‘Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) says that’ the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent us under the leadership of Abu Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah (may Allah be pleased with him) to meet (i.e., pursue) a caravan of the Quraysh, and for our provisions for the journey, he gave us a bag of dates, and he had nothing else to give us. Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah (may Allah be pleased with him) used to give us one date each (every day). Abu Az-Zubair said: I asked Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him),“What would you do with one date?”He said: We would suck it like a child, then drink a little water over it, and that would suffice us for the whole day and night. And we would shake leaves from the trees with our sticks, then soak them in water and eat them. Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When we reached the seashore, a long and thick thing appeared there. We went to it and saw that it was an animal called ‘ambergris’ (whale). Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah (may Allah be pleased with him) said:“This is dead (i.e., unlawful).”Then he said:“No, we have been sent by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and we have set out in the way of Allah, and you have been compelled (by hunger), so eat it.”Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We stayed there for a month, and we were three hundred men. We kept eating its meat until we became fat. Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I saw that we would fill pots upon pots with fat from its eye socket, and we would cut pieces of meat from it as big as a bull. Finally, Sayyiduna Abu Ubaidah (may Allah be pleased with him) took thirteen of us, and all of them sat inside its eye socket. And from its ribs, he raised one rib and set it upright, then saddled the largest camel we had and it passed underneath it. And we made ‘washa’iq’ from its meat for provisions for the journey (washa’iq are pieces of meat boiled and dried, kept for travel). When we came to Madinah, we went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and related this incident. He said:“That was provision which Allah brought out for you. Do you have any of its meat left? Feed us as well.”Sayyiduna Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We sent some of its meat to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he ate it.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) that on the day of Khaybar, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the meat of domestic donkeys and permitted the eating of horse meat.

Lady Asma (may Allah be pleased with her) says: We slaughtered a horse during the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), then we ate its meat.

Sayyiduna Abu Tha’labah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the meat of those donkeys that live among the people (and the wild donkey, i.e., zebra, is unanimously lawful).

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) conquered Khaybar, the donkeys that were coming out from the village, we caught them and cooked their meat. Meanwhile, the announcer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called out: Beware! Allah Almighty and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) both forbid you from (eating) the meat of donkeys, for it is impure and eating it is the work of Satan. Then all the pots were overturned while the meat was boiling in them.

`Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he (peace be upon him) said: It is forbidden to eat the flesh of every predatory animal with fangs.

`Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade (the eating of) every predatory animal with fangs and every bird with talons (that eats with its claws).

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) that when the Noble Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stayed with him, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stayed in the lower part of the house and Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) was in the upper part. Once, Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) woke up at night and said, "We walk above the head of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)," so he moved and spent the night in a corner. After that, Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to go upstairs, but the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "The lower part is more comfortable (for those who stay and for those who come, and that is why the Messenger of Allah stayed in the lower part)." Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "I cannot stay on a roof under which you (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) are." Upon hearing this, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) went to the upper part and Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) came down to the lower part.

Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) used to prepare food for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). When the food was brought to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) (and he would eat from it and the leftover food would be returned), Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) would ask (the servant), "Where did the fingers of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) touch the food?" and he would eat from that place (for blessings). One day, Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) prepared food in which there was garlic. When the food was returned, Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) asked, "Where did the fingers of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) touch?" He was told that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not eat the food. Upon hearing this, Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) became worried and went upstairs and asked, "Is garlic forbidden?" The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "No, but I dislike it." Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "Whatever you dislike, I also dislike." Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) said that angels used to come to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) (and the angels are troubled by the smell of garlic, so the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would not eat it).

`Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that I never saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finding fault with any food. If he desired it, he would eat it, and if he did not desire it, he would remain silent.