God is With Me (Musa's story)

Phir'oun Plans to Kill Prophet Musa

Phir'oun was afraid that Musa would mislead the Egyptian people. He suggested to his ministers that Musa be killed. All the ministers agreed except one whose name is not mentioned in the Qur'an. The Qur'an only says that the man was a believer.

This believer spoke in the assembly where the idea of killing Musa had been introduced. He proved that it was not a good idea:

"Musa did not say more than that Allah, the True Creator, is his Lord. Later, he came with clear evidence that he was a messenger.There are two possibilities; either Musa is righteous or a liar. If he lies, he will be responsible for his lie. If he is righteous and we slay him, who would protect us from God's punishment. Musa does not deserve to be killed," the manargued.

This angered Phir'oun and his ministers. As usual, they threatened to harm the man, but he stood fast on his belief. However,Allah protected His believer.

Musa asked Phir'oun to release the children of Isra'eet from slavery. The Prophet wanted to move them from Egypt to Palestine.Phir'oun refused and called the Egyptian people and the children of Isra'eel, to a huge gathering. He reminded the people that he was their highest lord, who provided them with all their needs. He told them that Musa was just a poor man.

So the Egyptian peopleappealed to Musa and said,"Oh Musa! Pray to your Lord forus because of His promise to You.If You will remove the punishment from us, we indeed shall believe in You, and we shall let the children of Isra'eel go with You." (Surat-ulA'raf 7:134)

Prophet Musa prayed to Allah and Allah stopped the suffering caused by the flood. Once again the people were able to cultivate their land and grow their crops.But when Prophet Musa asked them to fulfill their promise to believe in the True God and release the children of Isra'eel, they refused.

Then Allah sent swarms of locusts, which ate whatever crops they had grown. The people hurried to Musa, asking him to pray to Allah to remove the locusts. They promised that they would send the children of Isra'eel with him this time. The locusts left, but they,again, did not fulfill their promise.

Then another sign of God's wrath came; the punishment of llice. It ate what they stored ofwheat and other valuable crops.Again they sought Prophet Musa's help and they repeated their promise. He prayed again, but the Egyptians still refused to believe and release the children of Isra'eel.

Another punishment came to the Egyptians. The land suddenly was filled with frogs. They jumped on the food of the Egyptians,shared their beds, invaded their houses, and troubled them a lot.The Egyptians went to Musa again,promising him they would believe in Allah and release the children of Isra'eel. He prayed to Allah and Allah took away the problem of the frogs, but they again broke their promise.

Later, the Nile water was changed into blood. When Musa and his people drank the water, it was ordinary water. On the other hand, if any Egyptian filled his cupbwith water, he discovered his cupfull of blood. They hurried to Musaas usual, but as soon as everything returned to normal, they turned their backs on Allah.

Prophet Musa and his People Leave Egypt

Allah decided to put an end to Phir'oun's crimes after He had given him so many chances. Allah commanded Prophet Musa to leave Egypt with the children of Isra'eel.So they prepared them selves to leave. This later became known as the "Exodus." At night, Musa led his people towards the Red Sea,and in the morning they reached the beach. By then Phir'oun discovered that Musa and the children of Isra'eel had fled, so he led a huge army to stop them.

The Greatest Miracle

The children of Isra'eel were impatient and nervous. Joshua(Yoosha' Ibn Noon), said: "In front of us is this impassable barrier, the sea, and behind us the enemy;surely death cannot be avoided!"Musa replied, "Nay, verily my Lord is with meand He will guide me!"

[26:62]These words filled the Children of Isra'eel with hope. When they saw the army approaching quickly,some of them lost hope again and were willing to return back to slavery. At that moment Allah revealed to Prophet Musa:
"Strike the sea with your staff!" . Musa did as he was commanded.

