A beautiful tradition reported by Al Hasan Al Basri on the authority of Anas Ibn Malek is the following. He said: The Messenger of Allah peace be upon him used to give the Friday sermon while standing near a piece of wood against which he would lean his back. When the number of people increased in the mosque he said: Make a pulpit of two steps for me, which they did. When the Prophet stood up to give the sermon on Friday the said piece of wood moaned as if it expressed its sad feeling of missing the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him. Anas comments: I was in the mosque and heard the piece moan. It continued to moan until the Prophet descended to it and embraced it. Then it was silent. As a matter of fact, whenever Al Hasan narrated this tradition he would cry and say: O slaves of Allah! A piece of wood misses the Messenger of Allah! It is you who should do so.
Story extracted from the book "Luminaries of Islam" by Arafat K. El-Ashi
