even have that. Then we came to the sea where we saw a whale that the sea had tossed (on the shore). So we ate as much as we liked from it for eighteen days."

Other chains report similar narrations.