The Stone Started Running away with the Clothes

salahdin

Junior Member
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The Stone Started Running away with the Clothes


The Prophet Moses (Pbuh) was a shy person. He used to cover his body completely because of his extensive shyness. One of the men of Israel hurt him by saying, “He covers his body, perhaps to hide some defects of his skin; either leprosy or scrotal hernia or he has some other defect”. Allah wished to show that Moses was not having any defect which they imagined and talked of. One day while Moses was in seclusion, he took off his clothes and put them on a stone and started taking a bath. When he had finished bathing, he moved towards his clothes to dress. But the stone rolled away along with the clothes.

Moses picked up his stick and ran after the stone saying, “O stone! Give me my garments! Till he reached a group of Banu Israel who saw him naked, and found him the best of what Allah had created. And Allah cleared Moses of the accusation of the people of Israel. The stone stopped there and Moses picked up and put on his garment and started hitting the stone with his stick. By Allah four or five marks of the stick can still be found on the stone.” (Bukhari: 2/483)

Moral of the Story
It is stated that all Prophets who ever lived in the world throughout the ages were shy and modest. It was said about the Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) that he was more shy than a celibate veiled-girl. Whenever he disliked anything, the companions could easily recognize his aversion on his face. (Muslim; 2/255)

Modesty, however, is a vital part of faith. Virtually, all Prophets had complete faith, thereby, they all were extremely modest. The Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) made this important moral value very clear in a speech saying, “Modesty is a part of faith and faith is a means to reach paradise, whereas, immodesty is a kind of cruelty and disbelief. And the consequence of disbelief is Hell-fire.” (Tirmizi;2/21)

However, the Prophet Moses was very modest and a shy person. On the contrary, Banu Israel were very immodest as well as most rude. They were notorious known for their persecution and the suffering they caused to Prophets. They left no stone unturned to persecute the Prophet Moses. Banu Israel misinterpreted his modesty and blamed and offended him by censuring and defaming him. It is worthy to be mentioned here that all the Prophets were unblemished and free from any kind of physical and moral defects. Hence, when Banu Israel started blaming and mocking at the Prophet Moses Allah wanted to justify and purify him from their baseless blame. Qur’an, the holy book, also refers to this incident in the verse below and completely vindicated the Prophet Moses. “O ye who believe! Be ye not like those who hurt the Prophet Moses (Pbuh). But Allah cleared him of the calumnies they had uttered, and he was honourable in Allah’s sight.” (Qur’an:33/69)

There are two miracles which took place in this incident, one of them the fleeing of the stone with the clothes, another is the traces of the hitting available on the stone to this day. It is believed that it was the same stone from where the twelve springs gushed. (Al-Mirquat: 11/4)

It is also a miracle that an inorganic hard substance was affected by hitting. There is a Hadith which throws light upon the subject. However, it is narrated that the Prophet (Pbuh) used to stand by a stem of a date-palm tree (while delivering a sermon). When the Prophet (Pbuh) stopped leaning against the stem we heard the stem crying like a pregnant she-camel, till the Prophet (Pbuh) got down from the pulpit and placed his hand over the stem. (Bukhari : 1/125)

We must avoid all kinds of baseless suspicion, spying or enquiring curiously into other people’s affairs. It would be better to mention here that back-biting also is a brood of the same genus. Sometimes these sins may be crimes. Therefore, all in all, they are despicable. Moreover, Allah also censures those people who indulge in this type of mischief;

“O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible), for suspicion in some cases is a sin, and spy not upon each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it - but fear Allah, for Allah is oft-returning, most merciful.” (Qur’an: 49/12)

There is another verse in this context which throws light on this very concept of conjectures and suspicions and denounces those who entertain such baseless thoughts. “They follow nothing but conjecture and conjecture avails nothing against truth.” (Qur’an: 53/28)


 
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