until not a single drop remained. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then sat upon the rim of the well, asked for some water, rinsed his mouth, and spat it into the well. We waited only a short while, after which we drew and drank until we were fully satisfied and our mounts too had drunk their fill—or, as another wording has it, until they turned away content. (1) Al-Bukhārī alone transmits this report, both in its chain and its wording.
Another ḥadīth from al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib:
Imām Aḥmad said: ʿAffān and Hāshim (2) narrated to us; Sulaymān ibn al-Mughīrah narrated to us; Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl narrated to us; Yūnus—namely Ibn ʿUbaydah, the client of Muḥammad ibn al-Qāsim—narrated to us; from al-Barāʾ, who said:
We were travelling with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when we came upon a shallow well with very little water (3). Six of us, myself being the sixth, went down into it, taking with us a water-skin (4). A bucket was then lowered to us while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood on the edge of the well. We filled the bucket halfway—perhaps two-thirds—and it was raised to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Al-Barāʾ continued: I searched with my own vessel, hoping to find a swallow of water for my throat, but found nothing. The bucket was lifted to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; he plunged his hand into it, said whatever Allah willed him to say, and the bucket was returned to us with its water still inside. I even saw one of us pulled out by his garment for fear he might drown in the sudden abundance. Then the water overflowed and ran like a river.
Imām Aḥmad alone relates this ḥadīth; its chain is sound and strong (6). It appears to describe an incident other than the day of al-Ḥudaybiyah, and Allah knows best.
Another narration on the same theme from Jābir:
Imām Aḥmad said: Sinān ibn Ḥātim narrated to us; Jaʿfar—that is, Ibn Sulaymān—narrated to us; al-Jaʿd Abū ʿUthmān narrated to us; Anas ibn Mālik narrated to us; from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī, who said:
The Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ once complained to him of thirst. He called for a large wooden bowl (ʿuss) (7); a small amount of water was poured into it, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ placed his hand inside, saying,
“Draw water.”
The people drew, and I could see springs gushing from between the fingers of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Aḥmad alone transmits this report through this route.
Among Muslim’s individual narrations there is also a lengthy ḥadīth, related through Ḥātim ibn Ismāʿīl, from Abū Ḥazrah Yaʿqūb ibn Mujāhid, from ʿUbādah ibn al-Walīd ibn ʿUbādah, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, in which he says: