May 8th: Prophet Musa (Part 2)

Prophet Musa (Part 2)

Musa goes to Pharaoh:
- When Musa came back from Madyan, he went to his mother and brother Harun. They were having their dinner, he ate with them. Then he said to Harun “O Harun! Allah has commanded me and you that we should go to Pharaoh and invite him to His worship”.
- They arrived at the gate but it was closed. Musa said to this gatekeepers and doormen “Go and tell him that the Messengers of Allah are at the door”. The doormen started mocking them.
- Musa moved forward and he started banging on the door with his staff. Pharaoh was disturbed and he asked them to be brought in, and so they stood infront of him and invited him to the way of Allah.
- Aya: “Go both of you to Pharaoh, for he is an insolent tyrant. Then speak to him gently, that he may be mindful, or perhaps he may fear. Both said: Our Lord! We fear that he may exceed in insolence against us. Allah said: Fear not, for I am with you, I hear and see” (20:40-46)
- -Allah first reminded them to remember Him often so He will give them strength to stand infront of Pharaoh.
- “Speak to him gently”, this is Allah’s mercy with His creatures.. even the one’s who disobey Him. It’s a sign that Allah is closer to mercy and forgiveness than to wrath and revenge.
- “We fear lest he may exceed in insolence against us”. They expressed their fear from Pharaoh because they are human, but Allah comforted them.
- Aya: “Go both of you, with Our Signs. We shall be with you, listening to your call. So go to Pharaoh and say: ‘We are the Messengers of the Lord of the worlds. You must send the Children of Israel with us’. He said: ‘Did we not raise you up among us as a child, and you stayed among us for many years of your life? And then you did that deed which you did while you were of the ungrateful?’” (26:10-19)
- They first invited Pharaoh and his people to the way of Allah and to worship Him Alone, without association any partner with Him. They also asked him to release the children of Israel from their captivity.
- They told Pharaoh the consequences of following the guidance (and peace to all those who follow guidance”. They also told him the consequences of rejecting the truth (Surely, it has been revealed to us that the chastisement shall befall him who rejects and turns away)
- Pharaoh showed his arrogance with his response. He tried to embarrass Prophet Musa with his unintentional murder.
- Musa responded: “I did it, then, when I was in error, then I fled from you when I feared you, but my Lord granted me wisdom and make me one of the Messengers” (26: 20-21)
- Then Musa commented on Pharaoh’s claim to have done him a favor by raising him. He said: “And what favor do you mention? That you enslaved the Children of Israel?” (26:22)
- Then Pharaoh asked Musa: “And who is the Lord of the worlds?. He said: The Lord of the heavens and the earth, and what is between them, if you could have a firm belief. He (Pharaoh) said to those around him: Did you hear that?. Musa said: Your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers. Pharaoh said: Surely, youe Messenger who has been sent to you is a madman. Musa said: The Lord of the east and the west and what is between them, if you have understanding” (26: 23-28)
- But Pharaoh continued in his denial of the existing of Allah and he claimed it for himself. Aya: “Then he gathered his people and proclaimed, saying ‘I am your lord, the most high’” (79:23-24)
- Musa tried to bring Pharaoh’s attention to the signs of Allah’s existence all around him but Pharaoh was stubborn and arrogant.
- Aya: “Allah is the One Who has made for you the earth as a cradle, and has opened roads for you therein, and sent down water from the sky”.. then Allah says “Out of the earth did We create you, and We shall return you to it, and from it shall We bring you forth a second time” (20:49-55)
- Pharaoh said: “If you take a god other than me, I will certainly imprison you. Musa said: Even if I bring you a clear proof. Pharaoh said: Show it then if you are truthful. So he threw down his staff, and it became a large snake. And he drew his hand, and it was shining white to the onlookers” (26:29-33)
- Pharaoh claimed that what Musa showed was nothing but a trick of magic and sorcery.
- Pharaoh said: “O Musa, Have you come to drive us out of our land by your magic? We shall also bring you magic to match yours, so set an appointed time between us and you which we shall not fail to keep, in an open wide place where both shall have equal and just opportunity”.
- Musa said: “Let the encounter be on the day of the Festival of Adornment, and let the people be assembled at high noon” (20: 56-59)
- Pharaoh asked Musa to pick a place and time so that everyone can attend and see who is right. This is exactly what Prophet Musa wanted.
- Musa, without any delay, named the day of a famous festival which he knew everyone would attend.

