Tenth sign:

This concerns the grieving pole, which is reported in the form of tawatur and reinforces the tree-related miracles. This event, which happened in the Prophet's Mosque before a vast congregation, consolidates and confirms such miracles, for the pole came from a tree. But this miracle itself is mutawatir (has the certainty of explicit tawatur), while miracles concerning trees are mutawatir when considered as a whole.

The Prophet used to lean on a date-palm pole while delivering a sermon in his mosque. However, when he began to deliver his sermons on the newly constructed pulpit, the congregation heard the pole moan like a camel. Its moaning ended only after the Messenger consoled it by putting 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 Tradition narrators 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 Umm Salama (mother of the believers). Hundreds of Tabi'un authorities received it from the Companions, and authentic books of Tradition, above all Bukhari and Muslim, transmitted it to the following centuries.

Jabir reports that God's Messenger used to lean against the pole, called the "date-palm trunk," when delivering a sermon in his mosque. After a pulpit was built, the Prophet would deliver his sermon from it. Due to this separation, the pole moaned like a pregnant camel. Anas relates that it moaned like a water buffalo and caused the mosque to tremble. Sahl ibn 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 it was separated from the recitation of God's Names (during the sermon)." According to another version, he said: "If I had not embraced and consoled it, it would have wept until the Day of Judgment because of its separation 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 from whence 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 and God's friends will eat from your fruits." Then he listened to it, and the people in the mosque heard the pole say: "Plant me in Paradise, and God's friends will eat from my fruits in the place where there is no decay." God's Messenger replied that he would and added: "It has preferred the World of Eternity to the transitory one."

The well-known scholar Hasan al-Basri would weep whenever he recounted this miraculous event to his disciples, and would say: "A piece of wood demonstrates such love and ardor for God's noble, most beloved Messenger. You need to feel this love much more than a piece wood does."[1] And we say: "That is true, and love and ardor for him are possible by adhering to his illustrious Sunna and Shari'a."

[1] 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'il al-Nubuwwa, 2:399; Darimi, Sunan, No. 39; Kanz al-'Ummal, 12:411-18.