In the early days of Islam in Madinah, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ used to deliver his sermons (khutbahs) while leaning against the trunk of a date-palm tree in the mosque. He would also stand beside it when addressing the companions after prayers.
As the community of Muslims grew, it became difficult for everyone in the mosque to see and hear him clearly. Some of the companions suggested that a raised platform should be made so that he could be seen by all and deliver his sermons with ease.
A companion named Tamīm ad-Dārī (RA) who was familiar with the churches of the Levant where preachers used platforms suggested the idea of building a pulpit (minbar). The Prophet ﷺ approved the idea.
So, a carpenter who was a slave of an Ansari woman his name was Mīmūn was instructed to build it. He made a three-step wooden pulpit from tamarisk wood (some reports say from palm wood).
When the pulpit was completed, the Prophet ﷺ began using it for his sermons. But when he left the palm tree trunk to stand on the new pulpit, something miraculous happened.
The companions heard the trunk crying like a child, wailing out of longing and love for the Prophet ﷺ.
The Prophet ﷺ descended from the pulpit, embraced the trunk, and it quieted down, just as a child stops crying when held by its mother.
He then said:
“It was crying for what it used to hear of remembrance (dhikr).” (Reported by al-Bukhārī and others)
Afterward, the Prophet ﷺ ordered that the trunk be buried beneath the pulpit or planted in the mosque, and it remained a symbol of the love that even inanimate objects had for him.