Abu Hazim b. Dinar said:
People came to Sahl b. Sa'd al-Sa'idi, when they were doubtful about the kind of wood of the pulpit (in the mosque of the Prophet). They asked him about it. He said: By Allah, I know (the wood) of which it was made; I saw it the first day when it was placed there, and the first day when the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sat on it. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) sent for a woman whom Sahl named and asked her: Order your boy, the carpenter, to construct for me a wooden pulpit so that I sit on it when I deliver a speech to the people. So she ordered him and he made a pulpit of a wood called tarfa taken from al-Ghabah (a place at a distance of nine miles from Medina). He brought it to her. She sent it to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He ordered and that was placed here. I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) praying on it: he said: "Allah is most great"; he then bowed while he was on it; then he returned and prostrated in the root of the pulpit; he then returned (to the pulpit). When he finished (the prayer), he addressed himself to the people and said: O people, I did this so that you may follow me and know my prayer.