Later, well after the death of Prophet Joseph, Egypt began to be ruled by an evil Pharaoh who was deeply blasphemous and evil. This evil Pharaoh was cited several times in the Holy Qur’an as an example of an extremely evil type of human, whom we must hate, and not imitate.
The offspring of Prophet Israel (Jacob) continued to live in Egypt after the death of Jacob and his son, Prophet Joseph. The offspring of Jacob and his twelve sons are known as “The Children of Israel” with ‘Israel’ meaning Prophet Jacob, and not the place nowadays.
This evil Pharaoh hated the Children of Israel in his country, and treated them as slaves, torturing and humiliating them. The Children of Israel spoke the Hebrew language.
Pharaoh saw a dream one night that a fire came from Jerusalem and burnt the houses of the Egyptians, but spared those of the Children of Israel. After he woke up, the Pharaoh gathered his astrologers and sorcerers who told him that his dream meant that his reign would perish at the hands of a child born to one of the Children of Israel. Hence, the Pharaoh decided to kill all the baby boys of the Children of Israel. The Pharaoh was advised that if he killed all the baby boys, then soon they would run out of strong slaves to do their work. Hence, the Pharaoh proclaimed that every other year all the baby boys of the Children of Israel would be killed.
A woman of the Children of Israel gave birth to a boy named Aaron (Harun), on the year that the boys were not killed, but she gave birth to a dear baby boy, named Moses (Musa) in a year that the baby boys were being killed.
God inspired the mother of Moses to put the baby Moses in a basket and put the basket in the Nile River. God threw in her heart that she should not worry and that her little son would come back to her and would become a Messenger of God.
A member of the household of the Pharaoh found the basket carrying little baby Moses, and pulled it from the river and brought him to the palace. The wife of the Pharaoh, Asiyah, was a kind-hearted woman. She begged her husband not to kill this baby. She said that they might benefit from him. Asiyah said that even they may adopt him as a son.
The heart of the mother of Moses had longed for him. God strengthen her heart and inspired her to tell Moses’ sister to secretly follow the basket and see what would happen to it, so that her heart could be encouraged. Moses’ sister saw that her brother had been taken into the household of the Pharaoh. She also got news that her brother would not nurse from any of the wet nurses brought to him.
Moses’ sister came forward and said, “I can lead you to a woman who would be able to feed him!” The people at the palace agreed. Moses’ sister led them to Moses’ mother, without telling them who the woman was. When Moses’ mother took him, Moses nursed from her breast. Hence, the household of the Pharaoh made the mother of Moses the “wet-nurse” of Moses. God returned Moses to his mother, which delighted her. The name of the mother of Moses was “Yuhanidh.”
The people started to call Moses “The son of Pharaoh.” When Moses started to be of an age when he did not need to nurse and could move about, the mother of Moses brought Moses back to Asiyah in the palace. When Moses was playing with Asiyah, Asiyah handed him to Pharaoh. When Pharaoh took Moses, Moses grabbed the beard of Pharaoh and pulled out some of the hair. The Pharaoh was so angry with this that he wanted to kill Moses.
Asiyah started to sooth the Pharaoh’s anger by saying, “He is so young. He does not understand what he is doing!” The Pharaoh remained very angry. Asiyah had to think of an extreme measure in order to save Moses from being killed by the evil Pharaoh. She had the servants bring a date and a burning coal. Asiyah told Pharaoh, “If the boy reaches for the date, he knows what he is doing, so kill him. However if, when given the choice of the two, he chooses the burning coal, then this is a proof that the child does not know what he is doing.”
God inspired Moses to reach for the burning coal and placed it immediately inside his mouth. This coal burned the tongue of the little Moses. This burn from the coal left a light effect on the tongue of Moses, but not to the extent that it impeded the speech of Moses, or made him alter the true sound of letters when he spoke. No Prophet would be unable to express himself properly.
The meaning of the verses in Surah Taha, 27 and 28, is that Moses asked God to cure him of the light effect of this injury to his tongue. It does not mean, as some say, that Moses could not speak properly and people could not understand him.
Moses grew up in the palace of Pharaoh. God gave help to the Children of Israel through Moses. He helped and protected them from injustice by the followers of Pharaoh.
A MAN IS KILLED
One day Moses entered Manf, a place in Egypt. It was the mid-day when the sun was very hot. It was the time of the siesta, with most people napping. The streets were empty. Moses passed by two men fighting, one from the Children of Israel and one from the followers of Pharaoh. The Israelite sought the help of Prophet Moses. Prophet Moses came and punched that follower of Pharaoh, not intending to kill him, but instead to stop him. Surprisingly the disbeliever died.
According to one saying, God had already bestowed Prophethood on Moses when that event occurred. Verses 15 and 16 from Suratul-Qasas indicate that Prophet Moses did not approve of what he did, because he fought before receiving the Revelation of fighting with the disbelievers. Moses remained that day and the following day waiting, seeing if someone would come for him, since he killed that person (by mistake). Moses saw the same man from the children of Israel seeking his help, as he had sought it before. Moses said to that man, “You are an extremely misguided person.” Despite this, Moses did step forward to help him again. However, the Israelite got scared and feared that Prophet Moses would hit him, saying, “Will you kill me, as you killed someone before?”
PROPHET MOSES LEAVES EGYPT
The news of the killing reached Pharaoh, who ordered that Moses be killed. A man came and told Moses. Moses left his home in Egypt, not following the routine roads until he reached Madyan, the city of Prophet Shu^ayb. Moses covered a very long distance. Moses did not carry food with him, but he ate that which he found on the way.
