Prophet Musa (AS) – The One to Whom Allah Spoke حضرت موسیٰ علیہ السلام – کلیم اللہ

The story of Musa (AS) begins in a land of oppression. Centuries after Yusuf (AS) had brought his father Yaqub and his brothers into Egypt, their descendants – the Children of Israel – had multiplied into a large community, and the native rulers had come to fear and enslave them. The Quran introduces the ruler of that age simply as Fir'awn, Pharaoh, a title rather than a name, and describes his policy in one verse: 'Indeed, Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and made its people into factions, oppressing a sector among them, slaughtering their [newborn] sons and keeping their females alive. Indeed, he was of the corrupters' (Al-Qasas 28:4).

The commentators report, from the earlier scriptures and the tafsir of the Companions, that Pharaoh had been warned – by a dream, or by his priests – that a boy born among the Children of Israel would bring about the end of his kingdom. His response was to order the killing of their male infants. Some reports add that the order was applied in alternate years, which is why Harun, born in a year of respite, survived openly while Musa, born in a year of slaughter, had to be hidden. These details are from Isra'iliyyat and tafsir reports; the Quran establishes only the killing of the sons and the sparing of the daughters.

Against this, Allah had already decreed the opposite: 'And We wanted to confer favour upon those who were oppressed in the land and make them leaders and make them inheritors, and establish them in the land, and show Pharaoh and Haman and their soldiers through them that which they had feared' (Al-Qasas 28:5-6). The child Pharaoh feared would be raised in Pharaoh's own house.

Musa was born to a woman of the tribe of Levi, from the line of Yaqub. The Quran does not give her name; the reports call her Yukabid (Jochebed). She was in terror for her son. Then Allah inspired her: 'Suckle him; but 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' (Al-Qasas 28:7). This was not prophetic revelation in the technical sense – she was not a prophetess – but an inspiration cast into her heart, like the inspiration given to the bee (An-Nahl 16:68). She placed the infant in a chest, sealed it, and set it on the Nile (Ta-Ha 20:39).

The river carried the chest to the palace. 'And the family of Pharaoh picked him up [out of the river] so that he would become to them an enemy and a [cause of] grief' (Al-Qasas 28:8). Pharaoh's wife – named in the reports as Asiya bint Muzahim, whom the Quran later honours as an example for all believers (At-Tahrim 66:11) – saw the child and loved him. She said: 'A comfort of the eye for me and for you. Do not kill him; perhaps he may benefit us, or we may adopt him as a son' (Al-Qasas 28:9). Allah's comment is dry and terrible: 'And they perceived not.'

Meanwhile the mother's heart 'became empty [of all else]'; she was on the verge of crying out and revealing herself, 'had We not bound fast her heart that she would be of the believers' (Al-Qasas 28:10). She sent her daughter – Musa's sister – to follow the chest from a distance. In the palace the child refused every wet-nurse. 'And We had prevented from him [all] wet nurses before' (Al-Qasas 28:12). The sister, seeing her chance, offered: 'Shall I direct you to a household that will be responsible for him for you while they are to him sincere?' And so, within a day, the baby was back at his mother's breast, now under the protection and pay of Pharaoh himself. 'So We restored him to his mother that she might be content and not grieve and that she would know that the promise of Allah is true. But most of the people do not know' (Al-Qasas 28:13).

Everything in this chapter is reversal. The king who killed the sons of Israel raised the son of Israel who would end his kingdom. The river that was meant to be a grave became a cradle. The mother who was ordered to throw her child away was paid to keep him. The Quran tells the story with this purpose: that the reader should learn, in the words it gives to Musa's mother, that 'the promise of Allah is true'.

Musa grew up in the house of Pharaoh, nursed by his own mother, protected by the queen, and educated as a prince of Egypt. Years later Allah would remind him of this: 'And I bestowed upon you love from Me that you would be brought up under My eye' (Ta-Ha 20:39). He knew who he was; his mother and sister were close to him, and the Children of Israel knew him as one of their own. When he reached manhood, 'We gave him judgement and knowledge. And thus do We reward the doers of good' (Al-Qasas 28:14). This was wisdom and sound understanding before prophethood, not yet revelation.

One day he entered the city 'at a time of inattention by its people' – at midday or in the evening, the commentators say – 'and found therein two men fighting: one from his faction and one from among his enemy' (Al-Qasas 28:15). The Israelite called to him for help against the Egyptian. Musa struck the Egyptian with his fist, and the man fell dead. He had not intended to kill; a single blow from a man of his strength had been enough. He said at once: 'This is from the work of Satan. Indeed, he is a manifest, misleading enemy.' Then he prayed: 'My Lord, indeed I have wronged myself, so forgive me,' and Allah forgave him. 'Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful' (Al-Qasas 28:16).

