Musnad Ahmad 8301

Translation

✧ I stayed in Madinah with Abu Hurayrah for a year. One day, while we were near the room of ʿĀʾishah, he said to me: I remember a time when we had no clothes except worn-out striped cloaks, and days would pass for one of us without finding food to sustain his back, until one of us would take a stone and tie it to the hollow of his belly, then bind it with his garment to keep himself upright. One day, the Messenger of God ﷺ distributed dates among us, and each of us received seven dates, among them a dry, inferior one. It would not have pleased me to have a good date in its place. I said: Why? He said: Because it gives me more to chew. Then he said to me: Where have you come from? I said: From Syria. He said: Have you seen the stone of Moses? I said: What is the stone of Moses? He said: The Children of Israel said something about Moses regarding what was under his garments, in his private parts. So he placed his clothes on a rock while he was bathing. The rock ran off with his clothes. He followed in its tracks, saying: O stone, give me back my clothes! O stone, give me back my clothes! Until it came with him to the Children of Israel, and they saw him as a well-formed man with good physique. [Then it struck him three blows.] By the One in whose hand is Abu Hurayrah's soul, had I looked, I would have seen the marks of Moses' blows on it.

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