Musa (1)
اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ بِجَمِیعِ مَحَامِدِه کُلِّهَا عَلَی جَمِیعِ نِعَمِهِ کُلِّهَا… اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ مالِکِ الْمُلْکِ مُجْرِی الْفُلْکِ مُسَخِّرِ الرِّیاحِ فالِقِ الاْصْباحِ دَیّانِ الدّینِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمینَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی حِلْمِهِ بَعْدَ عِلمِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی عَفْوِهِ بَعْدَ قُدْرَتِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی طُولِ اَناتِهِ فی غَضَبِهِ وَهُوَ قادِرٌ عَلی ما یُریدُ
Praise is to God with all his praises, for all his blessings. . . Praise is to God, the owner of the property, the operator of the orbit, the bender of the wind, the glory of the morning, the religion of the beliefs, lord of the worlds; praise is to God for his dream after his knowledge and thank God for forgiveness after his power, and praise be to God for his long patience in his wrath and he is capable to do what he wills
و نشهد أن لا اله الا الله وحده لا شریک له، و أَنَّ محمداً عبده و رسوله ارسله بالهدی و دین الحق لیظهره علی الدین کله و لو کره المشرکون اوصیکم عبادالله و نفسی بتقوی الله و اتباع امره و نهیه، و اخوفکم من عقابه
And we bear witness that there is no god but God alone, without partner, and that Muhammad is his servant and messenger, he sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, that he might proclaim it over all religion, even if the polytheists hated it.
The biography of the prophet Musa
Prophet Musa is one of the main prophets, whose name is mentioned 136 times in 34 surahs of the holy Qur’an. Musa in the Coptic language is made up of two components, one “mu” meaning water and the other “sa” meaning tree, because his chest was found next to a tree in the water, so he was called Musa. According to what has been written in the historical books, he was born three thousand seven hundred and forty-eight years after the descent of Adam, the human being’s father, and his back reaches Ebrahim through six generations. Musa is from the tribe of Levites of Israel, and his great grandfather, who is the son of Jacob (Israel), is “Levi”. And his mother’s name is recorded as “Yukabad”.
Prophet Musa appeared five hundred years after Ebrahim, peace upon him, and took the title of “Kalimullah” because God spoke to him without an intermediary.
The story of Musa Kalimullah
The story of the ups and downs of prophet Musa’s life can be summarized into five periods:
- Birth, childhood and upbringing of Musa in Pharaoh’s palace.
- The period of his migration from Egypt to Medin and his life with the prophet Shoayb.
- The era of prophecy and his return to Egypt to fight with Pharaoh.
- The era of Pharaoh’s destruction and Musa’s arrival in Jerusalem.
- The period of Moses’ conflicts with the Israelites.
The first period: Birth, childhood and upbringing of Musa in Pharaoh’s palace.
Musa, peace upon him, was born during the reign of Ramses in Egypt. Ramses dreamed one night, a fire ignited from the side of “Bait Al-Moqaddas” and spread over and reached the land of Egypt and fell on the houses of the Copts and burned them all. Then the dream fire invaded their palaces and gardens and destroyed them all, but did not harm the houses of the Israelites! The priests and scholars of dream interpretation said: “Soon a baby will be born in Israel who will destroy you and your friends.”
The holy Torah narrates: “The king of Egypt ordered the Hebrew midwives Shafera and Fu’ah, saying: When you help the Hebrew women to give birth to their child, see if it is a boy, kill him; however, if it is a girl, keep her alive.” (Bible, Exodus 1:15-16)
The holy Qur’an describes the same situation in Egypt as follows:
إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ عَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا يَسْتَضْعِفُ طَائِفَةً مِنْهُمْ يُذَبِّحُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيِي نِسَاءَهُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ؛
Indeed Pharaoh tyrannized over the land, reducing its people to factions, abasing one group of them, slaughtering their sons, and sparing their women. Indeed, He was one of the agents of corruption. (Ghesas: 4)
Musa, peace upon him, was born in the most difficult circumstances
As the time of Musa’s birth approached, Musa’s mother became more worried and was always thinking about how to protect her kid from Pharaoh’s executioners.
After the birth of Musa, his mother Yokabed prayed to God and asked God to offer a solution for her. God protected Musa’s mother from bring worried and inspired her, the holy Qur’an says: َأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى أُمِّ مُوسَى أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ وَلَا تَخَافِي وَلَا تَحْزَنِي إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ؛ We revealed to Moses’ mother, [saying], ‘Nurse him; then, when you fear for him, cast him into the river, and do not fear or grieve, for We will restore him to you and make him one of the apostles.’ (Ghesas: 7)
The Torah narrates this story as follows:
– His mother hid him from the public for three months. But when she couldn’t hide him any longer, she made a basket out of reeds and covered it with tar so that the water wouldn’t get inside the basket. Then, she put his son in it and left it among the reeds of the Nile. But the child’s sister was watching from a distance to see what would happen to the kid. (Bible, Exodus 2:2-4)
Throwing Musa in the Nile
According to God’s command, Musa’s mother put him in the chest and came to the Nile River and threw the chest into the water in the morning, when everything was quiet. The mother was standing by the water and watching the scene. In a moment, she felt that her heart was separated from her and flew on the waves, if God’s grace لَا تَخَافِي وَلَا تَحْزَنِي إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ؛ do not fear or grieve, for We will restore him to you and make him one of the apostles.’ (Ghesas: 7) had not calm her heart, she would scream and everything would be revealed, no one can accurately describe the feelings of this mother in those sensitive moments.
Parvin Etesami has embodied this scene to some extent in her beautiful and sensitive poems, she says:
Mother of Musa threw her kid into the Nile, according to the words of the almighty Lord;
She looked from the beach with regret and said that is an innocent child;
If the grace of God forgets you, how can riddle of a ship without a captain;
A word was inspired to her heart, what a false thought, our passenger is now inside the safe house;
We took what you threw into the right, did you see and did not recognize;
There is no game in justice, feel confident; what we took from you, will give back;
The surface of the water is better than its stable, the flood is the nanny and the wave is the mother;
Rivers don’t overflow by themselves, they do what we ditate!
We command the storm to the sea; we command the flood and the waves;
The whole existence is part of our porch, the earth, wind and water are our wanderers;
Leave it to us, who do you love more than us?!