Abu Qatada reported, We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a journey, and he said, "If you do not reach water tomorrow, you will go thirsty." The swifter among the people hurried on ahead, wanting to reach the water, while I stayed close to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.His mount began to sway beneath him, for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had grown drowsy, so I propped him up, and he steadied himself. Then he leaned again until he nearly toppled from his mount, so I propped him up once more, and he woke.He asked, "Who is this man?"I said, "Abu Qatada."He asked, "How long have you been travelling like this?"I said, "Since the beginning of the night."He said, "May Allah guard you as you have guarded His Messenger." Then he said, "Shall we stop and rest?"He turned aside toward a tree and dismounted, then said, "Look and see whether you can make out anyone."I said, "Here is one rider. Here are two riders." I went on until they numbered seven.He said, "Keep watch over our prayer for us." Then we slept, and nothing woke us but the heat of the sun. When we roused ourselves, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ mounted and rode on, and we rode with him for a short while. Then he dismounted and asked, "Do you have any water with you?"I said, "Yes, I have a water skin with a little water in it."He said, "Bring it."I brought it to him, and he said, "Take from it, take from it." So the men performed wudu, and a single swallow was left.He said, "Guard this carefully, Abu Qatada, for there will be news concerning it."Then Bilal called the adhan, and they prayed the two units before Fajr, then they prayed Fajr. Then he mounted and we mounted, and the men said to one another, "We have been negligent with our prayer."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "What are you saying? If it is a matter of your worldly affairs, that is your own concern, but if it is a matter of your religion, then bring it to me."We said, "Messenger of Allah, we have been negligent with our prayer."He said, "There is no negligence in sleep. Negligence is only while awake. When this happens, pray the prayer then, and the next day pray it at its proper time." Then he said, "What do you suppose has become of the others?"They said, "You said yesterday that if we did not reach the water tomorrow we would go thirsty, so the people must be at the water."He said, "The people woke to find their Prophet missing, and they said to one another, 'The Messenger of Allah ﷺ must be at the water.' But among them were Abu Bakr and Umar, and they said, 'People, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would not go ahead of you to the water and leave you behind. If the people obey Abu Bakr and Umar, they will be rightly guided.'" He said this three times.When the midday heat grew fierce, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came into their view, and they cried out, "Messenger of Allah, we are dying of thirst, our throats are parched!"He said, "No ruin shall come upon you." Then he said, "Abu Qatada, bring the water skin."I brought it to him, and he said, "Untie my drinking cup for me," meaning his small bowl. So I untied it and brought it to him, and he began pouring water into it and giving the people to drink. The people crowded in upon him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "People, fill up in an orderly way. Every one of you will drink his fill."So the men drank until no one remained but me and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He poured for me and said, "Drink, Abu Qatada."I said, "You drink first, Messenger of Allah."He said, "The one who serves the people drinks last." So I drank, and he drank after me, and there remained in the water skin roughly as much as had been in it before. They numbered three hundred that day.Abdullah said, Imran bin Husayn heard me relating this hadith in the great masjid, and he asked, "Who is this man?"I said, "I am Abdullah bin Rabah Ansari."He said, "The people know their own hadith best. Watch how you narrate, for I was one of the seven that night." When I finished, he said, "I never imagined that anyone but me had preserved this hadith."
حدثنا عبد الله حدثنا إبراهيم بن الحجاج حدثنا حماد بن سلمة عن ثابت عن عبد الله بن رباح عن أبي قتادة عن النبي ﷺ نحوه