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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).
Next: Going Out of Egypt to Midian