Musa and the Magicians:
- Aya: “So Pharaoh withdrew and mustered his plot, and then came back. Musa said to them: “Woe to you! Forge not a falsehood against Allah, lest He destroy you with a severe chastisement. The one who forges falsehood must perish”
- Pharaoh gathered all the great magicians of Egypt, his ministers, dignitaries and all the people. It was Pharaoh’s command to attend, so no one dared not to.
- Before starting, Musa went to the magicians and rebuked them for practicing magic against Allah’s signs and threatened them with a Divine punishment.
- Aya: “So they disputed among themselves concerning the issue”
- Some said it seems like it’s a call of a Prophet, and others said no he’s just a magician. They finally agreed that Musa and Harun were magicians who want to take away their land.
- Pharaoh promised the magicians a great reward if they were successful.
- The magicians said: “By th might of Pharaoh, we are certainly the victorious”
- They asked Musa if he would like to go first but he told them to go ahead.
- Aya: “So when they threw, they bewitched the eyes of people and struch terror into them, and produced great magic” (7:116)
- Aya: “And so it appeared to him by their magic, that their ropes and sticks were moving. So Musa conceived a fear within himself”
- Musa feared that the people would be bewitched by their spell before he could throw his stick.
- Aya: “Fear not, certainly you have the upper hand. And throw down what is in your right hand, and it shall devour all they have faked, for they have faked only with the magician’s plot, and the magician will never succeed, wherever he goes”
- So Musa threw his stick on the ground and said: “What you have brought is sorcery, Allah will surely render it vain”
- When Musa threw his stick, it turned into a huge snake. It started devouring their ropes and sticks one by one.
- People were astonished, and the magicians were in bewilderment. They couldn’t believe their eyes. They knew their profession very well and they knew that this was NOT magic.
- So they all fell in prostration to their Lord, the Lord of the world. They announced their belief openly without fearing Pharaoh.
- Aya: “So the magicians threw themselves down prostrating, and said: ‘We believe in the Lord of Harun and Musa’. Pharaoh said: ‘You believed in Him before I gave you permission, surely, he is your chief who taught you the magic. Therefore, I shall cut off your hands and legs on opposite sides, and I will have you crucified on the trunks of palm trees, and you will know most certainly which of us is more severe in chastisement, and more lasting’. They said: ‘Never shall we prefer you to what has come to us of the clear signs and above He Who created us. Do decree whatever you desire to decree, for you only decree concerning the life of this world’” (20:70-72)
- Aya: “For us, we have believed in our Lord, may He forgive us our sins, and the magic which you have compelled us to practice”
- It is said that when the magicians fell down in prostration they saw the palaces and houses in paradise being prepared and decorated for them. That’s what strengthened their iman against Pharaoh’s threat.
- Pharaoh was of course frightened by this and he was afraid that other people will believe as well.
- Pharaoh accused Musa of being their master magician and teacher. Which was a clear lie. Everyone knew very well that Musa had never met the magicians before, plus it was Pharaoh who chose the magicians himself.
- The magicians also made dua saying: “Our Lord make us patient and cause us to die as Muslims”- this is so they won’t reject belief when the punishment is being performed.
- Pharaoh wanted their punishment to be a deterrent and example for all those who incline to believe.
- However, the magicians had tasted the sweetness of faith. They wanted Allah’s reward.
- SubhanAllah, how their situation changed in moments. In the first part of the day they were magicians and by the end of the day they were shudaha’.

Chiefs encourage Pharaoh to Kill Musa:
- The leaders and chiefs and dignitaries of the society encouraged Pharaoh to harm Musa and his people, and said: “Would you leave Musa and his people to work corruption on the land, and to forsake you?”
- However, Pharaoh said that he was not going to let them do that and he would start by killing their sons and sparing their women.
- Musa had no choice but to ask his people to be patient and seek Allah’s help against Pharaoh. He assured them that the end was for them, if they were patient and righteous.
- Aya: “And Musa said: ‘O my people! If you believe in Allah, then put your trust in Him, if you are Muslims’. So they said: ‘In Allah we trust.”
- However, they still complained to Musa that they were harmed twice. Once before he was born and now by the killings of their sons.
- Musa comforted them that after this trial they will inherit the land from their enemy.
- The killings of their sons was to make them feel helpless, humiliated and to reduce their number.
- Aya: “And Pharaoh said: ‘Let me kill Musa, and let him call on his Lord. I fear he will change your religion, or spread mischief in the land’”


