The man who plucked out his eye
Ka’ab relates, once at the time of Prophet Musa (AS), there was a drought. The Bani Israeel asked him to pray for rain. Prophet Musa told them to come with him to the mountain. When they climbed the mountain he said to his people, “Whoever has committed a sin? then do not follow me.”
They all turned back down the mountain except for one man. He was blind from one eye and known to the people as Barkh. Prophet Musa asked him, “Did you not hear what I said?” “Yes” he replied. Prophet Musa asked again, “Have you never committed a sin?” Barkh paused and then replied,
“I cannot remember committing a sin except for one, but I do not know whether it is regarded as a sin. I will mention in to you and if it is a sin I shall return.” Prophet Musa enquired, “What is it?” Barkh replied, “Once I happened to pass the door of a house which was open. I glanced in and saw somebody, but I was not able to tell whether it was a man or a woman. I said to my eye, ‘Out of my whole body you hurried to commit a sin, you cannot remain with me anymore’, so I plucked out my eye. If this is a sin, I will return.” Prophet Musa assured him that he had not sinned and then told him to pray for rain. They prayed to Allah, “Oh Almighty, whatever you have does not finish. There is no end to your treasures; you cannot be accused of being miserly. Oh Allah show us your mercy and send forth rain.” The narrator states that they both walked home in the mud.
Agony of a piece of wood
A beautiful tradition reported by Al Hasan Al Basri on the authority of Anas Ibn Malek is the following. He said: The Messenger of Allah peace be upon him used to give the Friday sermon while standing near a piece of wood against which he would lean his back. When the number of people increased in the mosque he said: Make a pulpit of two steps for me, which they did. When the Prophet stood up to give the sermon on Friday the said piece of wood moaned as if it expressed its sad feeling of missing the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him. Anas comments: I was in the mosque and heard the piece moan. It continued to moan until the Prophet descended to it and embraced it. Then it was silent. As a matter of fact, whenever Al Hasan narrated this tradition he would cry and say: O slaves of Allah! A piece of wood misses the Messenger of Allah! It is you who should do so.
Story extracted from the book “Luminaries of Islam” by Arafat K. El-Ashi
