Shaykh al-Maghamisi mentions an interesting story of a Bedouin who once walked past a man reciting the Qur’an. The man was reciting the verse below from Surah al-Ma’idah:

وَالسَّارِقُ وَالسَّارِقَةُ فَاقْطَعُوا أَيْدِيَهُمَا جَزَاءً بِمَا كَسَبَا نَكَالًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ ۗ
“As for the thief, both male and female, cut off their hands as a recompense for what they committed as a deterrent [punishment] from Allah…” [al-Ma’idah: 38]

But as he was reciting, he made a mistake at the end and closed the verse with, ‘Wallahu Ghafurur-Rahim’ (‘And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful). The Bedouin surprisingly halted and said, “I don’t think it ends like that.”

When the man double checked, sure enough, he found himself mistaken and corrected himself saying, ‘Wallahu ‘Azeezun-Hakim’ (‘And Allah is Powerful and Wise’). The Bedouin replied, “Yes, that’s it.”

 وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
“…And Allah is Powerful and Wise.” [al-Ma’idah: 38]

When the people asked him how he know (since in general, Bedouins weren’t learned or scholarly), he replied:

“Allah in His Might confirmed (the ruling), then He judged by it, and so the hand is cut. But were He to forgive and show Mercy, then the hand would never be cut.”

Subhan’Allah, his understanding of Allah and His Attributes was on-point and because of this, he was able to suss out a mistake even though he was not learned. And for this reason, if a sincere slave knows their Lord well and knows the core Principles of the Deen well, then insha’Allah they will not be misguided easily and they will always have an unease towards things that are not good, proper or authentic. Allah will preserve His Book through various means, even through the hearkening of a Bedouin’s ear.

May Allah increase our understanding and keep us firm on His Path, ameen.