The scholars discuss the nature of this act. Musa had killed an unbeliever who was oppressing one of his people; he had not intended death; and he was not yet a prophet. Yet he regarded it as a wrong, asked forgiveness, and vowed: 'My Lord, for the favour You bestowed upon me, I will never be an assistant to the criminals' (Al-Qasas 28:17). The Prophet ﷺ, in the hadith of intercession, records that on the Day of Judgement Musa will still remember it: 'I killed a soul I was not commanded to kill' (Sahih al-Bukhari 4712; Sahih Muslim 194). This is the standard of the prophets: an unintended killing in defence of the oppressed still weighed on his conscience for the rest of his life.

The next day he found the same Israelite fighting another Egyptian and again calling for help. Musa, exasperated, said to him: 'Indeed, you are an evident, [persistent] deviator' (Al-Qasas 28:18) – and then moved to seize the Egyptian. The Israelite, thinking Musa meant to strike him, cried out: 'O Musa, do you intend to kill me as you killed someone yesterday?' (Al-Qasas 28:19). In that moment the secret of the previous day's killing became public. The Egyptian reported it, and the matter reached Pharaoh's court.

A man came running 'from the farthest end of the city' – the commentators identify him with the believer from Pharaoh's family who appears later in Surah Ghafir, though this is not certain – and warned him: 'O Musa, indeed the eminent ones are conferring over you [intending] to kill you, so leave [the city]; indeed, I am to you of the sincere advisors' (Al-Qasas 28:20). Musa left at once, 'fearful and anticipating [apprehension]', praying, 'My Lord, save me from the wrongdoing people' (Al-Qasas 28:21).

He set out east, across the Sinai, toward Madyan, with no provisions and no guide, saying: 'Perhaps my Lord will guide me to the sound way' (Al-Qasas 28:22). The reports say he walked for days, eating the leaves of trees, until he reached the well of Madyan. There he found the herdsmen watering their flocks and two young women standing back with theirs. He asked them why. They said: 'We do not water until the shepherds dispatch [their flocks]; and our father is an old man' (Al-Qasas 28:23). Musa watered their flock for them – some reports say he lifted alone a stone that normally took many men – and then withdrew into the shade and prayed one of the most beloved prayers of the Quran: 'My Lord, indeed I am, for whatever good You would send down to me, in need' (Al-Qasas 28:24).

The answer came walking shyly across the ground. One of the two women returned and said that her father wished to reward him for watering their flock. Musa went with her – the reports say he asked her to walk behind him and direct him by throwing a pebble, so that he would not look at her – and told the old man his story. The old man said: 'Fear not. You have escaped from the wrongdoing people' (Al-Qasas 28:25). The daughter said: 'O my father, hire him. Indeed, the best one you can hire is the strong and the trustworthy' (Al-Qasas 28:26). The father offered him one of his daughters in marriage on condition that he serve him for eight years, 'but if you complete ten, it will be [as a favour] from you' (Al-Qasas 28:27). Musa agreed. The prince of Egypt became a shepherd in the desert, and in the desert Allah prepared him for the greatest mission ever given to a man before Muhammad ﷺ.

When Musa had completed the term – the reports say he served the full ten years – he set out with his family to return toward Egypt. It was night, winter, and they had lost the road. 'He perceived from the direction of the mount a fire. He said to his family, "Stay here; indeed, I have perceived a fire. Perhaps I can bring you from there [some] information or a burning wood from the fire that you may warm yourselves"' (Al-Qasas 28:29; Ta-Ha 20:10). He went toward it alone, a shepherd looking for a coal, and walked into the most momentous conversation in the history of the Children of Israel.

'And when he came to it, he was called from the right side of the valley in a blessed spot – from the tree, "O Musa, indeed I am Allah, Lord of the worlds"' (Al-Qasas 28:30). In Surah Ta-Ha the words are: 'Indeed, I am your Lord, so remove your sandals. Indeed, you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa. And I have chosen you, so listen to what is revealed. Indeed, I am Allah. There is no deity except Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance' (Ta-Ha 20:12-14). Allah spoke to him directly, without an angel, and for this Musa is called Kalimullah, the one to whom Allah spoke (An-Nisa 4:164). The scholars affirm this as a real speech, heard by Musa, without asking how.

