[28].Surah Al-Qasas [The Narration]: Ayat 23

২৩. যখন তিনি মাদইয়ানের কূপের কাছে পৌছালন, তখন কূপের কাছে একদল লোককে পেলেন তারা জন্তুদেরকে পানি পান করানোর কাজে রত।এবং তাদের পশ্চাতে দু’জন স্ত্রীলোককে দেখলেন তারা তাদের জন্তুদেরকে আগলিয়ে রাখছে। তিনি বললেন, তোমাদের কি ব্যাপার? তারা বলল, আমরা আমাদের জন্তুদেরকে পানি পান করাতে পারি না যে পর্যন্ত রাখালরা তাদের জন্তুদেরকে নিয়ে সরে না যায়। আমাদের পিতা খুবই বৃদ্ধ।

Ayat 23. And when he arrived at the water of Madyan (Midian) he found there a group of men watering (their flocks), and besides them he found two women who were keeping back (their flocks). He said: "What is the matter with you?" They said: "We cannot water (our flocks) until the shepherds take (their flocks). And our father is a very old man." 

Tafseer of Surah Al-Qasas (The Narration) Ayat 23. And when he arrived at the watering (place) in Madyan, he found there a group of men watering (their flocks), and besides them he found two women who were keeping back (their flocks). He said: "What is the matter with you?" They said: "We cannot water (our flocks) until the shepherds take back (their flocks): And our father is a very old man." The first thing that a wanderer in a desert would make for would be an oasis where he could get water from a spring or well, the shade of trees against the scorching sun, and some human company. The Midianite watering place was probably a deep well, as surface springs are rare in sandy desert, where the water level is low, unless there was a hill from which issued a spring. Here is a pretty little idyll, told in the fewest and most beautiful words possible. Moses arrives, at an oasis in the desert, weary and travel-worn, with his mind full of anxiety and uncertainty owing to his recent experiences in Egypt . He was thirsty and would naturally seek water. At the well or spring he found shepherds (or perhaps goat-herds) watering their flocks. As a stranger it was not for him to thrust himself among them. He waited under the shade of a tree until they should finish. He noticed two damsels, also waiting, with their flocks, which they had come to water. His chivalry was roused. He went at once among the goatherds, made a place for the flocks of the damsels, gave them water, and then resumed his place in the shade. They were modest maidens, and had given him in three Arabic words the key of the whole situation. Abuna shaykhun kabir our father is very old man, and therefore cannot come to water the flocks; we therefore do the work; we could not very well trust ourselves among these men.

Hazrat Nawwas bin Saman (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: I asked Messenger of Allah  [SAWW](PBUH) about virtue and sin, and he said, "Virtue is noble behavior, and sin is that which creates doubt and you do not like people to know about it.'' [Muslim 32, Chapter 03, Hadith # 6195]

Lesson : An important principle enshrined in this Hadith says that courtesy is a virtue, because a refined mind cultivates good habits, performs good deeds, and shuns all that is bad and corrupt. Also, a simple and understandable principle is laid down about sin. Man feels the pricking of conscience over every bad deed and is also afraid of the reproach of fault-finders, provided he has not reached the lowest point of moral depravity. But a seared conscience is least disturbed even by a heinous and deadly sin or by public censure. We can understand it by the example of man's smelling sense. If it is not dead, man can feel a stink and repugnant odor. But a long association with a dung heap robs away one's smelling sense and feeling of refuse.