First of all, we’d like to clarify that the message behind the hadith, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), foretold that trees and stones would talk to Muslims, exposing the Jews hiding themselves from Muslims, is to give glad tidings that the Muslims will have the last laugh, that truth and justice will have the final say, that injustice, falsehood and persecution may reign for some time, but at last the oppressed will be redeemed and divine power will come to their aid.
It also denotes good news for the long-cherished hope of revival of Muslims unity and that after hardship comes ease and every cloud has a silver lining. The bitter reality of the Muslim Ummah will come to an end, and tomorrow will be definitely better than today.
However, the incident you mentioned is yet to be proved beyond reasonable doubt, as made clear by Sheikh Hamed Al-`Ali, instructor of Islamic Heritage at the Faculty of Education, Kuwait and Imam of Dahiat As-Sabahiyya Mosque, in which he says: As for what is being circulated these days that the trees did talk and say to some Muslims that Jews were hiding behind them, we cannot accept this unless we are sure of the authenticity of such sayings.
Elaborating more on this, Dr. Salim Ahmad Salamah, the Dean of the Faculty of Usul Ad-Din (Islamic Theology) at the Islamic University in Gaza, states: This incident is not proved by means of tawatur (successive transmission). Moreover, the talk of trees and rocks is not one of the major signs of the Hour. The major signs of the Hour do not include the talk of rocks and trees, informing Muslims about a Jew hiding himself from Muslims. This is, in fact, one of the minor signs of the Day of Judgment as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stated, “The Hour will not come to pass until you fight the Jews. You will be on the Eastern bank of the river and they will be on the Western side. The trees and stones will then call Muslims: “a Jew is concealing himself behind me so come and kill him.”
Therefore, this should be seen as one of the minor signs of the Hour, which will occur prior to the major ones.
In conclusion, we can say that there is no solid evidence to prove this incident, though we firmly believe that it will take place in Palestine one day as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), foretold in the above-mentioned hadith. Perhaps the fact that the Jews have now added trees and rocks to the list of their enemies acts as the first step of having the prophesy come to pass.