When Moses reached Madyan, he came to some water, which the people of Madyan used to water their animals. He found a group of people watering their livestock. Moses found two women behind these people with animals they wished to water, to help their older parents. The women were waiting for the rest to finish so they could water theirs. Moses helped them with that and they liked his manners. They went home and told their father about Moses’ good manners. Their father sent one of them to invite Moses to stay with them.
When they started to go to the woman’s home, Moses walked in front of her, so that his eyes did not fall on her back. She stayed behind him, directing him where to go.
The father of the women was Shu^ayb. According to one saying, he was Prophet Shu^ayb, and according to another saying he was a different Shu^ayb. Moses told their father his story. Shu^ayb comforted him saying, “Do not be afraid. You have been saved from those unjust people.” Shu^ayb offered his daughter in marriage for eight years of service. Moses chose to make it 10 years out of his generosity.
Moses took care of Shu^ayb’s sheep for ten years, and married the daughter of Shu^ayb. Every Prophet was a shepherd, up to and including our Prophet Muhammad. They took care of sheep in preparation for their role of being Prophets, learning to manage people compassionately and patiently.
THE STAFF OF MOSES
It is said that Angel Gabriel gave Moses a staff. It is also said that Prophet Shu^ayb gave Moses this staff. The staff was originally brought down from Paradise with Prophet Adam. The story of this staff is fascinating.
The staff of Moses is cited in the Qur’an in Surah Taha, verse 18. From this verse we know that Moses said, “This is my staff. I lean on it. I beat the leaves with it to make them fall (as food) for my sheep. As well, I use it for other purposes.”
The staff was long, being 15 feet. It is reported that if a beast tried to attack, the staff would drive the animal away on its own. The staff would drive away scorpions from Moses as well. The staff used to stride along with Prophet Moses and converse with him.
It had a fork on one end on which Moses could hang his bow and arrows. At night the two prongs of the fork would light up like candles. If Moses wanted water, the forked end would turn into a bucket, and Moses could lower it into a well for water. If there was no well, Moses could plunge the staff into the ground and water would flow out. When Moses removed the staff from the ground the water would stop flowing.
When Moses wanted shade, he would plunge the staff in the ground, and the prongs of the forked end would extend. Then Moses would put his cloak on the prongs and that made a shade. If Moses wanted fruit, he could plunge the staff into the ground and fruit would grow from it for him to eat.
PROPHET MOSES HEARD THE ETERNAL SPEECH OF GOD
After completing the ten years of work for Shu^ayb, Moses took his family and went out of Madyan in the cold of winter. Moses took out an instrument, which he used to spark fire, but it would not spark and start fire.
When Moses could not start a fire for them he looked around and saw the signs of a fire in a direction. Moses went to that direction. This fire had no smoke. Moses heard a sound calling from the right side of the valley, saying that he who is fetching this fire is blessed (referring to Moses), and those who are around it are blessed (referring to the angels).
At that God made Moses hear His speech, which is not a letter or a sound, and which is not any language. It does not have a beginning or an end. It does not resemble our speech. It is does not occur as a result of the movement of lips or tongues. It is the speech that does not occur one batch after the other. It is the speech, which is an attribute of God, which does not resemble our speech. God created in the ears of Moses the strength to hear the Speech of God, although it is not a sound.
God ordered Moses to take off the shoes that he was wearing. This is because they were made out of the untanned skin of a dead donkey. Hence, they were najis-filthy (religiously filthy and if worn affects one’s worship).
Then, God ordered Moses to throw his staff, the special one, which he carried. When Moses threw it, it turned into a giant snake (Suratul-Qassas, 31). This snake had a mane, like a horse, and was extremely large. It is said that its mouth was about 70 feet wide. The snake began to swallow everything in its way, including trees and rocks. Prophet Moses heard the snake crunching these things after swallowing them.
Prophet Moses had the natural fear that a human would have when surprised by a giant snake. God revealed to him not to be afraid. God revealed to Moses to put his hand in the giant mouth of that snake, in order to strengthen his heart, and at that the snake returned back into a staff.
Also God ordered Moses to put his hand into the opening of his shirt (Suratul-Qasas, 32). Moses put it in and took it out. His hand was shining white like snow, not patchy white like leprosy. Then, Moses put his hand back in and took it out. His hand was now his natural color, which was a swarthy shade.
God revealed to Moses, “These are two miracles for you to confront Pharaoh and the ones who are with him.” God ordered Moses to talk with Pharaoh and call him to Islam. Moses asked God to protect him so that they do not kill him. Moses asked God to support him by making his brother Aaron a Prophet, to help each other.
PROPHET MOSES RETURNS TO EGYPT
Moses took his family to Egypt and reached there at night. God revealed to Aaron that Moses had arrived. God had made Aaron a Prophet. He went out to receive his brother Moses. Then they went to Pharaoh. They told the gates men, “Tell Pharaoh, we are the Messengers of the Lord of the Worlds.”
When the Pharaoh heard that, he told his gates men to let them in. When Moses and Aaron entered, Moses told Pharaoh, “I am the Messenger of the Lord of the Worlds.”
When Pharaoh looked at him, he recognized him. Pharaoh told Moses, “Weren’t you raised with us here, you stayed with us for years, then you killed someone, and then you escaped?”
Moses told him, “I went away when I feared your killing, and God blessed me with the status of Prophethood, and made me a Messenger.”
Pharaoh requested a miracle to stand as a proof. Prophet Moses threw down his stick. Immediately, it turned into that great snake again. This snake was so big that when it opened its mouth it reached the ceiling of Pharaoh’s palace. Pharaoh was greatly scared of this snake and urinated in his clothes.
Prophet Moses put his hand in the opening of his shirt and it came out shining white as snow, as it did when God revealed that miracle to him before.
