Musa

Musa AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام) is named in the Qur'an more than any other prophet. His story takes more verses than the story of Ibrahim AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام) or Nuh AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام) or Isa AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام). Allah chose to retell it in different surahs from different angles. The mother. The river. The court of Pharaoh. The staff. The plagues. The parting of the sea.

Each retelling carries a different lesson. The thread that runs through all of them is the same. Allah keeps His promises to the mothers of His prophets, and He delivers His servants from the worst tyrants on earth in His own time.

A mother who trusted

The story starts before Musa AS could speak. Pharaoh had been killing the male newborns of the Bani Israil. He had seen something in a dream, scholars say, and his advisers told him a boy from the Israelites would one day end his rule. So he ordered the killing. Houses were searched. Babies were taken.

Musa AS was born into this. His mother held him in the house as long as she could. Then revelation came to her.

And We inspired the mother of Musa, "Nurse him. Then when you fear for him, cast him into the river and do not fear and do not grieve. Indeed, We will return him to you and will make him one of the messengers." (Qur'an 28:7)

Sit with that for a moment. Allah told a mother to put her baby in a river. A river full of crocodiles. A river that led directly to the city of the man who was killing every boy his soldiers found.

She did it. She put him in a basket and she put the basket on the water. Her instinct was screaming and she did it anyway because Allah had told her to.

The Qur'an describes what happened to her heart after.

And the heart of Musa's mother became empty. She was about to disclose his identity, had We not bound up her heart that she would be of the believers. (Qur'an 28:10)

She nearly broke. She nearly ran to the river and cried out his name. Allah held her heart in place.

The basket floated past the soldiers and stopped at the palace of Pharaoh. Pharaoh's wife Asiyah, may Allah be pleased with her, saw it. She lifted out the baby and asked her husband to spare him. She would adopt him. Pharaoh agreed.

The baby would not nurse from any of the women in the palace. Musa's sister, who had been told to follow the basket from a distance, came forward and said, Shall I show you a household who will be responsible for him and bring him up well? (Qur'an 28:12.) She brought the baby's own mother back into the palace. Pharaoh paid her to nurse her own son.

So We restored him to his mother so that her eye would be cooled and she would not grieve and that she would know that the promise of Allah is true. (Qur'an 28:13)

The mercy in this verse is hard to read without slowing down. Allah did not just save the baby. He returned him to the arms of his mother. He paid her, through Pharaoh's hand, to do what she was already trying to do for free. And He told us, plainly, why. So that she would know that the promise of Allah is true. This is the mercy that introduces Allah by name.

This is the lens. Allah keeps His promises. Even when the promise sounds impossible. Even when the river is full of crocodiles and the palace is full of soldiers.

The court of Pharaoh

Musa AS grew up in the palace of the man who was killing his people. He was raised by Pharaoh's wife, eating his food, walking his halls. When he became a man, he saw an Egyptian striking an Israelite. Musa AS struck the Egyptian and the Egyptian died. He did not mean to kill him. He ran from the city and stayed for years in Madyan, where he married and tended sheep.

Years later, on his way back to Egypt with his family, he saw a fire in the valley of Tuwa. He went to bring back some of it. The fire was revelation. Allah called him by name.

Indeed, I am Allah. There is no deity except Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance. (Qur'an 20:14)

Then Allah sent him to Pharaoh. Pharaoh, who had taken his life and almost taken his mother's mind. The man who claimed to be a god. Musa AS, who had a stutter from his youth, asked Allah to send his brother Harun AS (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام) with him. Allah granted it.

He gave them an instruction that scholars have written long commentaries on.

And speak to him with gentle speech, that perhaps he may take warning or fear Allah. (Qur'an 20:44)

Gentle speech. To Pharaoh. To the worst tyrant of his time. Allah told His prophet to speak softly to a man who had been killing children.

This is the standard. Mercy in the calling does not depend on the worth of the called. It is what Allah asks of His messengers, no matter who is being addressed.

The sea

Pharaoh refused. The plagues came. Pharaoh refused again. Finally Musa AS led the Bani Israil out of Egypt by night. Pharaoh's army pursued them. They reached the sea. Behind them was the army. In front of them was water.

No, indeed. With me is my Lord. He will guide me. (Qur'an 26:62)

Musa AS struck the sea with his staff. The water parted. Twelve dry paths opened, one for each tribe. They walked through. When the last of them was across, Pharaoh's army followed into the parted sea. The water closed on them.

Pharaoh tried to repent as he was drowning. I believe that there is no deity except that in which the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the Muslims. (Qur'an 10:90.) Allah answered him with words that have echoed through the ages.

Now? And you had disobeyed before and were of the corrupters? (Qur'an 10:91)

This is the justice. Repentance has a door, and the door has a hinge. The hinge closes when the soul sees the angels of death. Pharaoh waited until that moment. He had been given a lifetime of chances. He had answered every one with more killing.

What this teaches the reader

Three small things.

One. The promise of Allah is true. Musa's mother put her baby in a river because Allah told her to. The baby came back. Trust on that scale is not naive. It is the level the Qur'an asks for.

Two. Allah commands gentle speech even to the worst people. Qawlan layyina. If the standard for addressing Pharaoh was softness, the standard for the people in your life is not anger.

Three. Repentance has a window. Pharaoh's was open his whole life. He closed it himself by waiting until the water filled his throat. Do not wait that long.