After Musa a.s.
and Bani Israel have crossed the Red Sea in safety, Allah s.w.t. commanded Musa
a.s. and his people to come to Mount Tur.
The congregation of 600 thousand could only move slowly. Musa a.s. moved hurriedly to take the Taurah
as promised, and left Bani Israel behind.
He informed his people that he will return to them within 30 days. He appointed Harun a.s. to manage the affairs
of Bani Israel.
During the days
at Mount Tur, Allah s.w.t. revealed the Taurah to Musa a.s. by directly
speaking to him. During one of his much
conversation with Allah s.w.t., Musa a.s. requested to actually see his beloved
Lord. The Mountain collapsed from the
light of Allah s.w.t. and it became dust.
Musa a.s, fainted from the impact of that experience. Allah s.w.t. gave him the Taurah, which was
written on tablets of stones, Musa a.s. received the orders of Allah s.w.t. in
the Taurah for days. During his absence
his people were misled to act wrongfully.
They were misled by Al-Saamiri.
Musa a.s. had
promised his people he would return after 30 nights. However, his meetings with Allah s.w.t. were
extended to 40 nights. His people began
to make wild and unfounded assumptions about the delay. Harun a.s. said that they may have committed
some sin in taking jewelries that belonged to the people of Pharaoh, the
Egyptians. The jewelries were borrowed
from the Egyptians ladies to be worn when they want to attend social
gatherings. When they left Egypt to
follow Musa a.s. they took the gold and jewelry with them. Since they could not return it back, they had
to discard and bury it.
The Samaritan
threw that sand upon the calf, making actions like a magician to impress
people. He deceived others and said that
Musa a.s. had lost his way. He claimed
that the gold calf statue was the god of Musa a.s. Most of the people worshipped the calf, but
few of them refused and waited. They
remain firm and patient.
Musa a.s.
blamed his brother Harun a.s. severely for these happenings. He pulled his brother’s, Harun a.s., hair and
beard. The Bani Israel loved Harun a.s.
much more then they loved Musa a.s. Musa
a.s. then turned to the Samaritan. He
told Musa a.s. that he saw Jibril a.s. and had taken a handful of the sand footprints
of Jibril’s a.s. horse. He threw it on
the calf so it roared.
The 9 great
signs that were sent to Pharaoh and the unbelieving Egyptians were all
witnessed by Bani Israel. They had just
witnessed another great miracle when the sea split before them in order to
rescue them all and then completely destroy Pharaoh and all his soldiers. Despite all these signs of Allah s.w.t
greatness, the statue of a calf became an object of their worship.
It was said
that an infectious disease had affected the Samaritan. People deserted him, nobody came near
him. Musa a.s. orderd the burning of the
calf statue. He then took the ashes and
other remains and threw it into the sea.
Musa a.s. hoped that it would eliminate any influence that episode may
have exerted upon his people.
After that, he
took their covenants that any order that came from the Taurah, they must obey
without hesitation. Musa a.s. wanted to
apologize to Allah s.w.t. for the ingratitude and arrogance Bani Israel had
shown. He was ashamed of them and their
wicked behavior. He chose 70 men who did
not worship the calf; the best of the Jews then. He gathered the Bani Israel and headed with
them to Al-Tur Mountain to meet Allah s.w.t. for the third time. As they climbed Mount Al-Tur, it started to
quake so strongly that they felt they would be destroyed, Musa a.s. started to
apologize to Allah s.w.t. for what his people did. The earthquakes subside, and they moved
through the mountain. Heavy fog fell
upon the mountain. They could not see anything but still could hear well enough. Here Musa a.s. started to pray
earnestly. Allah s.w.t. accepted his
apology.
Now, his people
claimed that he promised them that they would meet Allah s.w.t. They insisted that they will never believe
unless they saw Allah s.w.t. manifestly.
Musa a.s. warned them against this strange requested. They said they would not tell their people
that Musa a.s. was telling the truth, and they would not believe until they saw
Allah s.w.t. with their own naked eyes.
Allah s.w.t. was so angry with their arrogance that all of them were strucked
by a thousand bolts that killed them all.
The Bani Israel
refuses to attack claiming that they had no knowledge or experience in
fighting. They had been slaves for 430
years. Musa a.s. reminded them to obey
and believe in him. He promises that
they would triumph and will control the Holy Land. They flatly refused. Musa a.s. expressed his disappointment. This was the first time he supplicated
against his people. Allah s.w.t. exalted
a unique punishment against his people.
Jerusalem will be forbidden for them for the next years and will
travelled the land in circles without any clear destination. They will be wandering lost for 40 years.
Musa a.s.
ordered them to go away from Jerusalem.
They went to another village and lost their way. They had guides who know the area well. Days later they would find their own trails. They would return to the same place where
they started from. Then they would start
to search along another direction. They
would wonder for days only to return back the same place again. They would repeat the same ordeal over and
over again for 40 years. Forty years
they were lost in the land of their beloved Palestine. Allah s.w.t. wanted to punish them, not to
kill them. They were lost and
thirsty. Allah s.w.t inspired Musa a.s.
to strike the rock with his staff, out of which gushed forth 12 springs. Each spring would flow in a separate
direction because there were 12 tribes from the children of Ya’acob a.s., who
is also known as Israel, each group knew its own drinking place. When they started to walk, water stopped
coming out from the rock. So they
carried the rock along with them, if they stopped and laid the rock, water
poured out from it. That was their life
for 40 years, roaming about in the desert.
One of the
events involved the story of the heifer.
It started when they discovered that one of their chief had been
killed. They investigate, searching for
the one who killed him. They came to
Musa a.s. asking him who killed this man.