Prophets Moses and Aaron advised Pharaoh in a courteous manner, softly. However, Pharaoh did not believe, refusing to become a Muslim. Rather Pharaoh said that Moses was a great sorcerer.
Egypt was then famous for sorcery. Pharaoh ordered that all his magicians be gathered around him. They were brought from all the areas of Egypt. Their exact numbers are not known. Some said that they were seventy; others said fifteen thousand. God knows best.
THE MAGICIANS BELIEVE
The Pharaoh set a feast day that they had coming up, as a day to challenge Moses. Pharaoh put his magicians on one side and the people gathered to see this. Pharaoh’s magicians threw their ropes. The people were deluded to think that they were snakes moving around. At this point, Prophet Moses threw down his staff and again it turned into that real, giant snake. The snake went and swallowed all the ropes of the magicians, which had been thrown.
When the magicians saw that, they recognized and acknowledged that the deed of Moses was not magic. They believed in God and they prostrated. They said, “We believe in the Lord of the Worlds, the Lord of Moses and Aaron.”
Pharaoh was so angry and asked them, “Did you believe in them before I gave you permission?” Pharaoh wanted them to commit apostasy. He threatened them, but they refused to commit apostasy.
Pharaoh cut off their right hands and left feet and crucified them on the trunks of palm trees. Pharaoh killed them while they were making supplication to God to grant them patience, and bless them to die as Muslims. Those magicians were blasphemous at the beginning of the day, and they were Muslim martyrs at the end of the day.
OTHER BELIEVERS
There was among the people of Pharaoh a believing man who was hiding his belief. At that, he declared his belief out in the open. He was killed also. He was crucified along with the magicians. This believing man had a believing wife who was the comber of the hair of the daughter of the Pharaoh. This daughter was not from Pharaoh’s wife Asiyah.
When this believing woman was combing the daughter’s hair, her comb fell down. The woman said, “In the name of God” (Bismillah). The daughter of the Pharaoh asked her, “Do you have a lord other than my father?!” The woman told her, “My Lord and your father’s Lord is God.”
When the daughter told her father, the Pharaoh, about this, he called this believing woman to him. The Pharaoh ordered her to commit apostasy. She refused. The Pharaoh brought her children. Then he brought a huge container, filled it with water, and built a great fire under the container until the water boiled.
Then Pharaoh started throwing her children one by one into the boiling water asking her to commit apostasy to Islam. She kept refusing. The Pharaoh reached to the last of her children, who was a nursing child. The baby spoke to her and said, “O mother be patient. You are on the true path.”
At this she told Pharaoh, “I have a request for you. I request that you collect my bones and the bones of my children, and that you bury them all together.” Pharaoh said, “You are granted that.” Then Pharaoh had her killed.
The bones were buried in one location. Many decades later, when Prophet Muhammad passed by that location (on the night of the night journey and ascension), he smelled a good fragrance coming from that grave and asked Angel Gabriel about it. Gabriel related to Prophet Muhammad the story, which we told.
Asiyah, a wife of Pharaoh, believed in Moses. When Pharaoh killed the comber of his daughter’s hair, Pharaoh went to his wife Asiyah and gave her this news. Asiyah said to Pharaoh, “You are so belligerent in disobeying God, and you will face the great torture.” Pharaoh told her, “Maybe you have turned crazy like that comber?” Asiyah told Pharaoh, “No, I am not crazy. I have believed in God, the Lord of the Worlds.”
At that Pharaoh ordered her tied down to four stakes on the ground. He tortured her until she died. Pharaoh would tie people to his famous four stakes and put a tremendous weight on them, such as a millstone, until they died. He was known as the “lord of the stakes’ due to this, as cited in Suratul-Fajr.
Before she died, Asiyah said, “O God, build for me a house in Paradise and save me from Pharaoh and his doings, and from the unjust people.” This is cited in verse 11 of Suratut-Tahrim. She died as a martyr.
Our Prophet said that Asiyah was one of the best of the women of the world. The best women of the world are Mary, the mother of Jesus, then Fatimah the daughter of Prophet Muhammad, then Khadijah the first wife of Prophet Muhammad, then Asiyah, the wife of the Pharaoh.
AFFLICTIONS ON THE DISBELIEVERS
When Pharaoh and his people rejected the call of Moses and Aaron, God inflicted them with punishments. God sent on them continual rain, which affected the followers of Pharaoh, but did not affect the Children of Israel, who believed in Moses and Aaron.
The followers of Pharaoh pleaded with Moses, “O Moses ask your Lord to relieve us of this rain and we will believe in you.” Moses made supplication to God. God stopped that rain. When the rain ceased to fall, their vegetation was so nice and luxuriant that they said, “Oh, this rain was a good thing for us” and they did not believe in Moses as they promised that they would. “We are now delighted that the rain came. Our plants are so strong now!” is what they said to Moses out of their extreme stubbornness.
Then God afflicted them with locusts, which ate that vegetation about which they felt pride. They could not prevent this extremely numerous amount of locusts from eating their plants. They came to Moses and said to him, “Ask your Lord to relieve us of these locusts and we shall believe in you.” Moses made the supplication and God saved them from the locusts. Yet, when they were relieved of the locusts, again they did not believe as they promised they would.
Then God inflicted them with small harmful insects, which bothered them greatly, sticking to their skin and causing them great irritation. They did the same with that infliction, asking for relief, then not believing after receiving the relief.
Then they were inflicted with frogs, which even hopped into their mouths. They would find the frogs all over, even in their pockets, which distressed them greatly. The same series of events happened, but they did not believe.
