Imam Sajjad (a.s.) also said: Whenever the Holy Prophet (S) set out to fight, he never mentioned the destination. But in case of Tabuk he spoke out openly and ordered all to prepare for the journey taking necessary materials with them. So they took with them flour, salted meat, honey and dates in large quantities. They did so because the Holy Prophet (S) had already informed them of the long distance and impending hardships and non-availability of food.
Finally, when many days passed in traveling and the eatables with them became stale, they did not like to eat the same things over and over again and desired for fresh food. So they said to the Holy Prophet (S): O Allah’s Messenger! We are fed up with this stale food which is about to be putrefied and to give out foul smell. Kindly make some arrangement.
The Holy Prophet (S) asked them: What are you having now? They replied: Loaves of bread, dry salted meat, honey and dates. The Holy Prophet (S) exclaimed: You have been like Bani Israel! They had said: We cannot pull on with one kind of food. Now tell me what you want? They replied: We want fresh and dried meat, chicken and sweetmeat. The Holy Prophet (S) said: Of course, you are differing from Bani Israel in one thing.
They had demanded cucumber, onion, garlic, masoor and vegetables. They desired to exchange good things for lower things but you desire higher in exchange of lower, However, I will soon request the Almighty Allah to fulfill your desires. At that time some of them said: We also have some who desire the lower grade things like Bani Israel. They also desire to eat onion, cucumber and vegetables etc. like Bani Israel. The Holy Prophet (S) said: All right, the Almighty Allah will soon grant you all that you want, you must testify my messengership and trust me and then said: O servants of Allah! The people of Prophet Isa (a.s.) asked him for a table of eatables from heaven. So when Isa (a.s.) prayed for it, the Almighty Allah said:
قَالَ اللهُ إِنِّي مُنَزِّلُهَا عَلَيْكُمْ فَمَن يَكْفُرْ بَعْدُ مِنكُمْ فَإِنِّي أُعَذِّبُهُ عَذَابًا لاَّ أُعَذِّبُهُ أَحَدًا مِّنَ الْعَالَمِينَ
Allah said: Surely I will send it down to you, but whoever shall disbelieve afterwards from among you, surely I will chastise him with a chastisement with which I will not chastise, anyone among the nations.21
Simply: Allah said: I will surely send down for you a table of eatables from the sky. But if after that, anyone from you becomes a disbeliever I will punish in a way none has been punished before. Thereafter, the Almighty Allah sent down to them Maidah (Food Table) from heaven. But thereafter some of them became deniers. Consequently Allah changed their faces for worse. He turned some of them into pigs, some into monkeys, some into cats, some into bears and some into land and sea animals as well as birds.
They were transformed into 400 different kinds of creatures. That is why, I do not request Allah to fulfill your demand of a heavenly table of food (Maidah), because if some of you become infidels thereafter, they will also be punished by Allah like those in the past. I am very kind towards you and hence I don’t like to see you in punishment. Thereafter, the Holy Prophet (S) observed a bird flying in the sky. He asked one of his companions: Go and tell that bird, that the Messenger of Allah (S) orders you to drop to the earth.
The command was conveyed and the bird fell down. Then the Prophet asked his companions: Surround this bird from all sides. They did so. The bird had, as ordered become so big that more than ten thousand persons could surround it. Then the Holy Prophet (S) said: O bird! By the command of Allah, dissect your wings and feathers. It complied with the order instantly. Only flesh and skin was visible with bones inside.
Then the Holy Prophet (S) ordered the bird to separate its beak and bones and legs. It did so. All these parts of the bird were scattered on ground and people were seated all around it. Then the Holy Prophet (S) ordered the bones to turn into cucumber. They did so. Then he said: The Almighty commands these wings and the big and small feathers to turn into onions, garlic and different kinds of vegetables. The order was complied with at once.
Then the Prophet asked his companions: Extend your hands and eat the provision using your hands as well as your knives. They did so. Then a hypocrite said: Muhammad imagines that in Paradise also there are birds, which will enable the people of Paradise to taste roasted meat on one side and cobwebs from their other side, but he has not yet shown this phenomenon in this world. The Almighty Allah made the Prophet (S) know what that hypocrite meant.
So the Holy Prophet (S) told his companions: O servants of Allah! Everyone of you should pick up his morsel reciting Bismillaahir Rah’maanir Rah’eem wa S’allallaahu a’laa muh’ammadinw wa aalihit’ t’ayyibeen.22 When you put that morsel into your mouth you will taste meat, gravy or sweet as desired by you. The companions did so and got what they had desired. All got gratified. Then they said: O Allah’s Messenger! We are satisfied with eatables.
Now we need some good drink. The Holy Prophet (S) asked: Do you want milk and other drinks? They replied: Yes, some of us do want it. The Holy Prophet (S) said: Take a piece from this bird’s meat and put it in your mouth reciting Bismillaahir Rah’maanir Rah’eem wa S’allallaahu a’laa muh’ammadinw wa aalihit’ t’ayyibeen. That morsel will turn into anything, giving you the desired taste of drinks. They did so and became fully satisfied.
Then the Holy Prophet (S) told that bird: O bird, the Almighty Allah orders you to revert to your original form and shape and all the organs and parts of your body which had become eatables should regain their earlier figure, form and size. So it happened. Then the Holy Prophet (S) said: O bird, the Almighty Allah commands your departed spirit to come back to you.
So that also happened. Then the Holy Prophet (S) said: O bird, now the Almighty Allah orders you to rise from ground and begin to fly in the sky as you were doing earlier. The bird, before the eyes of the companions, rose from the ground and flew away into the sky. When they looked on the ground they found none of the eatables.