…and thus its overall authenticity is indisputable. As for the palm-trunk’s being offered a choice, as our teacher has mentioned, that report is neither mutawātir nor even sound in its chain of transmission.

I have cited it in Dalāʾil from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, and it is also mentioned in the Musnad of Aḥmad and the Sunan of Ibn Mājah. From Anas it comes through five chains: al-Tirmidhī judged one of them authentic, Ibn Mājah records a second, Aḥmad a third, al-Bazzār a fourth, and Abū Nuʿaym a fifth. From Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allah it is found in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī by two routes, in al-Bazzār by a third and a fourth, and in Aḥmad by a fifth and a sixth, all of which meet Muslim’s criteria. From Sahl ibn Saʿd it is related in the Muṣannaf of Ibn Abī Shaybah according to the conditions of the two Ṣaḥīḥs. From Ibn ʿAbbās it appears in the Musnad of Aḥmad and the Sunan of Ibn Mājah with a chain that meets Muslim’s standard; from Ibn ʿUmar in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, and Aḥmad also relates it through another path from him. From Abū Saʿīd it is transmitted in the Musnad of ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd with a chain upon Muslim’s standard, while Abū Yaʿlā al-Mawṣilī narrates it via another route. From ʿĀʾishah it is reported by the ḥāfiẓ Abū Nuʿaym through ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Jūrabī, from Qabīṣah, from Ḥabbān ibn ʿAlī, from Ṣāliḥ ibn Ḥabbān, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Buraydah, from ʿĀʾishah; he recounts the ḥadith in full, stating that the Prophet ﷺ offered the trunk the choice between this world and the next, whereupon it chose the Hereafter and sank into the earth until it disappeared, its whereabouts unknown. This chain—and its wording—is both rare and singular. From Umm Salamah it is related by Abū Nuʿaym with a good isnād.

The ḥadiths have already been presented earlier ⦗1⦘ with their chains laid out, their wording examined, and their sources identified; that spares us from repeating them here. Whoever studies them carefully will reach certainty regarding the matter, and to Allah belong all praise and favor.

Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā al-Sabtī al-Mālikī said in his book al-Shifāʾ ⦗2⦘: “This is a well-known mutawātir ḥadith produced by the compilers of the Ṣaḥīḥ collections. More than a dozen Companions transmitted it, among them: Ubayy, Anas, Buraydah, Jābir, Sahl ibn Saʿd, Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn ʿUmar, al-Muṭṭalib ibn Abī Wadaʿah, Abū Saʿīd, and Umm Salamah—may Allah be pleased with them all.”

Our teacher said: “These inanimate objects and plants came to life ⦗3⦘ and spoke; that parallels the staff turning into a living serpent.”

I add: We shall refer to this again when we discuss the miracles of Jesus (peace be upon him) in reviving the dead by Allah’s permission, in connection with what al-Bayhaqī narrates—from al-Ḥākim, from Abū Aḥmad ibn Abī al-Ḥusayn, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥātim, from his father, from ʿAmr ibn Sawād—who said: “Al-Shāfiʿī said to me, ‘Allah has not granted any prophet what He granted to Muhammad ﷺ.’” I replied: