In another version, Jābir said:

“On the day of the Trench we were digging when we met with a very hard rock. The diggers went to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, ‘A solid boulder has blocked the trench.’

He replied, ‘I will go down myself.’ He stood up—his stomach bound with a stone, for we had gone three days without tasting any food—then the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, took the pick-axe, struck the rock, and it crumbled into loose sand.

I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, allow me to go home.’

When I reached my wife I told her, ‘I have seen something from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, that I cannot endure.’

She said, ‘I still have some barley and a young goat.’ So I slaughtered it…”