I once suffered severe hunger in Medina, so I went out looking for work in the outskirts of the city. There I came across a woman who had gathered clumps of dried clay, and I thought she wanted to moisten them. I approached her and we agreed that I would draw water for her at the rate of one date per bucket. I drew sixteen buckets until my hands blistered. Then I went to the water and drank from it, after which I came back to her and held out my hands like this before her, and Ismail stretched out his hands and brought them together to demonstrate. She counted out sixteen dates for me. I went to the Prophet ﷺ and told him about it, and he ate some of them with me.
حدثنا إسماعيل بن إبراهيم أنبأنا أيوب عن مجاهد قال
جعت مرة بالمدينة جوعا شديدا فخرجت أطلب العمل في عوالي المدينة فإذا أنا بامرأة قد جمعت مدرا فظننتها تريد بله فأتيتها فقاطعتها كل ذنوب على تمرة فمددت ستة عشر ذنوبا حتى مجلت يداي ثم أتيت الماء فأصبت منه ثم أتيتها فقلت بكفي هكذا بين يديها وبسط إسماعيل يديه وجمعهما فعدت لي ستة عشر تمرة فأتيت النبي ﷺ فأخبرته فأكل معي منها
No references are available.
Its chain of transmission is daif due to a break in it, for Mujahid did not hear from Ali. See 687, 838. The hadith is found in Majma al-Zawaid 4:97, where it is said, "Its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih, except that Mujahid did not hear from Ali," and he also attributed it to Ibn Majah in an abridged form.As for his saying, "So I agreed with her on every bucketful for a date," this meaning is not mentioned in the lexicons except in al-Asas fi al-Majaz, "and he agreed with the hired worker on such and such."