Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to receive dates of zakat at the time of harvest. Everyone would bring their zakat, and eventually, a heap of dates would be formed. (Once) Hasan and Husayn (may Allah be pleased with them) were playing with such dates when one of them picked up a date and put it in his mouth. As soon as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw this, he took the date out of his mouth and said, "Do you not know that the descendants of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) cannot eat zakat wealth?"

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: I go to my house and find a date lying on my bed. I pick it up to eat it, but then I fear that it might be a date from charity, so I throw it away.

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) passed by a fallen date and said: "If I were not in doubt that it might be from charity, I would have eaten it."