Then came the first two signs. 'And what is that in your right hand, O Musa?' He said: 'It is my staff; I lean upon it, and I bring down leaves for my sheep and I have therein other uses' (Ta-Ha 20:17-18). The commentators observe that Musa prolonged his answer out of love for the conversation. 'Throw it down, O Musa.' He threw it, 'and suddenly it was a snake, moving swiftly' (Ta-Ha 20:20); in Surah An-Naml it is 'as if it was a snake' and in Al-Qasas it 'was a serpent', the three words describing a creature huge, fast and terrifying. Musa 'turned in flight and did not return'. Allah said: 'O Musa, approach and fear not. Indeed, you are of the secure' (Al-Qasas 28:31). He took it, and it was a staff again.

'And draw in your hand to your side; it will come out white without disease – another sign' (Ta-Ha 20:22). He put his hand into his garment and brought it out shining white, brilliant without blemish, and drew it back and it was as before. 'And draw in your arm to yourself against fear' (Al-Qasas 28:32) – a lesson in how to steady the heart when it races.

Then the mission. 'Go to Pharaoh. Indeed, he has transgressed' (Ta-Ha 20:24). Musa did not refuse, but he asked for what he needed, in a prayer that has been the prayer of every speaker since: 'My Lord, expand for me my breast and ease for me my task and untie the knot from my tongue that they may understand my speech. And appoint for me a minister from my family – Harun, my brother. Increase through him my strength and let him share my task, that we may exalt You much and remember You much. Indeed, You are of us ever Seeing' (Ta-Ha 20:25-35). The 'knot' in his tongue was a speech impediment; the reports that trace it to a burning coal he put in his mouth as a child are Isra'iliyyat and not established. He also said plainly: 'And they have upon me a [claim due to] sin, so I fear that they will kill me' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:14), and 'My brother Harun is more fluent than me in tongue, so send him with me as support' (Al-Qasas 28:34).

Allah granted every request. 'You have been granted your request, O Musa' (Ta-Ha 20:36). Then He reminded him of the whole story of his life – the basket, the river, the mother, the killing, the years in Madyan – and said: 'And I produced you for Myself. Go, you and your brother, with My signs and do not slacken in My remembrance. Go, both of you, to Pharaoh. Indeed, he has transgressed. And speak to him with gentle speech that perhaps he may be reminded or fear [Allah]' (Ta-Ha 20:41-44). The two brothers said: 'Our Lord, indeed we are afraid that he will hasten [punishment] against us or that he will transgress.' Allah said: 'Fear not. Indeed, I am with you both; I hear and I see' (Ta-Ha 20:45-46).

Ibn Kathir pauses at the command of gentle speech. The most arrogant tyrant on earth was to be addressed with courtesy, by the man whose people he had enslaved. If Pharaoh was owed gentle words, no one who calls to Allah can excuse harshness. And the reassurance 'I am with you both' is the promise under which every subsequent event of this story unfolds.

Musa returned to Egypt, met Harun, and the two of them stood before Pharaoh with the message Allah had given them: 'Indeed, we are messengers of the Lord of the worlds, [commanded to say], "Send with us the Children of Israel"' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:16-17). The demand had two parts – acknowledge the Lord of the worlds, and release the slaves – and Pharaoh, a shrewd ruler, attacked the first by attacking the messenger. 'Did we not raise you among us as a child, and you remained among us for years of your life? And [then] you did your deed which you did, and you were of the ungrateful' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:18-19). Musa did not deny the killing: 'I did it, then, while I was of those astray. So I fled from you when I feared you. Then my Lord granted me judgement and prophethood and appointed me [as one] of the messengers' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:20-21). Then he turned the charge of ingratitude around: 'And is this a favour of which you remind me – that you have enslaved the Children of Israel?' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:22).

Pharaoh tried theology. 'And what is the Lord of the worlds?' Musa answered with creation: 'The Lord of the heavens and earth and that between them, if you should be convinced.' Pharaoh mocked him to his courtiers. Musa continued: 'Your Lord and the Lord of your first forefathers.' Pharaoh called him mad. Musa continued: 'Lord of the east and the west and that between them, if you were to reason' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:23-28). In Surah Ta-Ha Pharaoh asked, 'Then what is the case of the former generations?' – meaning, were all our ancestors wrong? – and Musa replied, 'The knowledge thereof is with my Lord in a record. My Lord neither errs nor forgets' (Ta-Ha 20:51-52). Pharaoh had no answer, so he fell back on power: 'If you take a god other than me, I will surely place you among those imprisoned' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:29).