The believer:
- Aya: “And a believer from among Pharaoh’s people who concealed his faith said: Will you kill a man because he said My Lord is Allah? And indeed he has brought to you clear signs from your Lord, and if he is a liar, on him will be his lie, and if he is truthful, there will befall you some of what he threatens you with. Surely, Allah does not guide any excessive liar. O my people! Today sovereignty is yours, you have the upper hand in the land. But who will help us from the punishment of Allah if it befalls us?. Pharaoh said: I only point out to you what I see myself, and I only guide you to the right path”
- This man was Pharaoh’s cousin. He had until that moment concealed his belief.
- Hadith: “The best of Jihad is to speak out about justice and truth in the presence of a tyrant ruler”
- The man asked Pharaoh, are you going to kill him just because he chose to believe in Allah? What crime is that?
- Then he pointed out that Musa did bring proofs to support his claim. So why not reflect on the message he is bringing, or at least leave him alone so you won’t be punished.
- He warned them that they might be deprived of their land and wealth if they keep opposing Musa.
- Of course Pharaoh didn’t want to hear this voice of reason, as he claimed that he knew everything.
- Pharaoh knew deep down in his heart that Musa was telling the truth, yet he was too arrogant to admit it.
- Aya: “So when Our sins came to them visibly, they said: This is nothing but magic. And they rejected them, though their souls were convinced of them, wrongfully and out of pride” (27:13-14)
- The man also reminded them of the end of the people who came before them. Like the people of Noah, Hud, Lot, etc.
- He also reminded them of Prophet Joseph and his mission in Egypt, and how he benefited them in this world and in the Hereafter, and how Musa is from his progeny.
- He reminded them how they were in doubt about Yusuf’s message: “But you persisted in doubt concerning what he came to you with, until when he perished, you said: Allah will never send a Messenger after him”
- Yet Pharaoh’s response was: “O Haman! Build for me a tower that I may have access to the heavens and may see the God of Musa, and I think he is a liar”
- He also said: “O chiefs! I do not know of any god for you other than myself, burn for me bricks of clay, O Haman, and build for me a tower, that I may climb up to the god of Musa, for I consider him to be a liar”
- Pharaoh wanted to distract his people from the truth.
- The believer said: “O my people! Follow me, and I will guide you to the right way. O my people! The life of this world is but a fleeting enjoyment, and surely the hereafter is the enduring home. Whoever does an evil deed, shall be recompensed only with the like of it, and whoever does righteous deeds, whether male or female, and is a believer, these shall be admitted to the Gardens, there they will be provided abundantly without reckoning”
- They argued with him and asked him to remain on Pharaoh’s religion.
- He responded: “Oh my people! How is is that I call you to deliverance and you call me to the Fire? You call me t disbelieve in Allah and to associate with Him that which I have no knowledge of, and I call you to the Almighty, the Forgiver. No doubt that those you call me to cannot be called upon in this world or in the Hereafter, and to Allah is out return, and the transgressors and the inhabitants of the fire”
- They again were too arrogant and did not listen to the believer amongst them. Allah protected the believer and they did not harm him.

Signs and Trials:
- When the message was very clear to them and they saw the signs and both prophets did their efforts in calling them to Allah, Allah put them to through trials of different kinds.
- Aya: “And certainly we seized Pharaoh’s people with years of scarcity and a reduction of fruits, that they might be mindful. SO when good came to them, they said: This is our due. But if evil afflicted them, they would ascribe is to Musa and those with him. Whereas, surely their misfortune was with Allah, but most of them do not know. And they said: Whatever sign you bring to us to enchant us, we will not believe in you. So We sent on them the flood and the locusts, the lice and the frogs, and the blood, self-explained signs, but they were arrogant and were sinful people.”
- The first thing was that they suffered from a drought which lasted for years. The purpose of this trial was to force them to realize their limits and the real Lord who handles this life.
- The second sign was the flood. An abundance of rain which destroyed their crops.
- Third was the locusts which ate all of their crops and fruits
- Fourth was the lice-black tiny insects that attacked them everywhere
- Fifth: Frogs. Frogs were EVERYWHERE. Even if one opened his mouth to drink or eat a frog would jump into it.
- Sixth: Blood. Their water was mixed with blood.
- All of these trials were for the Egyptians. Even though the children of Israel still lived in the same land, they did not suffer from any of this. Another miracle of Musa.
- Aya: “And when the plague fell upon them, they said: O Musa! Pray for us to your Lord in the name of the covenant He has made with you, if you remove the plague from us, we will surely believe in you, and we will send forth the Children of Israel with you” (7:134)
- Musa prayed to Allah to remove their suffering. But they did not fulfill their promise… then they were afflicted with locusts, and so on….
- They broke their promise every time, and so the punishment would get harsher every time.
- Pharaoh said: “Am I not better than this one, who is despicable, and who can hardly express himself? Why were not then the bracelets of gold bestowed upon him, or angels come with him as companions?. Thus did he make fools of his people, and they obeyed him, indeed they were wicked people” (43: 46-56)

