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
All praise be to Allah with full gratitude for all His bounties. … All praise be to Allah: the master of the sovereignty, Who allows arks to flow [on seas], Who controls the winds, Who causes the day to break, Who administers the authority, and Who is the Lord of the worlds. All praise be to Allah for His forbearance despite His full knowledge. All praise be to Allah for His amnesty despite His full power. All praise be to Allah for the length of His respite during His wrath, while He is able to do whatever 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
We bear witness that there is no god but Allah. He is one and has no partners. We bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, whom He sent with guidance and the religion of truth that He may make it prevail over all religions, though the polytheists should be averse.
اوصیکم عبادالله و نفسی بتقوی الله و اتباع امره و نهیه، و اخوفکم من عقابه
I enjoin you, servants of Allah and myself, to have fear of God and comply with His commands and forbiddances, and warn you against His retribution.
The Story of the Cow
The story of the cow is a well-known episode from Moses’s life as recounted in the Quran. There are different versions of the story.
Briefly put, a young man from the Israelites was suspiciously killed. The murder was deemed a major crime within the community. However, as the identity of the murderer remained unknown, disagreements arose among the various clans of the Children of Israel. Each group accused the others of being responsible for the murder while proclaiming their own innocence.
One person lay slain among the crowd of Moses,
But his killer remained unknown to all the noses.
The victim’s body drenched in pools of red,
No trace of the murderer, who had fled.
The Israelites approached Prophet Moses to act as an arbitrator and resolve the issue, as it could not be settled in ordinary ways. The conflict had the potential to incite a major upheaval among the Children of Israel.
Moses implored God to aid him in resolving the issue. In response, God enlightened Moses with a method to uncover the perpetrator. Subsequently, Moses proceeded to teach the method to his people:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَنْ تَذْبَحُوا بَقَرَةً
Allah commands you to slaughter a cow. (Al-Baqara: 67)
They had to strike a part of the cow’s body to revive the victim and enable them to identify the murderer, ultimately ending the dispute.
The Children of Israel were astonished and said:
قَالُوا أَتَتَّخِذُنَا هُزُوًا
“Are you mocking us?” (Al-Baqara: 67).
In response, Moses said:
أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ
I seek Allah’s protection lest I should be one of the ignorant! (Al-Baqara: 67)
When they were assured that there was no mocking and things were serious, they told Moses:
قَالُوا ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّنْ لَنَا مَا هِيَ؟
They said, ‘Invoke your Lord for us that He may clarify for us what she may be.’ (Al-Baqara: 67)
Moses responded by saying that God commands them to slaughter a female cow that is neither old, nor too young, but is in between. He asked them to hurry and carry out the command they were given.
Once again, the people asked Moses to inquire of God about the color of the cow they were to sacrifice. In response, Moses relayed God’s command that the cow should be yellow, of a hue that is pleasing to the eye.
The Israelites did not stop there. They made it increasingly challenging to locate the cow by asking numerous unnecessary questions and requesting Moses for further clarification. They expressed uncertainty about the type of cow that needed to be slaughtered and sought God’s guidance.
Moses conveyed God’s commands as follows: The cow should not have been trained for plowing or watering the tillage, should be free from any defects, and its complexion should not be mixed with any other color.
When no more questions remained to be asked, they said, “now you have come up with the truth!”
They made a rigorous effort to locate a cow matching the given criteria, which they eventually slaughtered with reluctance. Subsequently, they severed the cow’s tail and used it to strike the victim. By the grace of God, the victim was revived and able to identify the perpetrator. The Quran says:
وَإِذْ قَتَلْتُمْ نَفْسًا فَادَّارَأْتُمْ فِيهَا وَاللَّهُ مُخْرِجٌ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْتُمُونَ؛ فَقُلْنَا اضْرِبُوهُ بِبَعْضِهَا كَذَلِكَ يُحْيِي اللَّهُ الْمَوْتَى وَيُرِيكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
And when you killed a soul, and accused one another about it—and Allah was to expose what you were concealing—We said, ‘Strike him with a piece of it:’ thus does Allah revive the dead, and He shows you His signs so that you may exercise your reason. (Al-Baqara: 72-73)
The Story of Korah
Throughout his life, Moses battled against three enemies of the people’s prosperity:
- Pharaoh, who represented tyranny and injustice.
- Samiri, who exemplified deception.
- Korah, who personified wealth without social benefit.
While Moses’s primary battle was against Pharaoh’s tyranny, there are valuable lessons to be gleaned from the other two battles. After being rescued from Pharaoh and his followers, and subsequently from Samiri, Moses encountered trouble with Korah.
