{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/mos05.htm","path":"isl/pro/mos05.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/mos05.htm","text":"Sacred Texts\u00a0\nIslam\u00a0\nIndex\u00a0\nPrevious\u00a0\nNext\u00a0\nMoses' Stick and Its Deeds\nAs attributed to Al-B\u00e2qir (PUH) that he said: Moses' stick was for\nAdam before and then it was owned by Jethro and then it was owned by Moses,\nand it is with us (the Household of Muhammad PUT) and it is a green one\njust as it was at the moment of cutting, and it can speak if you want it\nto, it was made for the last Imam of us to do with it as Moses used to\ndo, and it does what is ordered to do, and it can swallow the lying shows,\nand its jaws would reach between the ground and the roof within forty cubits,\nand swallow the lying shows with its tongue and it is was made of the buckthorn\nof paradise, and there is not opposing for the previous opinions that it\nwas owned by Noah and Abraham while here it is mentioned to be owned by\nAdam, for it is the same, and he (Adam) is the one that brought it from\nparadise or the one that was revealed upon him, and it was transformed\nto the hands of purified people by the commandments of God, until it reaches\nthe last owner of it may our souls be a ransom for him, so from Adam to\nNoah then to Abraham and to Jethro and then to Moses and to our prophet\nmay peace be upon him and upon his Household.\nThey said that the stick of Moses had other amazing and weird uses\nand benefits that no one can imagine or even understand or believe, for\nit can be for one time a light, and in other times it can be fiercy lion,\nand in another time it can be as a tree with fruit whenever its owner wanted\nto, and it can be as a bucket to get water with, and when it is stroke\nagainst a river or a sea it can make a dry passage through it, and if it\nwas used to strike a mountain it can make it break apart and it kills snakes\nand lions as well, and at times of hunger the ground can be stroke with\nit to show foods, and some times it can bse used to drink honey and milk,\nand it was his (Moses') guide in his way when he was lost, and it was his\nphysician and medicine, and if there was in his way any thieves or snakes\nor hole it would had guided him to a way that has no dangers in it and\nit could speak to him with things he might need and so on of such stuff\nthat if one of the people in our time would hear he would say: such stuff\nmakes sad mothers laugh and they are just legends and silly stuff, but\nfor me I do not wonder of such things or even greater than such things\nwhen it is attributed to such people like prophets. There is no doubt that\nwith it the rock was stroke and twelve springs arose from it, and it was\nused to strike the sea and made a way through it and there the pharaoh\nwas doomed with his people and Moses was saved with his people, and it\nis the great snake for the pharaoh and his folks, and it is ..it is.. it\nis as it is mentioned in the Quran and in other holy books that came before\nQuran. We've mentioned before that it is (the stick) above the level of\ntheir sayings that it is only a legend or just some exaggerations, because\nof its deeds with the tricks of the magician of the pharaoh and what they\nmade, this makes us do not disbelieve in its abilities as we mentioned\nbefore and God is able to do whatever He wants. They say that when Jethro\ngave his daughter to Moses for marriage and gave him his sheeps to take\ncare of he said to him: go with these sheeps and when you reach a fork\nin the road in that location\u00a0 then take your left and not your right\neven if there were abundant grass because there are a great dragon and\nI am afraid for you and the sheeps, so then when he reached that place,\nthe sheeps started to take the right side of the road and he tried hardly\nto make them take the left but he could not, and he got tired and sleepy\nso he slept while the sheeps were grazing, so then suddenly the dragon\narrived and the stick of Moses stood up and fought against it and killed\nit then got back to its place beside Moses with some blood on it, so when\nMoses woke up he saw that the stick was covered with blood and the dragon\nwas dead, so then he knew that this stick had abilities from God. Such\ndeeds in such situations is done by itself without commandment. If Moses\nwould throw it and desired a command as he did with the pharaoh in his\npalace or by a commandment of God then it would be as it is desired, so\nin the palace of the pharaoh it turned to be a large snake as greater than\ndragons and with black color and running on four legs with twelve fangs\nand breathing fire that would burn everything in its way, as it is mentioned\nin interpretations and some of it was repeated, and it might be as large\nas a serpent and as light as a djinn and flexible as a snake, and quran\nhad appointed out similar things, so God said in one location: lo! it was\na serpent manifest(Al-A`r\u00e2f:107), and in another location He said:\nas it had been a demon(Al-Qasas:31) [demon = djinn], and in third location:\nand lo! it was a serpent, gliding(TaHa:20) [in Arabic, this holy phrase\nin Quran is more like Snake, and not Serpent, but Pickthall version preferred\nthis expression].\nIt is mentioned that its length was as the length of Moses, ten cubits,\nand it is mentioned that when God spoke to him by saying: And what is that\nin thy right hand, O Moses? He said: This is my staff whereon I lean, and\nwherewith I bear down branches for my sheep, and wherein I find other uses(TaHa:17-18),\nso he said it in general for its many purposes and benefits, and maybe\nhe had in mind such purposes as fighting an enemy or killing a snake or\ncorrecting the sinner and so on and maybe he did not look at more than\nsuch things of its purposes apparently for it was something that only God\nknows, and for this God told him about some of its secret and said to him:\nHe said: Cast it down, O Moses! So he cast it down, and lo! it was a serpent,\ngliding(TaHa:19-20), and it is probable that its two branches turned to\nbe its jaws and its hook head turned to be a comb on its back and it was\nshaking with fangs, so when he saw something weird and strange like this\nhe ran away and did not look back so then his Lord called him: Grasp it\nand fear not. We shall return it to its former state(TaHa:21), meaning\nto a stick again, so when he approached closer to it He said to him: grasp\nit and fear not, so he got his hand into her mouth although he was afraid,\nand when he did so it turned back into a stick in his hand, then He said\nto him: And put thy hand into the bosom of thy robe, it will come forth\nwhite but unhurt(Al-Naml:12), and so he did and put his hand into his pocket\n(bosom of his robe) and it turned to be whitish and glancing with a light\nthat was so bright, and when he got it back again into his robe it got\nback again to its former state, then He said to him: Then these shall be\ntwo proofs from your Lord unto Pharaoh and his chiefs. Lo! they are evil-living\nfolk(Al-Qasas:32), he said then: My Lord! Lo! I killed a man among them\nand I fear that they will kill me. My brother Aaron is more eloquent than\nme in speech. Therefor send him with me as a helper to confirm me(Al-Qasas:33-34),\nso then He said to him: We will strengthen thine arm with thy brother,\nand We will give unto you both power so that they cannot reach you for\nOur portents. Ye twain, and those who follow you, will be the winners(Al-Qasas:35).\nNext: Aaron as A Henchman as Moses Requested","title":"The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Moses: Moses' Stick and Its Deeds","type":"page"}