The destruction of Pharaoh and his army:
- It was now time for their punishment. They were given enough chances.
- Other than the magicians, tt’s said that only 3 Egyptians believed in Musa. Pharaoh’s wife, his cousin, and the man who warned Musa to get out of town after the killing.
- Aya: “And We inspired Musa and his brother: Make separate dwellings for your people in Egypt, and make your dwellings places of worship, and establish prayer, and give glad tidings to the believers”
- This is in order for the believers to be distinguished and so they would be able to find each other quickly.
- Musa finally made a prayer against Pharaoh, he said: “Our Lord! You have given Pharaoh and his chiefs the glitters and wealth of this worldly life. Our Lord! They misled people from Your way. Our Lord! Obliterate their wealth, and harden their hearts, so they will not believe until they see the grievous punishment”
- Allah answered his prayer, as he accepted the prayer of Noah against his people.
- The Children of Israel asked Pharaoh for his permission to go to one of their festivals. He granted his permission to them unwillingly. But when the Israelites prepared themselves for this festival, they actually prepared to depart from Egypt forever.
- The Children of Israel left Egypt at once heading towards the land of Syrian. When Pharaoh came to know about their departure, he became extremely angry, and asked his army chiefs to get ready to follow them and punish them.
- Allah revealed to Musa to depart with Bani Israel at night, and He told them that Pharaoh would follow them.
- Pharaoh was enraged and wanted to punish them. He looked at them as a small number and he was sure that they would be victorious.
- Pharaoh had an army which exceeded one a half million.
- Bani Israel were about half a million, they were finally leaving Egypt after 426 years.
- Pharaoh finally caught up to Bani Israel. There was no way out for them, the sea was infront of them and Pharaoh and his army were behind them.
- They found no escape and complained to Musa. He assured them that Allah is with them.
- Musa came to the sea, and looked at it with its huge waves. He was saying: here is where I was commanded.
- Harun and Yusha’ bin Nun were with him.
- The believer from the house of Pharaoh was also with him, he actually tried to enter the sea with his horse but he couldn’t. He said to Musa: “O Messenger of Allah, where you commanded to come here”. Musa said: “Yes”
- When Pharaoh got closer and closer, people started to panic.
- Revelation came to Musa: “Strike the sea with your stick”. So he struck it.
- And so the sea parted and each part stood like a huge mountain.
- Allah created dry paths for Bani Israel so they can pass through the sea.
- When the last person of Bani Israel exited the sea, Pharaoh and his army started entering it.
- Musa wanted to strike the sea again so it would block their way, but Allah commanded him to leave it so Pharaoh and his army could enter it.
- At this point Pharaoh was frightened but he still wanted to prove himself to his army so he said: “Look how the sea has split apart for me so that I could catch my servants”
- When his army saw him entering the sea, they followed him.
- When all of them were in the sea, Allah commanded Musa to strike it with his stick and so they were all drowned.
- Aya: “And We took Bani Israel through the sea. Then Pharaoh and his soldiers perused them in insolence and hostility, until when drowning overtook him, he said: I believe that there is no god except the one whom Bani Israel believed in. And I am one of the Muslims. Now you believe, after you rebelled before and caused corruption. This day We shall save you in your body so that you may be a sign for those who come after you. But surely many among mankind are heedless of Our signs” (10:90-92)
- As soon as Pharaoh realized that he was helpless he proclaimed his belief in Allah… but it was too late.
- Hadith: “When Pharaoh said: ‘I believe that there is no god except He whom Bani Israel believed in’. Jibril said to me: If you could have seen me when I took the mud from the sea and shoved it into his mouth, fearing that the mercy of God might save him”
- Aya: “Rather, that which they before concealed appeared to them, and even if they were returned, they would commit again the very thing they were prohibited, surely they are liars” (6:28)
- Some of Bani Israel were doubtful of Pharaoh’s death, so Allah commanded the sea to raise his body high on the wave. He was wearing his armor with which he was recognized, and so his death was confirmed.
- Pharaoh and his army were drowned on the day of Ashura.
- Hadith: “when the Prophet came to Madinah, he found the Jews fasting on the day of Ashura. He asked them: What is this day that you are fasting on?. They answered: this is a day when Musa gained victory over Pharaoh. So the Prophet said to his companions: “You are more deserving of Moses then them, so you fast as well” (Bukhari)