Then God afflicted them with blood. They would go to fill their containers with water, and when they filled the containers, the liquid would be blood. Again they asked Moses to make supplication to God for them to be relieved of that particular affliction. They promised that if they got relieved, they would believe. Still then, when they were relieved, they broke their promise and did not believe.
PROPHET MOSES TAKES THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL OUT OF EGYPT
When a long time passed and the followers of Pharaoh did not believe in Moses, God revealed to Moses to take the Children of Israel out of Egypt to the blessed land, near Jerusalem. God revealed as well for Moses to take with him the casket of Prophet Joseph (Yusuf), fulfilling the will of Joseph to be buried in Palestine.
When Prophet Moses went out with the Children of Israel from Egypt, they reached a certain location where they were not certain where to go next. The scholars of the Children of Israel told Moses, “We have gotten lost because we did not carry the body of Prophet Joseph with us, as he requested in his will.” Remember that we said earlier that Prophet Joseph made a will before his death to be buried in Palestine, where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all buried. Prophet Joseph was not originally buried in Palestine after he died, so his body was to be brought up and moved to Palestine.
The people started to look for someone who knew where the body of Joseph had been buried. They could not find anyone who knew, except for an old woman from the Children of Israel. When Prophet Moses asked her where the location of Prophet Joseph’s grave was, she told Prophet Moses, “I will not tell you until you make a promise to me. Promise me that I would be your companion in Paradise.” When Prophet Moses heard the request, he stopped. He had to wait until he received Revelation about it. Prophet Moses could not tell her “Yes” without that being revealed to him from God. Then God revealed to Prophet Moses to grant her the promise that she requested. At that, Prophet Moses gave her this good news.
She then pointed to a location that was covered with water. She told them to remove the water and dig in the ground under it. They did as she told them and the casket, with Prophet Joseph inside, appeared. They carried the casket with them. God made them know which way to travel to the blessed land. This is narrated in the sahih hadith of the Prophet, narrated by Ibn Hibban.1
Prophet Joseph was buried under water so that very few people would know of his burial site. The general rule is that one does not dig up and take the dead body of someone from one city to another, but the case of Prophet Joseph’s body was an exception.
Prophet Moses ordered all the Children of Israel to leave Egypt with him and Aaron. They were about 600,000 people. When Pharaoh learned of this plan, he gathered a huge army and followed them. Pharaoh’s army was about 1,600,000 soldiers.
When the Children of Israel arrived to the Red Sea, Prophet Moses struck the sea with his special staff, and the sea split into 12 pathways, which God made dry for the Children of Israel to walk on. There were twelve tribes of the Children of Israel, and there was a pathway for each of the tribes. God made windows in the walls of water between the pathways so that the tribes would not feel lonely as they walked on those extraordinary pathways.
Pharaoh arrived to the edge of the sea. Pharaoh was terrified at the sight of the sea splitting into twelve paths. He was scared to go after Moses, Aaron, and the other Children of Israel in those pathways.
Pharaoh was riding a male horse. Angel Gabriel came, riding a female horse, and went into one of the pathways formed in the sea. The horse of Pharaoh smelled the scent of the female horse of Gabriel. At that Pharaoh’s horse rushed in to the pathway after that horse of Gabriel, carrying Pharaoh into one of the pathways with him.
Following him, the soldiers of Pharaoh rushed into the pathways in the sea as well. When the last of the Children of Israel had arrived on the shore of the other side of the sea, Pharaoh and his soldiers were in the middle, and had not reached any of them. As soon as the last of the believers was on the normal land, God made the sea close up again, and Pharaoh and all of his 1,600,000 soldiers drowned.
When Pharaoh had reached a point of dying when his repentance was not accepted. Pharaoh made a declaration of his belief in Moses. This declaration was not accepted from Pharaoh and he died as a blasphemer.2
Some of the followers of Pharaoh who had remained on the land got the news of the drowning death of Pharaoh. They said out of their stubbornness that Pharaoh did not die and that instead he went away to China, and he should return. At that God made the sea spit out the dead body of Pharaoh to their shore, swollen like a bull. They recognized him by his distinctive grand clothing. At that, they became certain that he died.
PROPHET MOSES GOES TO MT. SINAI AND SOME FOLLOWERS WORSHIP THE CALF
When God saved the Children of Israel from all those hardships of the Pharaoh, God ordered Moses to fast for thirty days. This was fasting like we do now, abstaining from food and drink and other things, from dawn until sunset. Then God added ten more days to that fasting of Moses. God revealed to Moses that after those forty days, God would send to him the tablets of the Torah (Tawrah).
All the books given to the Prophets from God were given in their totality at one time in that Prophet’s life, except for the great Qur’an, which was revealed to Prophet Muhammad in parts, over a period of 23 years.
Moses obeyed God, fasting these 40 days. Then he went to the Mount Tur (Sinai). Moses left Aaron behind, in charge of the followers. There was a man among the followers named Musa as-Samiriyy, having the same first name as Prophet Moses.
This man led many of the Children of Israel astray, as he himself was astray. When Musa as-Samiriyy was young his parents lost him, and he was without a family. Angel Gabriel brought him food so that he would not perish. This Musa as-Samiriyy was raised as a blasphemer. When Prophet Moses went away from his people, Musa as-Samiriyy told the followers the terrible blasphemy, “Moses went to fetch his Lord and his Lord is right here.”
Musa as-Samiriyy had made the figure of a young calf out of gold, and had mixed into the gold of this figure some of the dust from the hoof print of the horse of Angel Gabriel. This figure made the mooing sound of a real calf. Musa as-Samiriyy told the followers the detested blasphemy, “This is your Lord and the Lord of Prophet Moses. Prophet Moses went to look for his Lord, but his Lord is here.”
