
©2025 Make Islam Accessible.
All Rights Reserved
%2Fmoses.png&w=1080&q=75)
Moses' character is highly praised, as the most frequently mentioned prophet in the Quran. In hadith we are told that Allah's Messenger ﷺ said, "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 honourable In Allah's Sight." (33.69) [Bukhari 3404]
In our Prophet Mohammad's ﷺ miraculous night journey where he ascended into the heavens to meet Allah (remind yourself of this event here), he passed by Moses in the sixth heaven. In hadith we are told by the Prophet ﷺ: "We travelled on till we reached the sixth heaven and came to Moses (peace be upon him) and I greeted him and he said: Welcome unto righteous brother and righteous prophet. And when I passed (by him) he wept, and a voice was heard saying: What makes thee weep? He said: My Lord, he is a young man whom Thou hast sent after me (as a prophet) and his followers will enter Paradise in greater numbers than my followers.
We also are told about Moses advising our Prophet ﷺ when he had his divine meeting with Allah and was given the obligation of 50 prayers for his followers. Moses advised to go back to Allah and ask for Him to reduce it for his ummah as he had a difficult time with his own ummah. So our Prophet ﷺ went back and forth to Allah and Moses kept advising to lower the number until it reached 5 daily prayers. Allah said that these 5 prayers would carry the reward of 50.
Abu Hurairah told this story: 'The Angel of Death was sent to Moses. When he came, Moses struck him in the eye. The Angel went back to Allah and said, 'You sent me to someone who doesn't want to die.' Allah said, 'Tell him to place his hand on the back of an ox, and for every hair under his hand, he will have one more year of life.' Moses asked, 'What happens after that?' Allah replied, 'Then comes death.' Moses said, 'Let it come now!' Moses asked Allah to let him pass away close to the Holy Land, just a stone's throw away from it.' Abu Hurairah added, 'Allah's Messenger said, 'If I were there, I could show you his grave under the red sandhill on the roadside.'
Moses, the Prophet of Allah and the one Allah spoke to directly, faced his death with contentment and a faithful heart, eagerly looking forward to goodness and hurrying to meet the One who brought peaceful tidings.