until he had finished it.” The rest of the hadith follows. Also reported in the two Sahīh collections (1), also (2), is Jābir’s account: “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stood up and began with the prayer, then addressed the people afterward. When Allah’s Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had finished, he came down, approached the women, and admonished them.” The rest of the hadith follows. This indicates that he delivered the sermon from a pulpit or his mount. Might a pulpit of unbaked bricks and clay, or something similar, have been built for him?

The reply is: There is no doubt that these two hadiths are authentic, nor that the pulpit was not taken out of the mosque. The first to take it out was Marwān ibn al-Hakam, and his action was objected to. As for the pulpit of unbaked bricks and clay, the first to build it was Kathīr ibn al-Salt during Marwān’s governorship of Medina, as reported in the two Sahīh collections (3). Perhaps, then, he (peace and blessings be upon him) would stand at the prayer ground on an elevated spot or a raised platform—known as a mistabba—then descend from it to the women, stand before them, and address them, exhorting and admonishing them. Allah knows best.

He would begin all his sermons with praise of Allah. Not a single hadith has been preserved from him stating that he began the sermons of the two Eids by proclaiming Allah’s greatness. Rather, Ibn Mājah merely reported in his Sunan (4), from Saʿd (5), the Prophet’s muezzin, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would frequently proclaim Allah’s greatness (6) between the various parts of