Chapter 10 Tenth Sign: The grieving pole

 This concerns the grieving pole, which is reported in the form of 

 tawatur

and reinforces the tree-related miracles. This event, which happened inthe Prophet's Mosque before a vast congregation, consolidates and con-firms such miracles, for the pole came from a tree. But this miracle itself is

 mutawatir

 (has the certainty of explicit

 tawatur

), while miracles con-cerning trees are

 mutawatir

 when considered as a whole.The Prophet used to lean on a date-palm pole while delivering a ser-mon in his mosque. However, when he began to deliver his sermons onthe newly constructed pulpit, the congregation heard the pole moan likea camel. Its moaning ended only after the Messenger consoled it by put-ting his hand on it.This miracle is widely known and has the certainty of explicit

 tawatur

.It was reported through different channels by an illustrious group of Companions, among them such eminent scholars and leading Traditionnarrators as Anas ibn Malik and Jabir ibn 'Abdullah al-Ansari (both of whom served the Prophet), 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas,Sahl ibn Sa'd, Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, Ubay ibn Ka'b, Burayda, and UmmSalama (mother of the believers). Hundreds of Tabi'un authorities re-ceived it from the Companions, and authentic books of Tradition, aboveall

 Bukhari

 and

 Muslim

, transmitted it to the following centuries. Jabir reports that God's Messenger used to lean against the pole, calledthe "date-palm trunk," when delivering a sermon in his mosque. After apulpit was built, the Prophet would deliver his sermon from it. Due tothis separation, the pole moaned like a pregnant camel. Anas relates thatit moaned like a water buffalo and caused the mosque to tremble. Sahlibn Sa'd says: "When it moaned, many people burst into tears."According to Ubay ibn Ka'b, the pole sobbed so much that it split.Another report relates that God's Messenger said: "It moaned because itwas separated from the recitation of God's Names (during the sermon)."

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According to another version, he said: "If I had not embraced and con-soled it, it would have wept until the Day of Judgment because of its sep-aration from the Messenger."According to Burayda, the Messenger put his hand on the pole when it began to weep and said: "If you wish, I will restore you in the wood fromwhence you came so that you may be rooted again, perfectly flourishing,and yield fruit again. Or, if you wish, I will plant you in Paradise andGod's friends will eat from your fruits." Then he listened to it, and thepeople in the mosque heard the pole say: "Plant me in Paradise, andGod's friends will eat from my fruits in the place where there is no de-cay." God's Messenger replied that he would and added: "It has pre-ferred the World of Eternity to the transitory one."The well-known scholar Hasan al-Basri would weep whenever he re-counted this miraculous event to his disciples, and would say: "A pieceof wood demonstrates such love and ardor for God's noble, most be-loved Messenger. You need to feel this love much more than a piecewood does."

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And we say: "That is true, and love and ardor for him arepossible by adhering to his illustrious Sunna and Shari'a."

113.Bukhari, Sahih, 4:237; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, nos. 2236, 2237, 2400, 2401, 2430-32;Muslim, Sahih, no. 2374; Qadi 'Iyad, al-Shifa' al-Sharif, 1:304-5; Nasa'i, Sunan, 3:102;Tirmidhi, Sunan, No. 3631; Bayhaqi, Dala'il al-Nubuwwa, 6:66; Abu Nu'aym, Dala'ilal-Nubuwwa, 2:399; Darimi, Sunan, No. 39; Kanz al-'Ummal, 12:411-18.