[For the Mods. I am opening this thread only for information purposes and not to have slanging match with anyone - If you feel that this thread should be deleted/closed please do so (as if you need my permission.)]
*Narrated Abu Hurayra (RA): The Prophet (s) said, "The (people of) Bani Israel used to take bath naked (all Together) looking at each other. The prophet Moses (RA) used to take bath, alone. They said, ‘By Allah! Nothing prevents Moses from talking a bath with us except that he has a scrotal hernia.’ So, once Moses went out to take a bath and put his clothes over a stone and then that stone ran away with the clothes. Moses followed the stone saying, “My clothes, O stone! My clothes, O stone! Till the people of Bani Israel saw him and said 'By Allah, Moses has got no defect in his body. Moses took his clothes and began to beat the stone.” Abu- Hurayra added, “By Allah! There are still six or seven marks present on the stone from the beating.” * Sahih Bukhari
Sheraz-CT I think you were querying about this hadith repeatedly in that now (infamous) thread ( www.paklinks.com/gs/showthread.php?t=178031 ). I was hoping that some more knowledgeable person will respond.
Anyway I got in touch with a very good friend of mine who is well aware about the hadiths from Sahih Bukhari that Shias generally ‘throw’ at Sunnis to ‘explain’.
Before I state what my dear friend had replied, I would like to add the following points myself.
If you read about Hz. Musa (as) in the Quran you will notice that even stranger events took place.
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Moses turns his staff into a snake and makes his hand turn white. Quran reference: - 26:32
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Moses throws his staff down which turns into a huge serpent and it swallows the wizards’ ‘serpents’. Quran reference: -26:45
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Moses turns his staff into a serpent. Quran reference: - 20: 18-20
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He split the Red Sea by striking it with the staff that he was holding.
Hz. Musa (as) was a Prophet of Allah (swt); and Prophets do perform miracles.
You may be finding it ‘funny’ that the “stone ran away with the Hz. Musa (ra)’s clothes. I am going to narrate and incident from Prophet Muhammad (saw)‘s life. Please do not ask me for reference as I read a long time ago. (If you don’t believe it just discard it)
Abu Jahal once confronted Prophet Muhammad (saw), while concealing some pebbles in his fists with: “You claim that you are a Prophet of Allah and that Allah gives you the news of the unknown?”
“Yes, that’s what I claim” replied the Prophet (saw).
“Now tell me what do I have in my hands” asked Abu Jahal rather eagerly.
“I’ll do one better, that what you have in your hands will inform you about me” was Prophet Muhammad (saw)’s reply.
“We bear witness that you Muhammad are the Prophet of Allah” was heard by every one within the earshot coming from the closed fists of Abu Jahal.
Enraged and in shock Abu Jahal threw the stones down and retorted, “You are nothing but a magician” before he stormed away.
I am sure you believe in the splitting of the moon by the Prophet (saw). Try telling this to your non-Muslim friends and they will laugh their heads off.
This is what my knowledgeable friend has stated:
Now coming to the hadith that you have questioned; there is another more detailed hadith covering the same incident is as follows:
Narrated Abu Huraira:- Allah’s Apostle said, "(The Prophet) Moses was a shy person and used to cover his body completely because of his extensive shyness. One of the children of Israel hurt him by saying, ‘He covers his body in this way only because of some defect in his skin, either leprosy or scrotal hernia, or he has some other defect.’ Allah wished to clear Moses of what they said about him, so 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 the bath, he moved towards his clothes so as to take them, but the stone took his clothes and fled; Moses picked up his stick and ran after the stone saying, ‘O stone! Give me my garment!’ Till he reached a group of Bani Israel who saw him naked then, and found him the best of what Allah had created, and Allah cleared him of what they had accused him of. The stone stopped there and Moses took and put his garment on and started hitting the stone with his stick. By Allah, the stone still has some traces of the hitting, three, four or five marks. THIS IS WAS WHAT ALLAH REFERS TO IN HIS SAYING: – “O you who believe! Be you not like those Who annoyed Moses, But Allah proved his innocence of that which they alleged, And he was honorable In Allah’s Sight.” (33.69) - Sahih Al-Bukhari - Volume 4, Book 55, Number 616
The children of Israel mistreated Moses (pbuh) a lot. His agony was not limited to mutiny, stupidity, chattering, ignorance, and idolatry; it exceeded this and went as far as inflicting personal harm on him.
Allah wished to clear Moses of what they said about him, so one day while Moses was in seclusion, he took his clothes and put them on a s tone and started taking a bath.
When he had finished the bath, he moved towards his clothes so as to take them, but the stone took his clothes and fled. Moses picked up his stick and ran after the stone saying: ‘O stone! Give me my garment!’ till he reached a group of children of Israel who saw him naked then, and found him in the best shape of what Allah had created, and Allah cleared him of what they had accused him of.
The stone stopped there, and Moses took and put on his garment and started hitting the stone with his stick. By Allah, the stone still has some traces of the hitting, three, four, or five marks. This was what Allah the Almighty refers to in His saying: O you who believe! Be not like those who annoyed Moses, but Allah cleared him of that which they alleged, and he was honourable in Allah’s sight!" (Ch 33:69 Quran) (Sahih Al-Bukhari)
Now for a real surprise for you.
This hadith is also recorded by your great (Shia) Mufassir Abul-hasan Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Qummi in his Tafsir of Quran ‘Tafsir-ul-Qummi’ of Sura Al-Ahzab where he records the following:
“Abu Abdullah (Imam Jaffar) reported that that Banu Israil were saying that Mosa doesn’t have what men have and when Musa wanted to take a bath he would go to a place where nobody could see him. One day he was taking a bath at a river, so he put his clothes on a stone so Allah (swt) ordered the stone (to go away) so it went away from him until Banu Israil saw him and knew that it was wrong what they said about him.”
The prominent Shia scholar al-Fadl b. al-Hasan al-Tabrisi has confirmed this event in his Majma’ Al-Bayan.
Another prominent Shia scholar, Ni’matallah al-Jaza’iri, has defended this report, too.
Now you did not know that prominent Shia scholars and Imam Jaffar as-Sadiq (ra) ( Keep in mind that you take him to be an infallible person and you cannot doubt or contradict his sayings) are in complete agreement with the hadith which you were mocking at.
You can confirm with Shia scholars of the references given from the Shias books.
