Allah says in the Qur’ān, “Then your hearts became hardened after that, being like stones or even harder. For indeed, there are stones from which rivers burst forth, and there are some of them that split open and water comes out, and there are some of them that fall down for fear of Allah. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.” (Qur’ān 2:74) The discussion here is about the Jews of Madinah. The story of Moosa and water gushing from the rock is familiar to the Jews; so Allah used the example that resonates with them in presenting this example. In this verse, Allah gave the example of three types of rocks, rocks in the parable refer to hearts as indicated, water is used often in the Qur’ān to represent purity and faith.
The three rocks in the verse are nothing but three types of personalities. This helps us in framing a theory of personality. The ‘Rock’ is considered the ‘Heart’ and the ‘Water’ to be ‘Faith’ (Iman) in the theory. The first type of rock is from which the rivers gush forth, the second type of rocks are those which crack open and water is found and the third type of rock falls out of fear of Allah . Let us try to understand the three types of personalities of people, in accordance to this verse:
Easy Acceptance Personality
This personality is one which is deeply reflective, thinking about the purpose of life, asking deep questions about the reality of existence. When the solution is brought to them and it clicks, there is no hesitation. There is an excitement, just like a rock that rivers gush forth. Water inside the rock is faith inside the heart. This person had faith inside them and they were looking for something to confirm that faith. Revelation came; it clicks with what was already inside and the faith just gushes forth like a river. The best example in Islamic history is Abu Bakr, a person who accepted the truth without hesitation when it came to him.
The heart of the person in this category is the purest. It is that type of heart that people can bring to Allah on the Day of Judgment which will rescue him. Allah says in the Qur’ān, “The Day when there will not benefit (anyone) wealth or children. But only one who comes to Allah with a sound heart.” (Qur’ān 26:88-89)
Late Acceptance Personality
This personality is one which is very active, they have stuff to do. The purpose of life is not something, they think about. They just have too many things to do to worry about that kind of stuff. They have water inside but they need a traumatic experience to crack it open. It may happen on the death of a friend or a family member or a near death experience. These are people who do not accept Islam directly, but a particular incident like an accident, loss, trauma, etc., happens in their lives that cracks open the rock that is the heart and underneath it is Iman (water).
The best example of a person from Islamic history is Umar, who was a very active person. Once during the night, he was hiding behind the cloth of the Kabba and was planning to jump on the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) and beat him up. When the Prophet starts to recite the Qur’ān, he begins to listens to the Qur’ān, after some time he was shaken up and ran away and did not accept Islam. Later when his sister converted to Islam, he went to her house furious and struck her across the face. Seeing blood streaming from the face of his sister, he softens up and the rock cracked. He read the Qur’ān and then eventually became a Muslim. That traumatic experience was enough for him to look at the Qur’ān and his heart opened; so he accepted Islam. With some people we cannot expect results in a day or two but we need to wait. Umar and Hamza took six years to accept Islam.
This is the heart that contains no life. It does not know it’s Lord and it does not worship Him by complying with His commands and doing that which He loves and with which He is pleased. But when his conscious knows it in the heart, he gets cautious and then his life changes completely from there on.
Never Accepting Personality
This personality does all that is expected of a Muslim, he prays, he fasts and he has submitted his will. However, he has not tasted the sweetness of Faith (Iman). He fears Allah and observes all he has to but he doesn’t experience the tranquillity of Faith (Iman). The people of this category are those who do not benefit anyone, but can at least ‘feel’ the fear of Allah. In the theory ‘Water’ is referred to as ‘Faith’ (Iman) and the person under this category does not have belief as there is no mention of water in the third personality. Thus, he is a Muslim and has Islam without Faith (Iman).
This is a heart which is considered as unhealthy heart. It is a heart which fears Allah. But the weakness of the heart is that it has not tasted the sweetness of Faith (Iman). The mind and the intellect would have submitted to the mission but the heart has not yet tasted its sweetness.
The three kinds of rocks talked about the three kinds of hearts which have hope and potential. When we are inviting people to Islam, we should remember that all people will surely fall in one of these three categories. They accept the invitation in one go, they wait for an event to accept it or they follow Islam but do not taste the sweetness of Faith. Thus, one should have utmost patience and should try to understand the personality of the person when he is inviting him to Islam.