Musa then showed the signs. He threw his staff, 'and suddenly it was a serpent, manifest. And he drew out his hand; thereupon it was white for the observers' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:32-33; Al-A'raf 7:107-108). The court was shaken. The chiefs said: 'Indeed, this is a learned magician who wants to drive you out of your land by his magic' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:34-35). Pharaoh's solution was a public contest: gather every skilled magician in Egypt and let them beat Musa at what they took to be his own art. Musa accepted and chose the day himself: 'Your appointment is on the day of the festival when the people assemble at mid-morning' (Ta-Ha 20:59). He wanted the largest possible audience in the clearest possible light.

On the day, the magicians asked Pharaoh for a reward if they won; he promised them wealth and nearness to himself (Al-A'raf 7:113-114; Ash-Shu'ara 26:41-42). They said to Musa: 'Either you throw or we will be the first to throw.' He said: 'Rather, you throw' (Ta-Ha 20:65-66). They threw their ropes and staffs and used their craft so that 'they bewitched the eyes of the people and struck terror into them, and they presented a great [feat of] magic' (Al-A'raf 7:116); 'their ropes and staffs seemed to him, from their magic, that they were moving [like snakes]' (Ta-Ha 20:66). Even Musa, the Quran says, 'sensed within himself apprehension' (Ta-Ha 20:67). Allah said: 'Fear not. Indeed, it is you who are superior. And throw what is in your right hand; it will swallow up what they have crafted. What they have crafted is but the trick of a magician, and the magician will not succeed wherever he is' (Ta-Ha 20:68-69).

Musa threw his staff, and the serpent devoured everything they had made – ropes, staffs, the whole field of illusion – and then was a staff again in his hand. Nothing remained. The magicians, who knew every trick of their trade, knew at once that this was not a trick. 'And the magicians fell down in prostration. They said, "We have believed in the Lord of the worlds, the Lord of Musa and Harun"' (Al-A'raf 7:120-122; Ta-Ha 20:70). The men hired to defeat Musa became, in a single moment, the first public believers in Egypt.

Pharaoh was enraged, and his reply reveals the tyrant's mind exactly: 'You believed in him before I gave you permission' (Ta-Ha 20:71). Faith, in his kingdom, required a licence. He accused them of conspiracy and threatened: 'I will surely cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I will surely crucify you on the trunks of palm trees' (Ta-Ha 20:71). Their answer is one of the great passages of the Quran: 'Never will we prefer you over what has come to us of clear proofs and over He who created us. So decree whatever you are to decree. You can only decree for this worldly life. Indeed, we have believed in our Lord that He may forgive us our sins and what you compelled us [to do] of magic. And Allah is better and more enduring' (Ta-Ha 20:72-73). And to their Lord: 'Our Lord, pour upon us patience and let us die as Muslims' (Al-A'raf 7:126). Ibn Abbas said: 'They were magicians at the start of the day and martyrs at its end.' The reports that Pharaoh carried out the threat are from tafsir, not from the Quran, but the Quran's record of their words leaves no doubt about their readiness.

The contest with the magicians did not soften Pharaoh. His chiefs urged him: 'Will you leave Musa and his people to cause corruption in the land and abandon you and your gods?' He answered: 'We will kill their sons and keep their women alive; and indeed, we are subjugators over them' (Al-A'raf 7:127). The slaughter of infants was renewed. Musa told his people: 'Seek help through Allah and be patient. Indeed, the earth belongs to Allah. He causes to inherit it whom He wills of His servants. And the [best] outcome is for the righteous' (Al-A'raf 7:128). The Israelites complained that they had been harmed before he came and after; he replied that perhaps Allah would destroy their enemy and make them successors in the land, 'and see how you will do' (Al-A'raf 7:129) – a warning as much as a promise.

Allah then struck Egypt with a series of signs. First came years of drought and shortage of crops, 'that perhaps they would be reminded' (Al-A'raf 7:130). The Egyptians blamed Musa for every misfortune and credited themselves for every relief. Then: 'So We sent upon them the flood and locusts and lice and frogs and blood as distinct signs, but they were arrogant and were a criminal people' (Al-A'raf 7:133). After each plague they would come to Musa: 'Invoke for us your Lord by what He has promised you. If you remove the punishment from us, we will surely believe you, and we will send with you the Children of Israel' (Al-A'raf 7:134). Each time Allah lifted the plague; each time they broke their word. In Surah Az-Zukhruf Pharaoh's people say outright, 'O magician, invoke for us your Lord… indeed, we will be guided' – and then, 'when We removed from them the affliction, at once they broke their word' (Az-Zukhruf 43:49-50).

