A Miracle

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) 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 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 Bukhari]

There is a difference between this story and what is found in the books of the Christians and the Jews which are full of allegations and accusations of defects and shortcomings imputed to the Prophets and Messengers of Allah. Indeed Moses did not intend to show his Awrah (private parts) to his people as he went to a remote place away from any sight. But the stone ran away with his clothes. So, he ran behind it in order to get his clothes and he did not know that he would encounter anybody in the area. Surprisingly a group of his people happened to be in that very area. So, they saw him. Allah wanted to acquit Prophet Musa from his people's accusations. So, Musa's innocence was proved through this great miracle. There is nothing in the Hadith nor the verse that decreases the honor of Musa. On the contrary, this verse and Hadith express clearly and eloquently, the frankness of Musa, and his high qualities both morally and physically. The verse and the Hadith also stress the prohibition of accusing Prophet Musa or any other Prophets of things that are not suitable to him or them.