Source Attribution
This excerpt is taken from the book “Aḥkām o Masā’il in the Light of the Qur’an and Sunnah” by Shaykh Mubashir Aḥmad Rabbānī.
Question
The palm tree trunk against which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to lean while delivering the sermon—when he later stopped leaning on it after a pulpit (minbar) was made, the sound that was heard from it:
Was it like the crying of a child, or like the sound of a pregnant she-camel?
Answer
In the ḥadīth narrated by Jābir bin ʿAbdullāh رضي الله عنهما, it is mentioned that the sound coming from that palm trunk was like the crying of a child, against which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to lean while delivering the sermon.
In another narration from Jābir رضي الله عنه, it is mentioned that the sound was similar to that of a pregnant she-camel that had completed ten months.
In Sunan al-Dārimī, in a narration reported by Anas bin Mālik رضي الله عنه, the sound is described as being similar to the sound of a bull.
There is no contradiction among these authentic narrations. When a child cries, it produces various kinds of sounds, and in a single incident, different sounds may be perceived at different times.
The Companions رضي الله عنهم described the sound based on what it resembled to them at the moment, therefore all these descriptions are correct and valid.