Among the Egyptians there were believers. The Quran devotes a long passage of Surah Ghafir to 'a believing man from the family of Pharaoh who concealed his faith', who stood up in the council when Pharaoh proposed to kill Musa and argued: 'Do you kill a man because he says, "My Lord is Allah," while he has brought you clear proofs from your Lord? And if he should be lying, then upon him is his lie; but if he should be truthful, there will strike you some of what he promises you' (Ghafir 40:28). His speech, which runs through several verses, is a model of courageous and reasoned advocacy, and Allah 'protected him from the evils they plotted' (Ghafir 40:45). And in Pharaoh's own house there was Asiya, who had saved Musa as an infant and whose prayer the Quran records: 'My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise and save me from Pharaoh and his deeds' (At-Tahrim 66:11). The Prophet ﷺ named her among the four most perfect women (Sahih al-Bukhari 3411; Sahih Muslim 2431). The reports of her martyrdom under torture are from tafsir, not established hadith.

Pharaoh, meanwhile, grew more extravagant. He ordered Haman to build him a tower 'that I might reach the ways – the ways into the heavens – so that I may look at the deity of Musa; but indeed, I think he is a liar' (Ghafir 40:36-37; Al-Qasas 28:38). He declared to his people, 'I am your most exalted lord' (An-Nazi'at 79:24). Musa prayed against him: 'Our Lord, indeed You have given Pharaoh and his establishment splendour and wealth in the worldly life… Our Lord, obliterate their wealth and harden their hearts so that they will not believe until they see the painful punishment.' Allah said: 'Your supplication has been answered. So remain on a right course' (Yunus 10:88-89). The believers were told to make their houses places of prayer (Yunus 10:87), and to wait.

Then the command came: 'Set out with My servants by night; indeed, you will be pursued' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:52). The Children of Israel left Egypt in a single night. Pharaoh gathered his army and followed at dawn, saying of them, 'Indeed, those are but a small band, and indeed, they are enraging us' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:54-55). At sunrise the two hosts came in sight of one another on the shore of the sea. The Israelites, with the water before them and the chariots behind, cried: 'Indeed, we are to be overtaken!' Musa answered with absolute faith: 'No! Indeed, with me is my Lord; He will guide me' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:61-62).

'Then We inspired to Musa, "Strike with your staff the sea," and it parted, and each portion was like a great towering mountain' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:63). Allah told him to make the sea 'a path, dry' (Ta-Ha 20:77), and the Israelites crossed on the seabed between walls of water. Pharaoh and his army followed them in. When the last Israelite was out and the Egyptians were all between the walls, the sea closed. 'And We saved Musa and those with him, all together. Then We drowned the others' (Ash-Shu'ara 26:65-66). Pharaoh, drowning, cried out: 'I believe that there is no deity except that in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the Muslims' (Yunus 10:90). The answer was: 'Now? And you had disobeyed before and were of the corrupters? So today We will save you in body that you may be to those who succeed you a sign' (Yunus 10:91-92). His body was cast up on the shore so that the Egyptians would know that their god was dead.

The Prophet ﷺ found the Jews of Madinah fasting on the day of Ashura, the tenth of Muharram, and they told him it was the day Allah saved Musa and drowned Pharaoh. He said: 'We have more right to Musa than you,' and fasted it and commanded its fast (Sahih al-Bukhari 2004; Sahih Muslim 1130). Every Muslim who fasts Ashura is commemorating the parting of the sea.

The Children of Israel were free, but freedom revealed what slavery had done to them. Within days of the crossing they passed a people devoted to idols and said: 'O Musa, make for us a god just as they have gods.' He said: 'Indeed, you are a people behaving ignorantly' (Al-A'raf 7:138). They had seen the sea stand up in walls, and they wanted a statue. In the wilderness Allah provided for them: the cloud shaded them, manna and quails were sent down, and when they thirsted Musa struck the rock with his staff and twelve springs gushed out, one for each tribe (Al-Baqarah 2:57, 60; Al-A'raf 7:160). Still they complained, asking for herbs, cucumbers, garlic, lentils and onions (Al-Baqarah 2:61).

