Asma' bint Abi Bakr As-Siddiq said, "I went to 'Aishah and the people were offering Salat. I asked her, 'What is wrong with the people ?' She pointed towards the sky with her head. I asked her, 'Is there a sign ?' 'Aishah nodded with her head meaning 'Yes'." Asma' added, "Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) prolonged the Salat to such an extent that I fainted. There was a waterskin by my side and I opened it and poured some water on my head. When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) finished Salat, and the solar eclipse had cleared, the Prophet (ﷺ) addressed the people and praised Allah as He deserves and said, 'Amma ba'du'." Asma' further said, "Some Ansari women started talking, so I turned to them in order to make them quiet. I asked 'Aishah what the Prophet (ﷺ) had said. 'Aishah said: 'He said, 'I have seen things at this place of mine which were never shown to me before; (I have seen) even Paradise and Hell. And, no doubt it has been revealed to me that you (people) will be put in trial in your graves like or nearly like the trial of Masih Ad-Dajjal. (The angels) will come to everyone of you and ask him, 'What do you know about this man (Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ)) ?" The faithful believer or firm believer (Hisham was in doubt which word the Prophet (ﷺ) used), will say, 'He is Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and he is Muhammad (ﷺ) who came to us with clear evidences and guidance. So we believed him, accepted his teachings and followed and trusted his teaching.' Then the angels will tell him to sleep (in peace) as they have come to know that he was a believer. But the hypocrite or a doubtful person (Hisham is not sure as to which word the Prophet (ﷺ) used), will be asked what he knew about this man (Prophet Muhammed (ﷺ)). He will say, 'I do not know but I heard the people saying something (about him) so I said the same' " Hisham added, "Fatima told me that she remembered that narration completely by heart except that she said about the hypocrite or a doubtful person that he will be punished severely."

One day the Prophet (ﷺ) sat on the pulpit and we sat around him.

The Prophet (p.b.u.h) used to deliver the Khutba while standing and then he would sit, then stand again as you do now-a-days.

My father said , "I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) delivering the Khutba on the pulpit and he said, 'Whoever comes for the Jumua prayer should take a bath (before coming).' "

The Prophet (ﷺ) used to stand by a stem of a date-palm tree (while delivering a sermon). When the pulpit was placed for him we heard that stem crying like a pregnant she-camel till the Prophet (ﷺ) got down from the pulpit and placed his hand over it.

Some people went to Sahl bin Sa`d As-Sa`idi and told him that they had different opinions regarding the wood of the pulpit. They asked him about it and he said, "By Allah, I know of what wood the pulpit was made, and no doubt I saw it on the very first day when Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) took his seat on it. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) sent for such and such an Ansari woman (and Sahl mentioned her name) and said to her, 'Order your slave-carpenter to prepare for me some pieces of wood (i.e. pulpit) on which I may sit at the time of addressing the people.' So she ordered her slave-carpenter and he made it from the tamarisk of the forest and brought it (to the woman). The woman sent that (pulpit) to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) who ordered it to be placed here. Then I saw Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) praying on it and then bowed on it. Then he stepped back, got down and prostrated on the ground near the foot of the pulpit and again ascended the pulpit. After finishing the prayer he faced the people and said, 'I have done this so that you may follow me and learn the way I pray.' "

I heard As-Saib bin Yazid, saying, "In the lifetime of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), and Abu Bakr and `Umar, the Adhan for the Jumua prayer used to be pronounced after the Imam had taken his seat on the pulpit. But when the people increased in number during the caliphate of `Uthman, he introduced a third Adhan (on Friday for the Jumua prayer) and it was pronounced at Az-Zaura' and that new state of affairs remained so in the succeeding years.

`Uthman bin `Affan introduced the second Adhan on Fridays when the number of the people in the mosque increased. Previously the Adhan on Fridays used to be pronounced only after the Imam had taken his seat (on the pulpit).

I heard Muawiya bin Abi Sufyan (repeating the statements of the Adhan) while he was sitting on the pulpit. When the Mu'adh-dhin pronounced the Adhan saying, "Allahu-Akbar, Allahu Akbar", Muawiya said: "Allah Akbar, Allahu Akbar." And when the Mu'adh-dhin said, "Ash-hadu an la ilaha illal-lah (I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah)", Muawiya said, "And (so do) I". When he said, "Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah" (I testify that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle), Muawiya said, "And (so do) I". When the Adhan was finished, Muawiya said, "O people, when the Mu'adh-dhin pronounced the Adhan I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) on this very pulpit saying what you have just heard me saying".

The person who increased the number of Adhans for the Jumua prayers to three was `Uthman bin `Affan and it was when the number of the (Muslim) people of Medina had increased. In the lifetime of the Prophet (ﷺ) there was only one Mu'adh-dhin and the Adhan used to be pronounced only after the Imam had taken his seat (i.e. on the pulpit).