Hadith One – on the authority of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb

Imām Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī (1) said: Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad narrated to us, saying, “ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl informed me from al-Tufayl ibn Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, from his father, who said:

The Prophet ﷺ used to pray facing a date-palm trunk at a time when the mosque was still a simple shelter of palm branches, and he would deliver the sermon leaning on that trunk. One of his Companions suggested, ‘Messenger of Allah, shall we not make a pulpit for you to stand upon on Fridays so that the people can hear your sermon?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’

Accordingly they built three steps—the very three that form the pulpit. When the pulpit had been completed and placed in the spot the Messenger of Allah ﷺ designated, the Prophet ﷺ decided to stand upon it and preach. He walked toward it, but as soon as he passed the trunk against which he used to preach, it moaned and groaned until it split apart. The Prophet ﷺ came down when he heard its cry, stroked it with his hand, and then returned to the pulpit.

Later, when the mosque was rebuilt, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (2) took that trunk and kept it until it decayed; termites consumed it and it finally turned to dust.

Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (3) narrated the same report through Zakariyyā ibn ʿAdī, from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAmr al-Raqqī, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAqīl, from al-Tufayl, from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb. His wording adds: “He rubbed it with his hand until it quieted, then returned to the pulpit, and whenever he prayed, he prayed facing it,” while the remainder is identical. Ibn Mājah (4) likewise transmitted it through Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Raqqī from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿAmr al-Raqqī.

Hadith Two – on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Yaʿlā al-Mawṣilī (5) said: Abū Khaythamah narrated to us; ʿUmar ibn Yūnus al-Ḥanafī narrated to us; ʿIkrimah ibn ʿAmmār narrated to us; Isḥāq ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ṭalḥah narrated to us from Anas ibn Mālik, who said:

On Fridays the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would rest his back against an upright trunk set up in the mosque and address the people. A Roman craftsman came to him and said, ‘Shall I not make something for you to sit upon while appearing to be standing?’ He then built a pulpit of two steps, with the Prophet sitting on the third.

When the Prophet of Allah ﷺ sat upon the pulpit, the trunk bellowed like a bull; the mosque shook at its sound, grieving for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ descended from the pulpit, embraced it while it was groaning, and when he embraced it, it fell silent. He then said:

‘By Him in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul, had I not embraced it, it would have continued thus until the Day of Resurrection, out of sorrow for the Messenger of Allah.’

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then ordered that it be buried.