Allah then appointed for Musa a meeting on Mount Sinai to receive the Law. 'And We made an appointment with Musa for thirty nights and perfected them by [the addition of] ten; so the term of his Lord was completed as forty nights' (Al-A'raf 7:142). He left Harun in charge: 'Take my place among my people, do right, and do not follow the way of the corrupters.' On the mountain Musa asked for the thing no human eye can bear: 'My Lord, show me [Yourself] that I may look at You.' Allah said: 'You will not see Me, but look at the mountain; if it should remain in place, then you will see Me.' 'But when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He rendered it level, and Musa fell unconscious. And when he awoke, he said, "Exalted are You! I have repented to You, and I am the first of the believers"' (Al-A'raf 7:143). Allah said: 'O Musa, I have chosen you over the people with My messages and My words. So take what I have given you and be among the grateful' (Al-A'raf 7:144). And He wrote for him on the Tablets 'of all things – instruction and explanation for all things' (Al-A'raf 7:145).

While Musa was on the mountain, his people fell. A man known as as-Samiri – the Quran gives only this name – gathered the gold ornaments the Israelites had carried out of Egypt, melted them, and 'extracted for them [the statue of] a calf which had a lowing sound' (Ta-Ha 20:88). He told them: 'This is your god and the god of Musa, but he forgot.' The Quran records that he took 'a handful [of dust] from the track of the messenger' and threw it into the mould (Ta-Ha 20:96); the commentators explain this as dust from where the angel Jibril's horse had passed, by which the calf produced a sound. Allah knows best how it was done; what is certain is that most of the people worshipped it. Harun warned them: 'O my people, you are only being tested by it, and indeed, your Lord is the Most Merciful, so follow me and obey my order.' They said: 'We will never cease being devoted to it until Musa returns to us' (Ta-Ha 20:90-91).

Allah informed Musa on the mountain: 'Indeed, We have tried your people after you, and as-Samiri has led them astray' (Ta-Ha 20:85). He came down 'angry and grieved' (Al-A'raf 7:150), threw down the Tablets, seized his brother by the head and beard, and demanded: 'O Harun, what prevented you, when you saw them going astray, from following me? Then have you disobeyed my order?' Harun answered: 'O son of my mother, do not seize [me] by my beard or by my head. Indeed, I feared that you would say, "You caused division among the Children of Israel, and you did not observe my word"' (Ta-Ha 20:92-94); and, 'Indeed, the people oppressed me and were about to kill me' (Al-A'raf 7:150). Musa understood, and prayed: 'My Lord, forgive me and my brother and admit us into Your mercy' (Al-A'raf 7:151).

He turned to as-Samiri. The man's defence – 'I saw what they did not see… my soul enticed me' – earned him exile: 'Go. And indeed, it is [decreed] for you in [this] life to say, "No contact"' (Ta-Ha 20:97); he became an untouchable, shunned by all. Musa burned the calf and scattered its ashes in the sea. Then came the hardest part. The sin of the people was enormous, and Allah decreed its expiation: 'O my people, indeed you have wronged yourselves by your taking of the calf. So repent to your Creator and kill yourselves. That is best for [all of] you in the sight of your Creator' (Al-Baqarah 2:54). The commentators report that those who had not worshipped the calf were ordered to execute those who had, until Allah accepted their repentance and stopped the killing; the number given, seventy thousand, is from reports, not from the Quran. 'Then He accepted your repentance; indeed, He is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful' (Al-Baqarah 2:54).

Musa then chose seventy men of his people and took them to the mountain to seek forgiveness for the nation. There, some of them said: 'O Musa, we will never believe you until we see Allah outright' (Al-Baqarah 2:55), and the earthquake seized them and they fell dead. Musa pleaded: 'My Lord, if You had willed, You could have destroyed them before and me… Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done?' (Al-A'raf 7:155). Allah revived them and answered with a verse that reaches far beyond Sinai: 'My punishment – I afflict with it whom I will, but My mercy encompasses all things. So I will decree it for those who fear Me and give zakah and those who believe in Our verses – those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel' (Al-A'raf 7:156-157). On the mountain where the Law was given, Allah promised the nation of Muhammad ﷺ.

The years in the wilderness were a long schooling of a nation that had the Law but not yet the heart for it. The Quran preserves several episodes, and each teaches something different about Musa and his people.

