I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when the time for the afternoon prayer arrived. The people searched for water to perform ablution but could not find any. Then a vessel containing a small amount of water was brought to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He placed his hand in that vessel and told the people to perform their ablution from it.Anas said, "I saw the water gushing from beneath his fingers, and the people performed their ablution until every last one of them had done so."
رأيت رسول الله ﷺ وحانت صلاة العصر، فالتمس الناس وضوءا فلم يجدوه، فأتي رسول الله ﷺ بوضوء في إناء، فوضع رسول الله ﷺ في ذلك الإناء يده، ثم أمر الناس يتوضئون منه. قال أنس: فرأيت الماء ينبع من تحت أصابعه، فتوضأ الناس حتى توضئوا من عند آخرهم.
Malik related it in the Book of Purification (32), and Bukhari in the Book of Wudu (169), and Muslim in the Book of Virtues (2279), both from the hadith of Malik with the same wording. In it, the place is mentioned as Zawra (Zawra is in Madinah near the market and the masjid that is there). The number of companions ranges between sixty and eighty, and in one version he has, "They were about three hundred." In a version with Bukhari (195), "Eighty and more," and in another version with him (200), "Between seventy and eighty," and in a version (3572), "Three hundred, or about three hundred."The disagreement occurred likewise regarding the name of the place, sometimes Zawra as mentioned before, sometimes it is said to have been during a journey, and sometimes another place is mentioned. Given this disagreement over the number of companions and the place where this miracle occurred, they concluded that it happened on multiple occasions, which is the apparent view, since something similar occurred at Hudaybiya, as in the hadith of Jabir and others.Bukhari related it in the Book of the Signs of Prophethood (3574) through another route from Anas, who said, The Prophet ﷺ went out on one of his journeys, and with him were some of his companions. They set off traveling, and the time for prayer came, but they could not find water with which to perform wudu. A man from the group went off and brought a small vessel with a little water in it. The Prophet ﷺ took it and performed wudu, then spread his four fingers over the vessel and said, "Get up and perform wudu." So the people performed wudu until they had all completed what they needed of wudu, and they numbered seventy or thereabouts.He also related it (3575) through another route from Anas, who said, The time for prayer came, and those whose homes were near the masjid got up to perform wudu, while some remained. The Prophet ﷺ was brought a stone basin containing water. He placed his palm in it, but the basin was too small for him to spread his palm in it, so he drew his fingers together and placed them in the basin, and all the people performed wudu together. I (the narrator) said, How many were they? He said, Eighty men.