#1148 It was
narrated from Tufail bin Ubayy bin Ka’b that his father said:
“The
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to pray facing the trunk of a date-
palm
tree when the mosque was still a hut, and he used to deliver the
sermon leaning on that trunk. A man from among his Companions said:
‘Would you like us to make you something upon which you can stand
on
Fridays so that the people will be able to see you and hear your
sermon?’ He said: ‘Yes.’ So he made three steps for him, as a
pulpit.
When they put the pulpit in place, they put it in the place
where it
stands now. When the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) wanted to
stand on the
pulpit, he passed by the tree trunk from which he used
to deliver the
sermon, and when he went beyond the trunk, it moaned
and split and
cracked. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came down when he
heard the
voice of the trunk, and rubbed it with his hand until it
fell silent.
Then he went back to the pulpit and when he prayed, he
prayed facing
it. When the mosque was knocked down (for renovation)
and (the
pillars, etc.) were changed, Ubayy bin Ka’b took that
trunk and kept
it in his house until it became very old and the
termites consumed it
and it became grains of dust.”