Musa ibn ʿAbd al-Qadir informed us; Saʿid ibn al-Bannaʾ informed us; Abu al-Qasim ibn al-Busri informed us; Abu Tahir al-Mukhlis narrated to us; Abu al-Qasim al-Baghawi narrated to us; Shayban ibn Farrukh narrated to us; Mubarak ibn Fadala narrated to us, from al-Hasan, from Anas ibn Malik, who said:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to deliver the Friday sermon beside a wooden trunk, leaning his back against it. When the number of worshippers increased, he said, ‘Build me a pulpit with two steps.’
When he mounted the pulpit to preach, the trunk yearned for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I was in the mosque and heard the trunk crying like a bereaved she-camel. It went on weeping until he came down to it, embraced it, and it fell silent.
Whenever al-Hasan related this ḥadith he would weep, then say, ‘Servants of Allah, the piece of wood longed for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ out of yearning for him; you are even more deserving of longing to meet him.’
This is a ḥasan, singular ḥadith (1); I have not encountered any chain from al-Hasan more elevated than this—apart from one other report which I shall cite.
Ahmad ibn Ishaq al-Hamadhani informed us; al-Fath ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad, the scribe, informed us; al-Urmawi, Muhammad al-Taraʾifi, and Abu Ghalib ibn al-Dayyah likewise said: Abu Jaʿfar ibn al-Muslimah informed us; Abu al-Fadl ʿUbayd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Zuhri informed us; Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad al-Firyabi narrated to us; Shayban ibn Farrukh narrated to us; Mubarak ibn Fadala narrated to us:
Al-Hasan explained this verse: “Have you seen the one who takes his own desire as his god?” (al-Jathiyah 45:23)