Of course, Prophet Moses did not go to look for a place where God dwells, because God is not a body and He exists without being in a place.
This was a test for the people from God. God created that mooing sound which is not typical to come from a statue. God knew eternally what these people would do. So, obviously the tests from God are not for God to “find out what the people will do.” The tests from God on the creation are a challenge for the creation. If they pass the test, they will be happy in this life and the Hereafter, but if they fail the test, they will reflect back on the test on the Day of Judgment and blame themselves for not having used their minds with which God endowed them.
Aaron knew of the blasphemy of Musa as-Samiriyy, admonished him and warned the people about him and his evil. Aaron forbade them from worshipping the golden calf, which was clear blasphemy. However, many of them accepted the words of as-Samiriyy, and went out of the Religion of Islam, becoming idol-worshippers. Some of the followers remained Muslim, sticking to Prophet Aaron and obeying him.
After Prophet Moses had gone away from the people, at one point in his solitude, Prophet Moses asked God to see Him. God revealed that Moses would not see Him in this life. God told Moses, “Rather look to the mountain and if the mountain remains intact, you will see Me.” God created in that mountain the ability to see Him. When that mountain saw God, it crumbled and was destroyed. When Moses witnessed that event, Moses fainted. Then God made Moses revive from his faint, and Prophet Moses praised his Lord.
Moses asked to see God, because it was not yet revealed to him that man does not see God with the eyes of this earthly body. The people, who are Muslim in this life, will be granted the great honor and bliss of seeing their Lord when they live in Paradise. This will be with their new eyes of their new, better body of Paradise. They will see the One Who is not in a direction, unlike in any way the experience of seeing a creation.
After Prophet Moses’ experience of seeing that mountain demolished, God made the tablets of the Torah come to the hands of Prophet Moses. When Prophet Moses returned to his people with the tablets of the Torah, he was astonished to see them worshipping that golden calf. He was extremely angered for the sake of God.
Moses let go of the tablets in his hand, in a manner that was not disdainful of the tablets. Prophet Moses reached for the head and beard of his brother Aaron, showing Prophet Moses’ extreme anger concerning the situation, but not out of disrespect to Aaron. Nor did Prophet Moses reach for his brother’s head and beard implying that Prophet Moses believed that Prophet Aaron had allowed for this false worship to occur.
Prophet Aaron explained to Prophet Moses the series of events, his excuse of why he stayed with these blasphemers, and did not kill them. Aaron explained that he feared that Prophet Moses would say to him, “You handled that situation without me and did not wait for my return.” Aaron felt this because Moses was the leader of the Children of Israel.
Prophet Moses went to as-Samariyy and humiliated him severely. Prophet Moses went to the golden calf and burned it. Then Moses threw those ashes away. Prophet Moses told the blasphemers that they had done extreme injustice to themselves by apostatizing from Islam when worshipping that golden calf.
Moses told them to repent to their Lord, by becoming Muslim again. After being Muslim again, they were then to be killed. They were to be killed by those of the Children of Israel who remained Muslim, and never worshipped the golden calf. This was the way to repent, for those who worshipped the calf.
Seventy thousand of them were killed. After that killing, Prophet Moses and 70 of the best of the Children of Israel supplicated God. Moses said, “That which occurred is from You God. With it You guide whomever You will and with it You misguide whomever You will.” The others said to God, “We repented and returned to You God.” The name “Yahud” given to the followers of Moses means: ‘Repenters’.
At that, God revealed to Moses for the killing to stop. Hence, a group of those who had apostatized by worshipping the calf, and then returned to Islam, were saved from being killed.
When the Children of Israel saw what was in the Torah, of all they were obligated to do, most of them sat back lazy and did not want to do the obligations from God. At that God ordered Angel Gabriel to pull out a mountain from Palestine. The size of the mountain was the same size as the area covered by the Children of Israel on Earth. God ordered Gabriel to suspend the mountain above their heads. Prophet Moses told them, “Either you accept the orders of God in our book the Torah, or God will smash you with this mountain.” When they were in that situation, they accepted to follow the Torah.
THE STORY OF THE COW
There are many stories of the bad doings of some of the followers of Moses. We present one of them.
One of the Children of Israel killed his uncle secretly. This killer was the only heir of this uncle. So, the killer expected to get all the inheritance of his dead uncle. This killer threw his dead uncle next to the house of other people. The killer acted shocked and saddened by the death of his uncle. He demanded blood money and revenge on the people of the place the body was. When Prophet Moses looked into the matter, he asked the people accused of the murder. They denied that they had killed that man.
The Children of Israel started to talk a lot about this incident and Prophet Moses wanted to know who the real killer was. Prophet Moses then ordered the people to slaughter a cow.
However, the people did not have the willingness to immediately obey Moses. They started to delay doing what they were asked to do by asking Prophet Moses questions about this order of his. If they had not asked any questions in order to delay, they could have slaughtered any cow, fulfilling the order. Since they asked questions out of desire to delay fulfilling the order, God made specifications for them, which were hard for them.
When they wanted to know more about this cow to slaughter, Prophet Moses told them, “It is a cow which is not old nor young, not big and not small. Then they asked Prophet Moses, “Now we know about the age, so now tell us about the color of this cow”. Prophet Moses told them that it was a bright yellow cow, which would bring delight to the one who gazed at it. Then, they wanted more explanation about this cow. Prophet Moses said, “It is a cow which, when it walks, does not disturb the soil, and there is no defect in it.”
Finally, after they exhausted their asking, they started to look for such a cow. After searching, they found it with a man among them. They bought that cow from him for a high price. The man who had owned that cow had been very kind to his mother. God blessed him with this money.
