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The Birth of Moses (PUH)
His honorable birth was in Egypt at the time of the tyrant pharaoh. It was at a time when it was ordered to kill the children of Israelites, and he (the pharaoh) ordered to separate between men and women by putting them into the jails and captivated the women and made them as servants, and all of that was when they told him that there will be a child from the Israelites that will destroy him with his kingdom, and they say that his mother was pregnant with him but her pregnancy did not show up until she gave birth to him, and the pharaoh at that time appointed coptic women for the Israelites to keep an eye on them and kill every male born child and release the females to prevent what he was scared of, so when the mother of Moses gave birth to him and then she looked at him, she felt so sad for him and knew that he would be killed, so she got confused and she thought about it for many times until she came so despaired and she used to ask God to make them unable to see him, but God threw his love in the heart of every one that would see him and when they knew about him and the coptic woman came, her heart hanged on him and loved him and she said to his mother: do not be afraid of me but keep him in secret and don't let any one see it save but me, so God said: And I endued thee with love from Me(Taha:39), and that was the reason for the coptic woman's love.
Then God revealed the ark upon the mother of Moses and she was called to put him in the ark and throw him into the sea, or the Nile, and do not be afraid or sad for We will give him back to you and We will make him a prophet, then she knew that the One that called her is the One that revealed the ark and it was her Lord, and she believed in what she was commanded to do and put Moses into the ark and closed it tightly then she threw him into the Nile, then the tides played with the ark and the winds drove it to the front of the pharaoh's palace and he had many palaces in front of the Nile, and he was with his family and some of his close people in that palace which the ark arrived to, so he took a loot at it while his wife Âsiyyah was with him, but he did not know what was it but he saw only a dark spot into the Nile carried by the currents and winds, until she brought him into the palace and the pharaoh ordered to open it and he found a boy then he said: he is an israelite, and he wanted to kill him but when he looked at him God throw his love into his heart, and so Âsiyyah loved him so much as well, but inspite of all of that the heart of the pharaoh felt the danger and wanted to kill him, so then his wife Âsiyyah said to him: Kill him not. Peradventure he may be of use to us, or we may choose him for a son. And they perceived not(Al-Qasas:9).
Some said as it is in Torah in summary: and during the storm that passed over the children of Israel in Egypt and the difficulties they are facing from the pharaohs and the humiliation with adversities because of the rulers of their time, and there were a hebrew man from the children of Israel called `Imrân (in hebrew it is `Umrâm) ben Fâhit ben Levi ben Jacob (PUH) [This suggests that the name mentioned in the beginning of this chapter was Fâhit not Fâhib, and it is equivalent to Kohath] married a woman from his own family and she gave birth to Aaron and Moses, and after she gave birth to him she hided him from the eyes of those who seek the children of the children of Israel to kill their males, so he stayed with her for three months, and when she got afraid from being discovered, God taught her to make a box-like figure and smear it with pitch and put the child into it and then throw it into the water and so she did and appointed his sister to watch it and follow its track, and she kept on guarding him and watching him until she knew that he got into the palace of the pharaoh and that his wife loved him so much and kept him to be like her son for her and her husband the pharaoh.
That was a trick from God for Moses and his mother (PUT) and to make him return to her because she will be his breastfeeder and take a wage for this while she is safe from the evil of the pharaoh, and then God forbid him to be feeded from the breasts of all other women and the pharaoh with his wife tried hardly to get a woman that can feed him, but they did not reach any result, all of that while his sister were watching him and knew everything going on with them, and they became buffled about him, and his sister was following him wherever he was taken to, and when she saw their condition she offered the pharaoh and his wife to call a hebrew woman to feed him his enough and be like a mother for him, and the pharaoh paid full attention to her and they sent her and so she came back with her and his mother, and when she wanted to breastfeed him, he caught her breast in urgently, and so they told her to take care of Moses to breastfeed him under her care with their great hopes in him.
Read with me these holy phrases from the holy book of your Lord from the chapter of Al-Qasas, He said: And We inspired the mother of Moses, saying: Suckle him and, when thou fearest for him, then cast him into the river and fear not nor grieve. Lo! We shall bring him back unto thee and shall make him (one) of Our messengers. And the family of Pharaoh took him up, that he might become for them an enemy and a sorrow, Lo! Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts were ever sinning. And the wife of Pharaoh said: (He will be) a consolation for me and for thee. Kill him not. Peradventure he may be of use to us, or we may choose him for a son. And they perceived not. And the heart of the mother of Moses became void, and she would have betrayed him if We had not fortified her heart, that she might be of the believers. And she said unto his sister: Trace him. So she observed him from afar, and they perceived not. And We had before forbidden foster-mothers for him, so she said: Shall I show you a household who will rear him for you and take care of him? So We restored him to his mother that she might be comforted and not grieve, and that she might know that the promise of Allah is true. But most of them know not(Al-Qasas:7-13), and in the chapter of TaHa some phrases with the same meaning.
