anas ibn maalik (may allaah be pleased with him) said: “the arabs used to serve one another when they were travelling, and abu bakr and ‘umar had a man with them who was serving them. they fell asleep then woke up, and he had not prepared any food for them. one of them said to the other, ‘this man sleeps too much.’ (this is in tafseer ibn katheer, daar al-sha’b edn. according to the version quoted by al-albaani in al-silsilat al-saheehah, no. 2608, …). they woke him up and said, ‘go to the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) and tell him that abu bakr and ‘umar send their salaams to you and are asking for food.’ he (the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him)) said:

‘send my salaams to them and tell them that they have already eaten.’ they got worried, so they came to the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) and said, ‘o messenger of allaah, we sent word to you asking for food, and you told us that we had already eaten? what have we eaten?’ he said, ‘the flesh of your brother. by the one in whose hand is my soul, i can see his flesh between your teeth” – meaning the flesh of the one about whom they had backbitten.’ they said, ‘ask for forgiveness for us.’ he said, ‘let him ask for forgiveness for you.’” (al-silsilat al-saheehah, no. 2608. it was attributed to al-kharaa’iti in masaawa’ al-akhlaaq and to al-diya’ in al-mukhtaarah. ibn katheer mentioned it in his tafseer of soorat al-hujuraat, 7/363, dar al-sha’b edn.)