Abu Qatada said:God's messenger addressed us saying, "You will travel all evening and all night and come to water to-morrow, if God wills.' The people then set off not turning round to one another. Abu Qatada said: While God's messenger was travelling, when the middle of the night came, he turned aside from the road, laid down his head and said, "Keep watch for us for our time of prayer." Now the first to awake was God's messenger when he felt the sun on his back, and he said "Mount." We did so and travelled till the sun had risen in the sky, when he dismounted, called for an ablution vessel. I had containing some water and performed ablution from it to a less extent than usual. Some water remained in it, and he said, `Keep your ablution vessel for us, for it will be something to talk about. Bilal then gave the call to prayer, and God's messenger prayed two rak`as, after which he prayed the morning prayer. He then mounted and we mounted along with him and reached the people when the day had advanced and everything was hot. They were saying, "Messenger of God, we are perishing from thirst," to which he replied, "You will not perish." He called for the ablution vessel, began to pour out water, and Abu Qatada [*] was supplying them with water. No sooner did the people see that there was water in the ablution vessel then they crowded around it, so God's messenger said, "Behave in an orderly manner, for every one of you will get a supply of water." They did so, and God's messenger began to pour and I to supply them with water till only he and I were left. He then poured and told me to drink, but I replied, "I shall not drink till you do so, messenger of God." He said, "The one who supplies water for people comes last," so I drank and then he drank. Then the people came to the watering-place in comfort, having had a supply of water. *I have retained the Arabic construction here. Abu Qatada is telling the story and elsewhere uses the first-person pronoun when making reference to himself, Muslim transmitted it thus in his Sahih, and it is told similarly in al-Humaidi's book and in Jami' al-usul. In al-Masabih the words "in drinking" are added after "comes last."