“Jesus was granted the power to bring the dead back to life,” I said. He replied, “Muhammad was granted the palm-trunk that stood beside him while he preached, until a pulpit was prepared for him. When the pulpit was set up, the trunk moaned so loudly that its sound was heard; this is greater than that.” (1)
The chain of transmission to al-Shāfiʿī—may Allah have mercy on him—is sound. I often heard our teacher, the ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Mizzī—may Allah have mercy on him and ennoble his resting-place—relate it from al-Shāfiʿī.
Al-Shāfiʿī said that it was “greater” because a palm-trunk is not a locus of life; nevertheless it sensed separation when the Prophet ﷺ left it for the pulpit. It bellowed and groaned like a pregnant she-camel until the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came down to it, embraced it, and calmed it until it became still.
Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī commented, “If that trunk yearned for him, you are even more deserving of yearning for him.” Now, for life to return—by Allah’s permission—to a body that once possessed it is indeed magnificent; yet it is still more wondrous and greater for life and awareness to arise in something wholly unaccustomed to them, in which they had never existed at all. Exalted is Allah, Lord of all worlds!
Notice: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ possessed a standard that was carried with him in battle; it struck fear into the hearts of his enemies a month’s march ahead of him. He also had a small spear (ʿanazah) that was borne before him; whenever he wished to pray in an open place without a wall or barrier, it was planted in front of him. And he had a staff (qaḍīb) on which he leaned while walking. It is this staff to which the soothsayer Saṭīḥ alluded when he said to his sister’s son ʿAbd al-Masīḥ ibn Baqīlah:
O ʿAbd al-Masīḥ!
When recitation abounds,
The bearer of the staff appears,
And Lake Sāwah dries up,
Then Syria will no longer be Saṭīḥ’s Syria. (2)
Thus, mentioning these objects alongside the revival of Moses’s staff and its transformation into a serpent is more fitting, for they parallel that miracle. Moreover, they are many and occurred in different places, whereas the staff of Moses—though it was turned into a serpent more than once—remained a single object. Allah knows best. We shall point this out again when discussing the raising of the dead at the hands of Jesus, for these [miracles] are more astonishing, greater, and clearer. Allah knows best.
Our teacher said: As for Allah’s having spoken directly to Moses, we have already established that speech occurred for the Prophet ﷺ on the night of the Miʿrāj, together with the vision, and that is more emphatic. It is attested to by the divine address:
“Then I was called: ‘O Muhammad! I have completed My obligation and lightened the burden upon My servants.’” (3)
The remainder of the narrative points to this. Some scholars have claimed consensus on it, but I found that Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ (4) transmits a difference of opinion on the matter—and Allah knows best.
As for the vision itself, there is a well-known dispute about it among both the early and later scholars. Among the leading authorities it was championed by Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Khuzaymah, renowned as the “Imam of the Imams,” and it was likewise preferred by Qāḍī (5) ʿIyāḍ and Shaykh Muḥy al-Dīn al-Nawawī (6).