The Story of the Sinners Who Repented Because of a River

 The Story of the Sinners Who Repented Because 

of a River

Once upon a time, there was a man from the Children of Israel who liked to disobey and do vile things. One day he bathed in a river. Suddenly the sound of water shouted, " O so and so! Aren't you ashamed? Why haven't you repented of your sin and determined not to do it again? ”

Hearing a sound of reprimand, the man immediately came out of the water with a feeling of fear and said, "I will not disobey Allah again!" Then he went to a mountain where there were 12 men whose work was nothing but worshiping Allah. Finally the man also lived with them, until one day their place of residence was hit by a long drought which forced them to go down to find a green place. Unbeknownst to them, they came to a river that once gave a warning sound to the men of the Children of Israel.

As they were approaching the river, the man said to them, "I don't want to go with you."

As explained by Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi in his book at-Tawwabin , seeing the behavior of these men, they were surprised, then asked, " Why?" He replied, “Because there is someone who has exposed my faults to myself. Therefore, I was embarrassed to meet him. The Bani Israel man then left his friends in the river.

After the 12 worshipers arrived at their destination, the river made a sound, " O worshipers! What has your friend done? ”

They replied, “ According to his confession, there is someone here who has exposed his faults to him, so that he is embarrassed to meet him. ”

The river then again said, “ Subhanallah! Indeed, if one of you scolds a child or one of his relatives, then the child regrets his mistake and returns to doing what he likes, surely he will be loved again. Verily, your friend has repented and returned to what I love. Therefore I have loved him. Go to the man and tell him. After that, worship Allah by the side of this river. ”

They then told the man, and finally he went with them. They then worshiped Allah in the river for some time.

Not long after, the man who used to commit many immoral acts died. And the river again said, " O worshipers who are ascetic! Bathe him with my water and bury him by my river so that on the Day of Resurrection he will be raised close to me. ”

They immediately carried out the message. When they finished they said, “ We will spend the night in his grave to weep for him. In the morning we leave. ”

They spent the night in his grave full of tears. When the night was late and their drowsiness could no longer be held back. So that when they woke up in the morning, Allah swt had grown 12 Sarwah trees on their graves. This is the first Sarwah tree to grow on earth.

Witnessing this, they said, " Allah did not grow this tree in this place except because Allah likes us to worship here. They then decided to worship Allah in the grave. And when one of them died, they buried him beside his grave, until they all died there.

The story of Israel above provides an important lesson that a person's life can change at any time. Those who often commit immorality, can repent and become experts in worshiping Allah swt. and a person's repentance can go through various paths that are sometimes incapable of being digested by human reason.