money. Instead, they implored Allah—majestic is His glory—to relieve their hardship and rescue them from their ordeal. The Almighty answered their plea, lifted their anguish, and proved Himself exactly as they had hoped. He broke the ordinary course of events for them and honored them with a manifest sign: the boulder shifted little by little in three successive stages—each time one of them called upon his Lord it moved further, until, after the third man’s supplication, it rolled completely away and they, who had been staring certain death in the face, walked out alive.

Our noble Messenger—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him—relates this marvellous account, hitherto concealed in the realm of the unseen and known to none but Allah, to remind us of the exemplary deeds of righteous, model believers from the followers of earlier prophets. He tells it so that we may imitate them, pattern our conduct after theirs, and draw from their stories priceless lessons and profound admonitions.

Let no one object, “These actions occurred before the mission of our Prophet Muhammad, so they do not concern us, for the preferred position in legal theory is that the law of those before us is not our law.” We respond: the Prophet’s narration of this incident appears in a context of praise, commendation, exaltation, and veneration. That constitutes his approval—indeed, more than mere approval—of their seeking Allah’s favor through the righteous works just mentioned. This narration is nothing but a clarification and practical demonstration of the previously cited verses. Thus the heavenly laws converge in their teachings, directives, aims, and purposes. This should not surprise us, for they spring from a single pure source and emanate from one luminous niche—especially in matters that govern people’s relationship with their Lord, where the divine legislations differ only rarely, and then only because the wisdom of Allah requires a particular change or substitution.