Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 13799

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) reports that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When the Prophet of Allah, Sayyiduna Sulayman (peace be upon him), stood at his place of prayer, he would see a tree growing in front of him, and he would ask it: 'What is your name?' It would say: 'Such-and-such.' He would ask: 'What are you for?' It would say: 'For such-and-such.' If it was for planting, it would be planted, and if it was for a disease, it would be recorded. One day, as he began to pray, there was a tree in front of him. He asked: 'What is your name?' It said: 'Kharnub (carob).' Sayyiduna Sulayman (peace be upon him) asked: 'What are you for?' It replied: 'For the ruin of this house.' Sayyiduna Sulayman (peace be upon him) prayed: 'O Allah, conceal my death from the jinn, so that mankind may know that the jinn do not know the unseen.'" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Then Sayyiduna Sulayman (peace be upon him) carved a staff from it and leaned upon it. The termites kept eating the staff until it fell, and Sayyiduna Sulayman (peace be upon him) fell as well. Meanwhile the jinn had kept on working. They then estimated the termites' eating and found it to be a year. So it became clear to mankind that if the jinn had known the unseen, they would not have remained for a year in the humiliating punishment." Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) used to recite the verse in this way. Then the jinn thanked the termites, and they would bring water to them wherever they were.
Al-Tabarani recorded it, and al-Bazzar recorded something similar, both marfu' and mawquf; its chain contains Ata' bin al-Sa'ib, whose memory became confused (ikhtilat), and the rest of the narrators of both are the narrators of the Sahih.