They brought that cow to Prophet Moses and slaughtered it. Prophet Moses then took a piece of that dead cow and struck the murdered man with that piece. At that, God gave life to the murdered man. The revived man told the name of the one who really had killed him. Then he died again.
This is not the only case when God made a dead person come back to life, speak, and then die again. Many incidences of this occurring are well known. This is narrated about some of the Companions of Prophet Muhammad.
PROPHETS MOSES AND AARON BEAR PATIENTLY WITH THE LOST PEOPLE
Prophet Moses took the Children of Israel and led them close to the land of Jerusalem, with the Holy House. It was a place called Ariha (Jericho). In Ariha there were unjust rulers. The Children of Israel were ordered to fight those unjust rulers. However when they reached there with Prophet Moses, most of them sat back from fighting. Those who sat back said, “We will not enter this land with those unjust tyrants. O Moses, go with your Lord and fight. We will be sitting here.”
God inflicted the Children of Israel by making them get lost for 40 years, after they had arrived so close to Jerusalem. This was a result of their disobedience. The land that they were lost in was called At-Tih. Prophet Moses and Aaron were with them in At-Tih, but were not punished alongside them. Rather the presence of Prophets Moses and Aaron was for them to carry out the orders of God.
At-Tih was a barren land with no plants, water or shade. The Children of Israel complained to Prophet Moses about the heat of the sun. Prophet Moses made supplication to God and was given a great miracle. A cloud came that provided shade for them. During the day this cloud blocked the heat of the sun, yet during the night the cloud did not block the moon, so that they could use the moonlight. However, if the night was dark and the moon was not shining, a stick of light descended among the Children of Israel to illuminate the way for them.
They continued making requests saying, “What should we wear? We are afraid that our clothes will rip and we will not find anything else to wear.” Prophet Moses replied, “Your clothes will not rip, decay, or get dirty for 40 years.” Then they came up with another question, “If a new baby is born what will he or she wear?” Moses answered, “The small clothes will grow as the children grow.” They asked, “What are we to wear on our feet, if our shoes are ruined?” Moses said, “Your shoes will not be ruined for 40 years.”
It was cited that while in at-Tih, the Children of Israel ran out of food. They said to Prophet Moses, “What do we eat now that we have no food left?” He answered saying, “God will bring down baked bread for you from the sky.” Each day, bread with a delicious taste called manna (al-mann) came down from the sky from dawn until sunrise, just as snow falls from the sky. Each person would take what he needed for one day. If someone took more, then the extra bread would spoil, except for Friday. Each Friday they were allowed to take more than what they needed for one day, because Saturday was a day of worship, and the bread did not fall to them on that day.
Then the Children of Israel asked Prophet Moses, “What are we supposed to eat with this bread? Do you expect us to eat it plain with nothing alongside it?” Prophet Moses answered with patience and compassion for them by saying, “ God will grant you meat.” “From where?” they asked. The wind brought to them as-salwa, fat healthy quails.
Then they remembered something that one could not go without, whether resting at home, or traveling. They said, “From where do we get water? There is no spring or river in this land!” Prophet Moses said, “God will provide for you.” Then God ordered Prophet Moses to strike a rock with his staff and water sprung from it.
It was narrated that this rock descended with Prophet Adam when he descended from Paradise, and that it was passed down through generations until reaching Prophet Shu^ayb. Prophet Shu^ayb gave this rock to Prophet Moses when he gave him the famous staff.
Each time the Children of Israel needed water, Prophet Moses placed the rock on the floor and struck it 12 times with his staff. Each place where the stone was struck, water would rush out, as plentiful as rivers.
In their habit of rushing matters they said, “If Prophet Moses lost his staff we will die of thirst.” God then revealed to Prophet Moses that he should not hit the stone, and instead he should speak to it. Prophet Moses from then on spoke to the stone, ordering it to give water. The stone would obey, releasing water.
Some of the ungrateful among them said, “O Moses, we shall not be patient with one kind of food (al-mann). Ask your Lord to bring us crops from the land: grains, onions and lentils. They left that which was good for them for something that was less. Prophet Moses told them to go to a certain land where they would find what they requested in that country. After the forty years passed, of being lost, the manna and quail were cut off from them.
The Children of Israel who refused to fight the tyrants remained in at-Tih. Those who were more than 20 years old died except for Joshua (Yusha^, the son of Nun) and Kalib the son of Yufna, and the young offspring of the Children of Israel remained with them. They obeyed the orders of God. When they reached Ash-Sham they fought the unjust rulers and entered Jerusalem. None of the people who said, “We will not enter it” entered Jerusalem.
THE FASCINATING STORY OF PROPHET MOSES MEETING PROPHET AL-KHADIR
Ibn ^Abbas said, “I heard Ubayy the son of Ka^b say, ‘I heard the Messenger of God say: Moses stood up to give a speech to the Children of Israel. Some of them asked Moses, “Who is the most knowledgeable among the people?” Moses replied, “I am.” This was what Moses knew. Then God revealed to Prophet Moses that it would have been better for him to reply, “God knows best.” God revealed to Prophet Moses that He had a slave where the two rivers met, who is more knowledgeable than Prophet Moses in certain matters. Moses longed to meet this person. Moses said, “O God, how would I meet this person?” God revealed to Moses, “Take a salted fish with you in a container. Wherever you would lose this fish, you would find Al-Khadir.”
Moses set out with Joshua (Yusha^, the son of Nun), the same one who later became a Prophet himself. They carried a container with a salted fish. They reached a rock, and Moses slept. The fish shook in the container, although it was salted. The fish finally shook so much that it came out of the container and went into the river.
