What is the correct story of the moaning of the tree trunk? Did the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) speak with it? Was it buried under the minbar? Was it planted in Paradise and where? And what happened to it?

Firstly: The yearning of the tree trunk for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is a well-established and widely transmitted (mutawatir) matter. Al-Bukhari and others narrated that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to deliver sermons while leaning on a tree trunk. When he acquired a minbar, he moved to it, whereupon the trunk moaned and cried out with a sound like that of a she-camel who has lost her young. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, embraced it, and it became still. He then said: "This (trunk) wept for what it missed of the remembrance (of Allah)."

Secondly: It has not been authentically established that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, spoke to the trunk. The narration that mentions he gave it a choice between being planted in Paradise or remaining in its place is not sound in its chain of transmission.

Thirdly: As for the fate of the trunk, Ibn Majah and others narrated from Ubayy ibn Ka'b that the trunk remained in the mosque, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would pray towards it. When the mosque was demolished and altered, Ubayy ibn Ka'b took it to his house until it decayed and was consumed by termites. There are other narrations, stronger in their chain of transmission, that indicate the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered the trunk to be buried.