The first is the cow, from which Surah Al-Baqarah takes its name. A man was found murdered and the killer unknown. Allah commanded through Musa: 'Allah commands you to slaughter a cow' (Al-Baqarah 2:67). The people thought he was mocking them. Then they began to ask questions – what kind of cow, what colour, what sort – and with every question the command narrowed, until they were required to find a cow 'neither old nor virgin, but median… yellow, bright in colour… neither trained to plough the earth nor to irrigate the field, sound, with no blemish' (Al-Baqarah 2:68-71). Finally they found it and slaughtered it, 'and they could hardly do it'. A piece of it was struck against the dead man, and he rose and named his killer (Al-Baqarah 2:72-73). The lesson is told against the people: had they obeyed at once, any cow would have done. Their questions made the burden heavy. The Prophet ﷺ warned his own nation against the same habit of needless questioning (Sahih al-Bukhari 7288; Sahih Muslim 1337).

The second is Qarun. 'Indeed, Qarun was from the people of Musa, but he tyrannised them. And We gave him of treasures whose keys would burden a band of strong men' (Al-Qasas 28:76). He was an Israelite – the reports say a cousin of Musa – who grew immensely rich and said of his wealth: 'I was only given it because of knowledge I have' (Al-Qasas 28:78). When he paraded his splendour, the people who loved this world envied him, while those of knowledge said: 'Woe to you! The reward of Allah is better for he who believes and does righteousness' (Al-Qasas 28:80). 'And We caused the earth to swallow him and his home. And there was for him no company to aid him other than Allah' (Al-Qasas 28:81). The next morning those who had envied him said: 'Had Allah not conferred favour upon us, He would have caused it to swallow us' (Al-Qasas 28:82). Some tafsir reports add that Qarun had bribed a woman to accuse Musa of immorality and that this was the occasion of his destruction; the chain is not strong and the Quran does not say so.

The third is the journey to Khidr, told in Surah Al-Kahf and in detail by the Prophet ﷺ (Sahih al-Bukhari 122, 3401; Sahih Muslim 2380). Musa was asked who was the most knowledgeable of people, and he said: 'I am.' Allah reproached him for not referring knowledge to Him, and told him of a servant at 'the junction of the two seas' who knew what Musa did not. Musa set out with his servant Yusha' ibn Nun, carrying a fish as a sign; where the fish came alive and slipped into the sea, there they found Khidr, 'a servant from among Our servants to whom We had given mercy from Us and had taught him from Us a [certain] knowledge' (Al-Kahf 18:65). Musa asked to follow him; Khidr warned that he would not be able to bear it. Then Khidr scuttled a boat, killed a boy, and repaired a wall in a town that had refused them food, and each time Musa objected, and the third time Khidr parted from him, explaining that the boat was saved from a king who seized every sound vessel, the boy would have driven his believing parents to disbelief and would be replaced by a better child, and the wall hid a treasure belonging to two orphans (Al-Kahf 18:60-82). The Prophet ﷺ said: 'May Allah have mercy on Musa; we wish he had been patient so that we might have been told more of their story' (Sahih al-Bukhari 4725). The lesson is that Allah's decrees hide wisdoms that even a prophet does not see, and that no one should say 'I am the most knowledgeable'.

The fourth is the refusal to enter the Holy Land. Musa brought the people to the border of the land Allah had promised them and said: 'O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back and [thus] become losers.' They said: 'O Musa, indeed within it is a people of tyrannical strength, and indeed, we will never enter it until they leave it.' Two men who feared Allah urged them to attack the gate and trust in Him. The people answered: 'O Musa, indeed we will not enter it, ever, as long as they are within it; so go, you and your Lord, and fight. Indeed, we are remaining right here' (Al-Ma'idah 5:21-24). It was the final proof that the generation that had left Egypt could not take the land. Musa said: 'My Lord, indeed I do not possess except myself and my brother, so part us from the defiantly disobedient people.' Allah said: 'Then indeed, it is forbidden to them for forty years [in which] they will wander throughout the land' (Al-Ma'idah 5:25-26).

For forty years the Children of Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, fed by manna and quails, shaded by the cloud, watered from the rock, until the generation of slaves had died and a generation born in freedom had grown up. Musa led them through all of it. He was the lawgiver, the judge, the intercessor and the target of every complaint. The Quran notes, from the side of the Prophet ﷺ, how much he endured: 'O you who have believed, be not like those who abused Musa; then Allah cleared him of what they said. And he, in the sight of Allah, was distinguished' (Al-Ahzab 33:69). When the Prophet ﷺ was once criticised unjustly in the division of spoils, he said: 'May Allah have mercy on Musa; he was abused with more than this and he was patient' (Sahih al-Bukhari 3150; Sahih Muslim 1062).