They told him to ask his Lord to inform them who killed the man. Musa a.s. prayed to Allah s.w.t to indicate
to them who murdered this man.
Inspiration came to Musa a.s. and he went to convey to his people the
message from Allah s.w.t. He told them
if they really wanted to know who killed this man then they had to execute the
following orders of Allah s.w.t. Allah
s.w.t. commands them to sacrifice a heifer.
Bani Israel
showed their hesitation in obeying the simple command from Allah s.w.t. They continued asking for details and
clarifications to such an extent that they almost did not carry out the
instruction. Allah s.w.t. gave them the
finer descriptions of the heifer. They
found it and it belonged to some orphan boy.
Someone knew that this boy had the prescribe heifer. He hurried to the boy to convince him to
demand for a high price if any one came to buy the heifer. So, when they came, the boy demands its
weight in gold. They went to Musa a.s.
asking him to change it for another heifer.
The family of the dead was keen to know who killed their kin, so they matched
that high price for the cow. Allah s.w.t.
wanted to make the orphan boy rich, and wanted to punish the others at the same
time. They then told Musa a.s. they had
done as Allah s.w.t. commanded but they still did not know who killed their
man. Musa a.s. told them to cut part of
the slaughtered heifer. They cut one of
its legs and hit the dead man with this part.
The dead man woke up and spoke to them.
The dead man was revived before their eyes. The dead man came back to life with Allah
s.w.t. permission and power, and pointed out the culprit who killed them. Then he died again.
They did not
recognize the prescribed place even when they had reached it. Joshua left their food, a fried fish, in a
bowl for Musa a.s. Joshua was sitting
while Musa a.s. was sleeping. Suddenly,
Joshua saw the dead and fried fish in the bowl moved. Then it jumped into the sea and started
swimming. Joshua was amazed. However, he forgot to tell Musa a..s about
the incident involving the fish when Musa a.s. woke up.
The journey
began to tire them. Musa a.s. had asked
for the lunch they had brought along.
Only then Joshua a.s. did remember the strange in incident that took
place earlier. So they went back
following the path they had. They found
Al-Khidr a.s. and Musa a.s. asked if he could follow him. But Al-Khidr a.s. said that Musa will not
have the patience with him because he will never completely understand some
things. Al-Khidr a.s. then, after Musa
a.s. had begged to follow him, allowed Musa a.s. to come along as long as he
asked no question about anything unless Al-Khidr a.s. himself spoke to him.
Musa a.s.
agreed and directed Joshua to return to Bani Israel. He wanted to complete the journey only with
Al-Khidr a.s. They then boarded a ship
with some poor workers that they had persuaded to give them a ride across the
sea to the other bank. The poor workers
carried them without any fare. Al-Khidr and and Musa a.s descended to the
bottom of the ship. There, Al-Khidr then
took a piece of iron and started to break the ship. He hollowed the ship and water started to entered
into it. The ship started to sink. The workers heard the news and started to
throw the water outside. The ship was in
danger. Musa a.s. was astonished at what
Al-Khidr had done. But Al-Khidr reminded
him of his promise.
When they
reached the other sea bank and after walking for a while, they found a few
boys, a beautiful child. Al-Khidr attacked
him and after forcing him to the ground, he slain him. Musa a.s. was really taken aback witnessing
murder occurring right before his eyes.
He asked Al-Khidr why did he killed an innocent person. Again Al-Khidr reminded Musa a. s. that he
has no patience to be with him. Musa a.s.
told Al-Khidr that would be his last exercise.
They proceeded
until they reached a town and by then they were very hungry. The people of that town saw them but did not
offer them any hospitality, so they asked for some food. The people refused even to offer some
food. So Musa a.s. and Al-Khidr left the
town and continued their journey. Near
the outskirt of the town, they found a lopsided house of which only one wall
remained and it was about to collapse.
Al-Khidr began to erect the wall until it was firm. Musa a.s. just stood by watching with wonder
surprise and said that Al-Khidr could have asked for some compensation for it.
For that, Musa
a.s. has not kept his promise not to questioned Al-Khidr. Then Al-Khidr said they should part company
since Musa a.s. could not remain patient with him. There were clear reasons behind the peculiar
behavior he had shown while journeying with Musa a.s. As for the boat, it belonged to men in dire
want. The boat had to be rendered
unserviceable for there was a certain king who seized every boat by force.
Regarding the
boy; his parents were believers. Allah
s.w.t. knew that this boy become an unbeliever, and also a tyrant who will hurt
his parents. So Allah s.w.t. was
merciful and wanted to replace them with a better son. Soon after his death, the woman conceived
another boy who grew up to become a believer and always treated his parents
kindly.
As for the
wall, it belonged to two orphan boys from the town. Under the wall was some treasure that
belonged to the two orphans. If the wall
collapsed, the treasure would be exposed and the evil mannered people of the
town would steal it. Allah s.w.t wanted
to protect the orphans and their treasure.
Al-Khidr explained to Musa a.s. great lessons. All his actions were inspired by Allah s.w.t.
During this
period of exile, Prophet Harun a.s. and Prophet Musa a.s. both died in the
desert. Musa a.s. requested Allah s.w.t.
to let him die close to the Sacred Land.
He was buried near Al-Aqsa Mosque.
STORIES OF THE PROPHETS IN AL-QURAN
(Lessons
that we can extract, lessons that we can apply)
(Teaser
extraction from the book)
To be continued…
(Enjoy
and read the full version from the book http://www.estore.ansi.com.my/affiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=256_0_3_2
or
listen to the narrated stories through iPhone:
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