Umar bin Khattab was asked, "Tell us about the expedition of hardship."He said, "We set out for Tabuk during severe summer heat. We stopped at one place where we suffered such intense thirst that we thought our necks would snap. A man would go off searching for water and not return until we feared his neck would snap. A man would even slaughter his camel, squeeze the contents of its stomach, drink the liquid, and place what remained on his liver to cool it.Abu Bakr al-Siddiq said, 'Messenger of Allah, Allah has accustomed you to good when you supplicate. So pray for us.'The Prophet ﷺ asked, 'Would you like that?'Abu Bakr replied, 'Yes.'So he raised his hands ﷺ, and he did not lower them until a cloud cast its shadow over us and poured down rain. The men filled every container they had. Then we went to look, and we found that the rain had not extended beyond the army's camp."
أنه قيل لعمر بن الخطاب: حدثنا من شأن العسرة، قال: خرجنا إلى تبوك في قيظ شديد، فنزلنا منزلا، أصابنا فيه عطش، حتى ظننا أن رقابنا ستنقطع، حتى إن كان الرجل ليذهب يلتمس الماء، فلا يرجع حتى نظن أن رقبته ستنقطع، حتى إن الرجل لينحر بعيره فيعصر فرثه فيشربه، ويجعل ما بقى على كبده، فقال أبو بكر الصديق: يا رسول الله، قد عودك الله في الدعاء خيرا، فادع لنا فقال: أتحب ذلك؟ قال: نعم، قال: فرفع يديه ﷺ، فلم يرجعهما حتى أظلت سحابة، فسكبت، فملأوا ما معهم، ثم ذهبنا ننظر، فلم نجدها جاوزت العسكر.
Ibn Hibban (1383), Bazzar - Kashf Astar (1841), Hakim (1/159), and Bayhaqi in Dalail (5/231) all reported it, all from the hadith of Ibn Wahb, who said, Amr bin Harith informed us, from Saad bin Abu Hilal, from Utbah bin Abu Utbah, from Nafi bin Jubayr, from Abdullah bin Abbas, and he related it.Its chain of transmission is sahih. Hakim said, "Sahih according to the standard of the two Shaykhs."A note, the name "Utbah bin Abu Utbah" was dropped from Ibn Hibban's chain of transmission.Bayhaqi reported in Dalail (5/227) from Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Aqeel bin Abu Talib, concerning the words of Allah Most High, "those who followed him in the hour of hardship" [Tawbah 9:117], that he said, "They set out on the expedition to Tabuk, two or three men riding on a single camel, and they set out in intense heat. One day thirst struck them so severely that they began slaughtering their camels in order to squeeze out the contents of their stomachs and drink the liquid. So it was a time of hardship in water, hardship in provisions, and hardship in mounts."However, this is a mursal narration.