A man from among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ said, "Messenger of Allah, we cannot obtain Sayhani dates or fine cluster dates with ordinary collected dates unless we give them more in exchange."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, "Sell it for silver, then buy with the silver."
أن رجلا من أصحاب النبي ﷺ قال: يا رسول الله، إنا لا نجد الصيحاني، ولا العذق بجمع التمر حتى نزيدهم، فقال رسول الله ﷺ: بعه بالورق، ثم اشتر به.
Nasai (4552) narrated it from Qutayba bin Saeed, who said, Abu Ahwas narrated to us, from Amash, from Habib bin Abu Thabit, from Abu Salih, and he mentioned it.Abu Salih is Sammaan the oil merchant, whose name is Zakwan. The unnamed man may be Abu Hurairah, or Abu Saeed, or someone else, and not knowing his name does no harm, for the companions are all reliable.Sayhani, and likewise Ajwa, are both a type of date.