A violent wind blew, in a moment the sea parted, with the waves standing like mountains on each side. Allah had made a path for them through the sea. Everyone was overcome with awe.Musa led his people across. This miracle proved Musa's claim that :

"Verily! My Lord is with me!" As they looked back, they saw Phir'oun and his army getting near,about to take the same path across the parted sea which the children of Isra'eel took. In great fear and panic, the children of Isra'eel asked Musa to ask Allah to closebthe sea. But, Allah commanded Musa not to strike the sea with his staff again, because Allah's command was already in action.

The End of Phir'oun

Phir'oun and his army had seen the miracle, how the sea had split,but being the pretender that he was, Phir'oun turned to his men and said: "Look! The sea has opened at my command so that may follow those rebels and arrest them!" They rushed across the splitsea, and when they reached the middle of the path, Allah commanded the sea to return to its original form.

Phir'oun realized his end had come so out of fear he declared:"I believe that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah inWhom the children of Isra'eel believe, and I am of those who surrender to Him."

But Allah did not accept this declaration from the tyrant. The water closed over him, drowning him and his entire army.

Later, the waves threw his corpse up to the seashore. The Egyptians saw him and knew that their false god whom they worshipped and obeyed for years was nothing but a wicked man. This false god could not keep death away from his own neck.

Surat - Yonus

﴿وَجاوَزنا بِبَني إِسرائيلَ البَحرَ فَأَتبَعَهُم فِرعَونُ وَجُنودُهُ بَغيًا وَعَدوًا حَتّى إِذا أَدرَكَهُ الغَرَقُ قالَ آمَنتُ أَنَّهُ لا إِلهَ إِلَّا الَّذي آمَنَت بِهِ بَنو إِسرائيلَ وَأَنا مِنَ المُسلِمينَ۝آلآنَ وَقَد عَصَيتَ قَبلُ وَكُنتَ مِنَ المُفسِدينَ۝فَاليَومَ نُنَجّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ لِتَكونَ لِمَن خَلفَكَ آيَةً وَإِنَّ كَثيرًا مِنَ النّاسِ عَن آياتِنا لَغافِلونَ﴾ [يونس: ٩٠-٩٢]

UNDERSTOOD MEANING

10:90 We took the Children of Isra'eel across the sea:Phir'oun and his hosts followed them in arrogance and aggression. And when we almost drowned him he said: "I believe that there is no god except Him Whom the Children of Isra'eel believe in: I am of those who submit(to Allah in Islam)."

10:91 [It was said to him]: "Ah now!- But a little whileago, you disobeyed! and you did mischief (and violence)!

10:92 "This day We will keep your [dead] body, that youmay be a lesson to those who come after you! but verily,many among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!"

Lessons Learned

Complete Trust in Allah:

When everyone was afraid of Phir'oun, Musa was not. He put his full trust in Allah and found nothing to be feared but Him. The Children of Isra'eel thought that Phiroun was going to capture and kill them on the beaches of the Red Sea. Only Musa had complete trust in Allah. He shouted, "Verily Allah is with me and He will guide me," and this was exactly what happened. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said a similar thing to Abu Bakr when they were hiding from the pagans of Makkah in the cave of Tawr. Abu Bakr whispered, "Oh Prophet of Allah, if one of them would look into this cave they will see us." Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said withfull confidence in Allah, "Do not worry, Allah is with us." Strong believers put their complete trust in Allah and their faith in God never wavers.

The Danger of Late Tawbah(Repentance):

There is a very important lesson to draw from Phir'oun's late repentance.He waited to the very last moment of his life and he was rejected by Allah.Allah grants plenty of time and opportunity to everybody to believe in him. There is enough time to consider Allah's messages and reminders, and finally, follow them. If a man wastes the time he has been allowed and attempts to ask forgiveness only at the moment of death, his repentance is worthless. At the moment of death, a person can clearly sense the reality and closeness of the Hereafter.

This is an important warning to all those who betieve in "living it up," until they are old. Those who wait until they are old may reach the last moment of death when faith and repentance no longer have value. So don't wait until you are old to wear hijab or start praying. Do it while you have your youth and health and Allah will grant you Paradise inshaAllah.