The Quran does not narrate the death of Musa, but the Prophet ﷺ did, in a hadith recorded by both Bukhari and Muslim. 'The Angel of Death was sent to Musa. When he came to him, Musa struck him and put out his eye. The angel returned to his Lord and said, "You sent me to a servant who does not want to die." Allah restored his eye and said, "Go back and tell him to put his hand on the back of an ox; for every hair his hand covers, he will have a year of life." Musa said, "O my Lord, and then what?" He said, "Then death." He said, "Then let it be now." And he asked Allah to bring him within a stone's throw of the Holy Land. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "If I were there, I would show you his grave, beside the road at the red sand-hill"' (Sahih al-Bukhari 1339, 3407; Sahih Muslim 2372).

The scholars have explained this hadith carefully. Musa did not strike the angel out of rebellion against Allah's decree; he struck a stranger who had entered upon him in human form without his knowing who it was, as any man might defend his house. When he learned that it was the Angel of Death sent by his Lord, and was given the choice, he chose Allah at once – 'then let it be now'. His only request was to die near the land he had spent forty years leading his people toward, and which they had refused to enter. He died in the wilderness, east of the Jordan, within sight of the Holy Land and outside it, and Allah concealed his grave so that it would not be made a place of worship. The reports that give his age as one hundred and twenty years are from the People of the Book and are not established in our sources.

His brother Harun, the reports say, died before him, also in the wilderness. Leadership of the Children of Israel passed to Yusha' ibn Nun (Joshua), the young servant who had accompanied Musa on the journey to Khidr. Under Yusha', after Musa's death, the new generation crossed the Jordan and entered the Holy Land. The Prophet ﷺ confirmed one detail of that conquest: 'The sun was never held back for any human except Yusha', on the night he marched to Bayt al-Maqdis' (Sahih al-Bukhari 3124; Sahih Muslim 1747). What Musa was not permitted to complete, his student completed.

How does the Quran sum up Musa? With more mention than any other prophet: his name appears over a hundred and thirty times, and his story is told, in part or whole, in more than thirty surahs. Allah calls him 'chosen', 'sincerely devoted', 'a messenger and a prophet' (Maryam 19:51), one to whom He 'spoke directly' (An-Nisa 4:164), one whom He 'brought near as a confidant' (Maryam 19:52), one whom He 'produced for Myself' (Ta-Ha 20:41), and 'distinguished in the sight of Allah' (Al-Ahzab 33:69). The Torah given to him is 'guidance and light' (Al-Ma'idah 5:44), and the Quran is sent 'confirming what was before it' (Al-Ma'idah 5:48).

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ honoured Musa in a way he honoured no other prophet. On the Night Journey, he met Musa in the sixth heaven, and Musa wept, saying that a young man sent after him would have more of his nation enter Paradise than his own (Sahih al-Bukhari 3887). On the way down from the presence of Allah with the command of fifty prayers, it was Musa who stopped him and sent him back, again and again, until the prayers were reduced to five – 'your nation will not be able to bear it; I tested the Children of Israel before you' (Sahih al-Bukhari 349; Sahih Muslim 162). Every Muslim who prays five times instead of fifty is in debt to the counsel of Musa. The Prophet ﷺ also said: 'Do not give me preference over Musa, for on the Day of Resurrection people will be struck unconscious and I will be the first to recover, and there will be Musa holding the side of the Throne; I do not know whether he recovered before me or was exempted because of his swoon at the mountain' (Sahih al-Bukhari 2411; Sahih Muslim 2373). And he said: 'I saw Musa, and he was a tall, well-built man with curly hair, as if he were one of the men of Shanu'ah' (Sahih al-Bukhari 3239).

The legacy of Musa is, first, the Law – the first complete code of worship, justice and community given to a nation, which the Quran came to confirm and perfect. Second, it is the model of a leader of a difficult people: a man who was abused, doubted, disobeyed and nearly stoned by those he had freed, and who never abandoned them, never stopped interceding for them, and never asked Allah for anything for himself but to be near Him. Third, it is a warning, repeated throughout the Quran to the nation of Muhammad ﷺ: do not be like those who had a prophet among them and a sea parted before them and still asked for a calf. The Quran addresses the Children of Israel directly in Al-Baqarah, 'O Children of Israel, remember My favour which I have bestowed upon you' (Al-Baqarah 2:40), and every Muslim who reads it is meant to hear it as addressed to himself.

And the last word belongs to the prayer Musa taught every speaker, every leader and every nervous servant of Allah who has a hard task before him: 'My Lord, expand for me my breast, and ease for me my task, and untie the knot from my tongue, that they may understand my speech' (Ta-Ha 20:25-28).