The next day they proceeded with the walk. Then they proceeded in the night. Joshua had forgotten to tell Moses about what happened to the fish. When the next morning came, Prophet Moses said to the young Joshua, “We got tired as a result of this traveling. Let us eat.” Moses did not get tired until he crossed the point where the fish escaped. Joshua told Prophet Moses, “You remember the rock where we stopped at and slept? The salted fish jumped out of our container there and swam away.” Prophet Moses said, “The goal of our travel was to get to that location. Let us go back.”
They went back following their own traces and footsteps, until they reached the rock. They saw a man at the rock. This man was covered with a cloth. Prophet Moses saluted him. He was Al-Khadir. Al-Khadir said to Prophet Moses, “Are you Moses, the Prophet sent to the Children of Israel?” Moses said, “Yes.” Al-Khadir told Moses, “God gave you knowledge that I do not know, and God gave me knowledge that you do not know.” Moses told Al-Khadir, “Should I be with you, so that you teach me that which I do not know?” Al-Khadir said, “You will not be patient with me. How would you be patient with a matter of which you are unaware?” Moses said, “God willing, you will find me to be a patient man. I will comply with whatever you order”.
Al-Khadir said, “You can accompany me with the condition that you do not ask me about anything until I decide to tell you about that thing.” Moses said, “I agree.”
Moses and Al-Khadir went walking along the seashore. A vessel came by. Al-Khadir and Moses asked the people of the vessel to take them aboard. The people of the vessel knew al-Khadir. They took them aboard without a fee. While Prophet Moses and Al-Khadir were on the vessel, a bird on the edge of the vessel put its beak once in the water. Al-Khadir said to Moses, “My knowledge and your knowledge in comparison to the things that God knows is so little. It is less than this drop of water pulled by this bird, compared to the whole sea.” Muslim narrated this in his Sahih.
When on the vessel, Al-Khadir reached for one of the wooden planks of the ship and pulled it off. The people of the vessel did not see what Al-Khadir did. Moses was astonished by what Al-Khadir did and said, “Do you do this to the vessel of people who took us aboard without a fee, so that the vessel would sink with its people?”
Prophet Moses asked Al-Khadir out of astonishment, because this was very unusual and not what one would expect from a pious person. Al-Khadir told Prophet Moses, “Didn’t I tell you that you would not be patient with me?” Prophet Moses said, “Do not blame me about what I forgot. I am tired from traveling.”
Then the two went off the vessel walking. Moses and Al-Khadir came upon a boy, playing with other boys. Al-Khadir reached for the head of the boy, pulling off the head of the boy with his hands, killing the boy. Prophet Moses at that time told Al-Khadir, “How did you kill a soul, and this killing is not a prescribed punishment for killing another?” Al-Khadir said, “Didn’t I tell you that you would not be patient with me?” Prophet Moses said, “If I ask you about anything after this, without you initiating to tell me about it, then I will no longer accompany you.”
Then they reached a town. The people of the town did not treat them kindly as guests. They did not offer them food. Al-Khadir saw a wall that was about to fall down. Al-Khadir worked and made the wall straight. Moses said to Al-Khadir, “We came to a people who did not offer us food. If you had taken a fee for your work, we could have used that money to buy food.”
Al-Khadir said, “Now we must part. I shall tell you about the truth of these matters that you were not patient with, not waiting until I tell you about them voluntarily. As for the ship, it belonged to some poor people at sea. I wanted to put a defect in it because there is an unjust king who takes good sound ships away from their owners. When the king sees this ship he will see that there is a defect in the ship and will not take it. The people can fix the defect later with wood.
As to the boy I killed, if he had lived to be adolescent he would live to be a disbeliever. His parents treated this boy generously. Had he grown up he would have been a tyrant on them, and would have exhausted them due to his tyranny. I wanted God to replace that child with a child who is merciful to them.
As to the wall, two orphan boys owned it. Under the wall was something that their father hid for them. Their father was a pious man. I wanted to preserve that wall from falling down, and keep the thing for them hidden, until the boys grow up and are able to take that thing out. All that which I did, I did not do out of my own. Rather I was ordered to do all of it by God. This is the meaning of the matter with which you were not patient.”
Our Prophet said, “May God have mercy on Moses. I wish that Moses had been more patient. More would have happened and we could have learned more stories.”
QARUN, THE EVIL COUSIN
Like all the Prophets, Prophet Moses had many hardships, which he endured with patience. One report, that shows the endurance of Prophet Moses, is the story of the harm that Moses’ cousin inflicted on him.
Moses had a cousin named Qarun. God gave Qarun so much wealth that strong men could not carry the keys of the boxes of wealth.
Qarun showed off and was not grateful to God. He wore fancy clothes and strutted around. He lived in palaces with many slaves and servants.
Qarun was so arrogant with the people. When people advised him to give up his arrogance, he refused. Qarun believed that God loved him and that was the reason he had all his money. He did not see a need to change his ways.
God revealed to Moses that he and his people had the obligation to pay a certain amount of their wealth to those who deserved. Moses told Qarun to pay one dinar for each one thousand dinars and one dirham for each one thousand dirhams.
When Qarun calculated the amount that he would need to pay, he saw that amount to be enormous. Qarun was overwhelmed with stinginess and made apostasy. He stopped being Muslim.
Qarun gathered some of his supporters and said, “Moses commanded you with so many things and you obeyed him. Now Moses wants to take away your money.” Qarun’s cohorts said, “Command us Qarun with whatever you wish.”
Qarun said, “Bring a sinful woman and pay her to lie and say that Moses wanted to commit adultery with her.” Qarun’s followers went and gave a sinful woman a lot of gold to do this.