Korah was Moses’s cousin, who was knowledgeable of the Torah. Quranic verses suggest that Korah collaborated with Pharaoh’s government, and after his downfall, a significant portion of Pharaoh’s wealth ended up in Korah’s possession. When God instructed Moses to collect charity for the needy, he approached Korah to contribute, but Korah disregarded the command and instead fought against Moses.
إِنَّ قَارُونَ كَانَ مِنْ قَوْمِ مُوسَى فَبَغَى عَلَيْهِمْ وَآتَيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْكُنُوزِ مَا إِنَّ مَفَاتِحَهُ لَتَنُوءُ بِالْعُصْبَةِ أُولِي الْقُوَّةِ إِذْ قَالَ لَهُ قَوْمُهُ لَا تَفْرَحْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْفَرِحِينَ؛… قَالَ إِنَّمَا أُوتِيتُهُ عَلَى عِلْمٍ عِنْدِي أَوَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَهْلَكَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مِنَ الْقُرُونِ مَنْ هُوَ أَشَدُّ مِنْهُ قُوَّةً وَأَكْثَرُ جَمْعًا وَلَا يُسْأَلُ عَنْ ذُنُوبِهِمُ الْمُجْرِمُونَ؛ فَخَرَجَ عَلَى قَوْمِهِ فِي زِينَتِهِ قَالَ الَّذِينَ يُرِيدُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا يَا لَيْتَ لَنَا مِثْلَ مَا أُوتِيَ قَارُونُ إِنَّهُ لَذُو حَظٍّ عَظِيمٍ؛ … فَخَسَفْنَا بِهِ وَبِدَارِهِ الْأَرْضَ فَمَا كَانَ لَهُ مِنْ فِئَةٍ يَنْصُرُونَهُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُنْتَصِرِينَ؛ وَأَصْبَحَ الَّذِينَ تَمَنَّوْا مَكَانَهُ بِالْأَمْسِ يَقُولُونَ وَيْكَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَقْدِرُ لَوْلَا أَنْ مَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَيْنَا لَخَسَفَ بِنَا وَيْكَأَنَّهُ لَا يُفْلِحُ الْكَافِرُونَ
Korah indeed belonged to the people of Moses, but he bullied them. We had given him so much treasures that their chests indeed proved heavy for a band of stalwarts. When his people said to him, ‘Do not boast! Indeed Allah does not like the boasters. Seek the abode of the Hereafter by means of what Allah has given you, while not forgetting your share of this world. Be good [to others] just as Allah has been good to you, and do not try to cause corruption in the land. Indeed Allah does not like the agents of corruption.’ He said, ‘I have indeed been given [all] this because of the knowledge that I have.’ Did he not know that Allah had already destroyed before him some of the generations who were more powerful than him and greater in amassing [wealth]? The guilty will not be questioned about their sins. So he emerged before his people in his finery. Those who desired the life of the world said, ‘We wish we had like what Korah has been given! Indeed he is greatly fortunate.’ Those who were given knowledge said [to them], ‘Woe to you! Allah’s reward is better for someone who has faith and acts righteously, and no one will receive it except the patient.’ So We caused the earth to swallow him and his house, and he had no party that might protect him from Allah, nor could he rescue himself. By dawn those who longed to be in his place the day before were saying, ‘Don’t you see that Allah expands the provision for whomever He wishes of His servants, and tightens it? Had Allah not shown us favour, He might have made the earth swallow us too. Don’t you see that the faithless do not prosper?’ (Al-Qasas: 76-82)
Among Moses’s people, there lived a man,
Whose wealth and greed had no end or span,
With treasures of gold and silver amassed,
His heart with greed was truly harassed.
Adorned in riches he walked the land,
Burning hearts of those who could not stand,
Moses cried out to the earth below,
“Take revenge on Korah, make him go!”
The earth opened up and swallowed him whole,
His gold and silver couldn’t save his soul,
Greed had finally met its bitter end,
And Korah’s fate served as a warning to friends.
در میان قوم موسی یك نفر بود در سرمایه داری معتبر
گنج‌ها از سیم و زر انباشته تخم حرص و آز در دل كاشته
روزی آمد با همه زینت برون سوخت از دنیا پرستان اندرون
گفت موسی ای زمین در كش به كام گیر از قارون ملعون انتقام
گشت قارون با تمام سیم و زر لقمه‌ای بهر زمین، آن فتنه گر
آن‌چنان با خود زمین او را ربود از كنوز سیم و زر نابرد سود