(6) باب اسْتِحْبَابِ خَلْطِ الأَزْوَادِ إِذَا قَلَّتْ وَالْمُؤَاسَاةِ فِيهَا
Iyas b. Salama reported on the authority of his father:
We set out on an expedition with, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). We faced hardship (in getting provisions) until we decided to slaughter some of our riding animals. Allah's Apostle (ﷺ), commanded us to pool our provisions of food. So we spread a sheet of leather and the provisions of the people were collected on it. I stretched myself to measure how much that was (the length and breadth of the sheet on which the provisions were laid). I measured it and (found) that it was (in length and breadth) of (so much size) on which a goat could sit. We were fourteen hundred persons. We (all) ate until we were fully satisfied and then filled our bags with provisions. Then Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) said: Is there any water for performing ablution. Then there came a man with a small bucket containing some water. He threw it in a basin. We all fourteen hundred persons performed ablution using the water in plenty. Then there came after that eight persons and they said: Is there any water to perform ablution? Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: The ablution has already been performed.
Reference: Sahih Muslim 1729
In-book reference: Book 31, Hadith 20
USC-MSA web (English) reference(deprecated numbering scheme): Book 18, Hadith 4291