On a day of feast, Qarun came to Moses pretending to be loving and said, “Your people have gathered so that you will command them to do the lawful and abstain from the unlawful.”
Prophet Moses told the people, “He who steals has the punishment of his hand being cut off. The unmarried one who commits adultery is lashed. The married one who commits adultery is stoned to death.”
Then Qarun, in his evilness, cried, “Even if it is you, O Moses?” Moses replied, “God help me from you. I do not even approach sins.” Qarun then said, “The Children of Israel are lying. They said that you committed adultery with the evil woman.”
Moses said, “Call her.” They called for her and she came. Moses then uttered a vow in the name of God Who cleaved the sea and Who revealed the Torah, and asked her by that vow to say the truth.
God was merciful with her, and she repented of her sins. She told the people, “Moses is innocent of these accusations. Qarun paid me to say that Moses committed adultery with me.”
Moses made prostration to God and asked God to give him victory over his oppressors. Moses received Revelation from God that the Earth would obey him in whatever he commands.
On the next day, Qarun went out in his usual arrogant procession. He had thousands of servants and attendants. He wore clothes ornamented with gold and jewels. At the front, Qarun rode a black and white, ornamented, female mule, with the others on their mounts behind him.
The people were looking at all of this. The deceived among them said, “May Qarun enjoy his blessings. He is very lucky, with his money and high status.” When some of the pious people heard that, they advised them not to be deceived by the wealth of this world.
Qarun reached a place where Prophet Moses was teaching the people. Qarun called out to Moses, “O Moses, if you were preferred to me in prophecy, I was preferred to you with money. If you want, make a supplication to God against me.”
Prophet Moses came with a steady heart, relying on God. Qarun started to ask God for help, but he was not answered. Then Moses said, “O God, command the Earth to obey me today.” Then Moses addressed the Earth and said, “O Earth, take them.”
Qarun and his evil followers started to sink into the ground. First, just their feet sank. Then Prophet Moses said, “O Earth, take them to their knees.” They sank to their knees. Then Moses asked that they sink to their shoulders and they did. Finally, Moses told the Earth to take them totally, along with all the treasures.
The Earth trembled under Qarun’s house. The earth swallowed all the money of Qarun within that house. When the people saw that, they repented and praised God. They thanked God that they were not made like Qarun and his mean followers.
PROPHET MOSES WAS FULL OF MERITS
Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, cited many merits of Prophet Moses. Our Prophet told the story that the Children of Israel used to bathe naked, able to see the naked body of their bathing friends. Prophet Moses would bathe alone, away from the people, so that his eyes would not fall on the area of their bodies that they were not to show to others. One of these people said, “What keeps Moses from bathing with us, except that he has a defect in his body, which he wants to keep hidden from us.”
Once Prophet Moses went to bathe. He put his clothes on a stone. The stone moved away with the clothing of Prophet Moses. He cried, “O stone, my clothes!” Due to Prophet Moses’ running after the stone and his clothes, some of those men saw Prophet Moses’ naked body, without Prophet Moses paying attention to them seeing him. Prophet Moses was busy chasing after that stone with his clothes. Those people said, “By God, Prophet Moses does not have any defect in his body.” When Prophet Moses got to the stone, he took his clothing and started to beat the stone with his clothes. Abu Hurayrah reported from the Prophet, “By God, this stone has six or seven marks left on it as a result of the hitting of Prophet Moses.”
This hadith brings many benefits. One is that the Prophets do not have any physical handicaps and defects. God made this extra-ordinary event of a stone running with Moses’ clothes to manifest to the people that Prophet Moses’ body was clear of any defects. If Prophets have no hidden defects, surely they do not have defects that are apparent. If this were the case with physical defects, how would Prophets have defects pertaining to their manners with people? Prophets are clear of having defective manners with people. Qadi ^Iyad said, “The Prophets are clear from any defects and handicaps in shape or manners. There is no attention paid to historians who report things saying that Prophets had handicaps. Rather, the case is that God made them clear of all defects. They were clear of everything which the eyes of the people would judge as ugly and repulsive.”
THE DEATH OF AARON AND MOSES
Prophet Aaron died before Prophet Moses, during the time when the Children of Israel were still lost. After Aaron died, some of the Children of Israel accused Prophet Moses of killing his own brother. Prophet Moses said to them, “Woe to you! You say that I killed my own brother (who is a Prophet and Messenger)?” Such black hearts that are like stones imagined that Prophet Moses killed his brother who was also a Prophet and Messenger of God! This was blasphemy.
When these people persisted more about the matter of the death of Aaron, Prophet Moses made a supplication to God to expose the matter to them. God made Aaron be raised above them on a platform. They learned that Prophet Moses was truthful in what he said, that he did not kill his brother.
In al-Bukhariyy and Muslim, it is narrated that one time, Angel ^Azra’il, the Angel of Death, came to Prophet Moses. Moses did not recognize him, with him coming in the form of a man. Moses thought that this angel was a waylayer coming to harm him. Prophet Moses hit him and his eye popped out. Then God made the eye of the angel sound again.
The Angel of Death came to Prophet Moses again. This time Prophet Moses recognized him. Angel ^Azra’il asked Prophet Moses, “Do you want to live? If you want to live, put your hand on the skin of an ox. The number of hairs on the area which your hand covers will be the number of years you will live.” Prophet Moses asked, “After that what would happen?” The Angel of Death said, “You will die.” Prophet Moses then said, “Let it be now.” Prophet Moses died. His grave is near a red hill, next to the road, in Jericho (Ariha). There is a mosque with Moses’ name, where he is buried.
We ask God for the honor of meeting Prophets Moses and Aaron.