It is apparent that it was necessary for the pharaoh and his wife Âsiyyah or some of their followers and close people to notice Moses and ask for him to look at, so his mother used to bring him or send him to them and they used to check his education and his growing, not less than a bird they caught or a deer or a slave that they bought for it was something new and got into their seizing and they gave it to someone else to take care of it and their hearts were hanged with him so for all of that they had to check after him and check his condition and there is no doubt that they used to send him the gifts and also to the one that used to care of him, and it is in fact his mother, and then she must had took him back to the house of the pharaoh after completing the breastfeeding and then they took care of him personally as they usually do with their children and teach him whatever they used to teach their children of their religion and worshipping and teach them the sense of their place among people and make them special and honorable and make them responsible gradually, the easiest then the easier or the most important then the more important and so on.
Then it was a habit for the kings at that time or at any time that the children of the nobles was to be given to a special educator which might be a religion man or priests and similar people to teach them and educate them with a special education, so the children of the nobles were educated in that manner by those people or as traditions suggest at that time, for this we do not doubt about Moses being taught things that were added to whatever God taught him in his old age of wisdom and religion where God says: And when he reached his full strength and was ripe, We gave him wisdom and knowledge. Thus do We reward the good(Al-Qasas:14), and what we've appointed of their care for him is apparent from God's saying about this matter, and it is apparent from the meaning of their speech, so He said: (Pharaoh) said (unto Moses): Did we not rear thee among us as a child? And thou didst dwell many years of thy life among us(Al-Shu`arâ':18). Yes, he did make live among them and took him a child for himself for he did not have any child, and he was annoyed because Moses did not accept anyone to feed him until his mother came and feeded him, and the pharaoh did not feel that she was his mother or one of his family, and when he drank of her milk they all turned to be glad for this and gifted her with many gifts, and so the pharaoh used to kill the children of Israel and Moses was living in his palace in luxury and he did not know that his end would be by his hands.
It is mentioned that when Moses grew up and got the ability to distinguish between things while he was with the pharaoh, once he sneezed and said: thanks be to God (bless), and it was with the presence of the pharaoh, so he denied that from him and slapped him and said to him: what are you saying? So when he did that Moses jumped over him and catched his beard and it was long, so he caught it and pulled it away, so then the pharaoh got so angry and wanted to kill him, and then his wife Âsiyyah said: he is only a kid that do not know what he is doing or saying, then the pharaoh said to her: he knows and must be killed, she said then: test him and put for him some live coal and dates, so if he distinguished between them then it is as you said and do whatever you like with him, so then the pharaoh did as suggested and said to him: eat! Then he expanded his hand to the dates, but Gabriel then came down and directed his hand to the live coal, so he took it and put it in his mouth and his tongue got burnt and he started to cry, so then Âsiyyah said to him: did not I tell you he does not understand a thing? Then the pharaoh forgave him
Then Moses grew up as a man in the house of the pharaoh, and he was intellegent and strong with wisdom, goodly mannered, active and brave, he was strange in his opinions, amazing in his ways, and awesome in dealing with people, and Al-Tabari mentioned: when Moses grew up and been strong, he kept the Egyptians away from the Israelites, and it is natural that the Israelites considered him as a victory for them and one that can help them in their living, but after all he did not forget that he was an Israelite and an intruder to the house of the pharaoh, and his identity might be discovered at any time, and as Al-Baydhâwi mentioned, he said that Moses stayed in the house of the pharaoh for thirty years, and then he escaped to Midian from the pharaoh. They say that one day Moses went out from the house of the pharaoh into the city while the people of the city did not notice that, so then he found an Egyptian man holding a Hebrew man to make him work for him as a slave while the Hebrew man were denying that, so then when the Hebrew man saw Moses he shouted for help so that Moses came with his wrath to the Egyptian man and poked him mightly which caused him death and no one knew about it except of that Hebrew man that Moses saved, and Moses regretted and was so afraid of that and said to himself: this is a deed of the devil for he is an enemy, and then he praised God to forgive him and never make him an ally to the criminals, and this deed was the first thing he would ever be afraid of.
Al-Tabari mentioned a long story attributed to Ibn-`Abbâs about the birth of Moses until he went out to Midian, and he mentioned: when Egyptians found the dead body of the man that Moses killed and they did not know who killed him they said to the pharaoh: the Israelites killed a man that belongs to the pharaoh so take revenge of them and do not allow them to do so again, he said to them: bring me his killer and a witness for it is not a right thing to judge without a clue, so then the Egyptians began to search for the killer even though in small number of suspects to give him to the pharaoh to take a revenge of him, and while they were wandering in the city to spy and investigate, Moses passed on and found that Hebrew man that caused him to kill the Egyptian was fighting with another Egyptian, and the Hebrew man shouted for help again against that Egyptian man which considered to be their shared enemy, so Moses said to him: thou art indeed a mere hothead(Al-Qasas:18), and here he meant the Hebrew man because he made embarrassment for Moses which became scared to be spied on because of that Hebrew man, and when Moses went to help the Hebrew man and kill the Egyptian, the Egyptian said to him: O Moses! Wouldst thou kill me as thou didst kill a person yesterday. Thou wouldst be nothing but a tyrant in the land, thou wouldst not be of the reformers(Al-Qasas:19).


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