the saints, will eat of your fruit.’ He then listened to the pole. The people behind God’s Messenger could hear it as it spoke, saying: ‘Plant me in Paradise, where there is no decay, so that Almighty God’s beloved servants will eat of my fruit.’ The Messenger said: ‘I will,’ and added: ‘It has preferred the eternal realm to that of transitoriness.’” Abu Ishaq Isfarani, one of the great authorities on theology, narrated: “God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) did not go to the pole, but it came to him, at his command. Then, at his command, it returned to its place.”(153) Ubayy b. Ka‘b says: “After this extraordinary event, God’s Messenger ordered that the pole be put under the pulpit. It was put there and remained there until the mosque was pulled down before being rebuilt. Then Ubayy b. Ka‘b took it and kept it until it decayed.(154)

The famous scholar Hasan al-Basri would weep while teaching this miraculous event to his students, and say to them: “A piece of wood demonstrated love and longing for God’s Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace), so you should feel more love than that.”(155) As for us, we say, Yes, and love and longing for him is shown through following his illustrious Practices and sacred Shari‘a.

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(153) Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa: i, 304.
(154) Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa:i, 304; Ibn Maja, Iqamat al-Salat 199; Darimi, Muqaddima 6.
(155) Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa: i, 305.