نبيل العوضي | قصة موسى عليه السلام الجزء الرابع عشر

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Allah decreed for Moses, peace be upon him, to live with the Children of Israel for these long years

Allah decreed that they would wander in the land for forty years

as a punishment for them because they objected to Moses and did not enter the Holy Land

In these years, Moses was teaching people

He was advising them, reminding them and preaching to them

One day, many people gathered around him

He was providing them eloquent advices

From its eloquence, the eyes overflowed with tears, the hearts softened, and the bodies humbled

here was a sense of tranquility, and the people began to weep.

When Moses finished, a man from the Children of Israel stood up from among the people to interrupt and ruin this sermon.

He called him in front of people

He said: Who is the most knowledgeable of people?

What kind of question is this?

However, Moses was patient with the Children of Israel

Who is the most knowledgeable of people?

Moses peace be upon him said: It's me!

Moses was thinking that the man is referring to the people gathered or to the Children of Israel

Who is the most knowledgeable of people? Of course it's Moses, peace be upon him

However, Allah blamed Moses for this answer because he did not attribute knowledge to Allah

If Moses said "Allah knows best" then, Allah would not have blamed him

Allah revealed to Moses, peace be upon him

O Moses, I have a slave that I did teach him some knowledge that I didn't teach it to you

He is more knowledgeable than you o Moses

Moses, peace be upon him, was saddened

How can there be slave of Allah who has more knowledge than him despite that he spoke to Allah directly

In addition, he was a prophet sent by God and he is from the determined messengers

Moses was honourable in the sight of Allah

So he said, "O Lord, guide me to him."

I want to follow him to acquire from him that knoweldge

Moses wants to follow an unknown man to learn from him the knowledge that he does not possess

Look at the love of Moses towards knowledge

Allah revealed to Moses, peace be upon him, to go towards the place where the two seas meet

and take with you a fish

The fish is called "Hout" in Arabic

Some Arabs till today name the fish "Hout"

Take a fish and place it in a basket from leather or from palm fronds or anything

Take with you this dead fish

When you lose this fish, then you can know that he is there

He will be in the place where you will lose this fish

Moses called his dearest student

Moses used to cherish him

His name was Joshua Ibn Nun

He accompanied him from Egypt till this moment

He was one of the men who advised the Children of Israel to enter the Holy Land

He was courageous

He called him and asked him to bring with him a fish and place it in a basket

Indeed, Moses took a fish and traveled with his young assistant

And ˹remember˺ when Moses said to his young assistant,

“I will never give up until I reach the junction of the two seas, even if I travel for ages.”

I'm ready to travel even for ages

Joshua, I'm ready to keep going even I need to walk for years and I will never stop

I only want one thing from you

What is it Prophet of Allah?

If the fish is lost, you have to inform me

He told him that this is an easy task

Both of them kept walking until they reached the coast of the place where two seas meet

They go everyday to a place

One day, they reached a rock where they slept near to it

They say, and Allah knows best, that there was a spring in this rock called the Spring of Life

It is said that the water which flow from it, bringing life to certain plants and creatures

Then the water reached the dead fish inside the basket - It started to move

While they were sleeping, the fish was moving until it left the basket

Life returned to the fish

It moved until it reached the water

Here, Joshua woke up

When Joshua woke up, he was alarmed

The fish was moving and left the basket by itself and reached the water

Joshua was looking at it

When it reached the water, it started to move in the water

Joshua was looking at the view

It became like a path within the water

But when they ˹finally˺ reached the point where the seas met, they forgot their ˹salted˺ fish,

and it made its way into the sea, slipping away ˹wondrously˺.

Joshua was alarmed when he saw this view

The fish disappeared inside the sea

He wanted to wake Moses up to inform him that the fish is gone

But he decided to let him continue sleeping

He waited and waited and fell asleep again

Joshua slept

Moses was also sleeping and fish disappeared

After some time, Joshua and Moses woke up

Joshua forgot to inform Moses, peace be upon him, that the fish is gone

They kept walking for hours

When they had passed further, he said to his assistant,

Moses asked Joshua to prepare the food after walking a long distance

When Joshua was preparing lunch he recalled that the fish is gone

It was Allah's decree!

He went back to Moses telling him that the fish is gone and disappeared inside the sea wondrously

He replied, “Do you remember when we rested by the rock? ˹That is when˺ I forgot the fish.

None made me forget to mention this except Satan. And the fish made its way into the sea miraculously.”

The fish is gone? Yes!

Moses, peace be upon him, said that this is the place promised by God

This is the place that we aimed to go

Let's go back to that place!

Moses, peace be upon him, and his assistant Joshua returned to that place quickly

Moses was excited to meet the slave of Allah who obtained knowledge from God

When they reached the place where they rested...

It was strange!

The place was not green but now it became so!

Vegetation appeared in it, as the land had been barren, and now there was greenery and crops.

Where did this come from?

And there was a man lying on it

That was the promised servant

It's Al-Khidr

It was said that he was called Al-Khidr because the places in which he rests become green

Due to his honor with Allah, the Almighty

When Moses, peace be upon him, reached him, he immediately said, "Peace be upon you."

The man stood up and said to him, "From where does the peace come?"

Al-Khidhr asked Moses: Who are you?

He said: I'm Moses, the son of Imran

He said: Moses from the Children of Israel?

Yes!

What brought you here?

I came to learn from you

O Moses, the Torah wasn't enough for you?

Isn't the revelation from Allah sufficient for you?

What brought you in o Moses?

Al Khidhr kept speaking: I possess knowledge that Allah has taught me, which you do not know

And you have knowledge that Allah has taught you, which I do not know

There they found a servant of Ours, to whom We had granted mercy from Us and enlightened with knowledge of Our Own.

Allah taught him knowledge that was exclusive to him

Scholars differ on whether he was a righteous man or a prophet

It is possible that he was a prophet sent to another people.

Moses said to him that he wanted to follow him

But why?

He said: Provided that you teach me some of the right guidance you have been taught

This is despite that Moses is better than Al-Khidr with many grades

However, he wants to follow him to learn from you

Notice the humbleness of Moses, peace be upon him

Notice the humbleness of the Prophets and their morals

Moses spoke with Allah directly but still he wants to follow this man who is lower than him

This is because he wants to acquire his knowledge

Al-Khidr said: You certainly cannot be patient ˹enough˺ with me

And how can you be patient with what is beyond your ˹realm of˺ knowledge?”

Moses assured ˹him˺, “You will find me patient, Allah willing, and I will not disobey any of your orders.”

I will be a good student and I will obey you well

I will not disobey any of your orders

He set one condition

What is it?

If you accompany me to learn, do not question anything I do, nor ask me about anything until I inform you.

Do not ask me why

Do not question me until I clarify it to you!

He gave him the promise

He, then, asked his assistant, Joshua, to return

The two set out until they reached the shore of the sea, intending to cross it

A ship docked, and he asked the crew to allow them to board with them

They said, "The righteous servant of Allah wants to ride with us? Come, you and your companion"

They did not know Moses but only recognized al-Khidr.

The two boarded with them, and they did not charge them any fare

They said that having a righteous man ride with them was an honor from Allah

We won't take anything from you

The ship docked and sailed on the sea, with al-Khidr and Moses on board

Suddenly, a bird came and drank some of the seawater in front of Moses and al-Khidr

Al Khidr asked Moses: Did you see this bird?

Yes, he said

All of my knowledge and yours, compared to Allah's knowledge, is like what this bird has taken from that sea

I have only been given but little knowledge

After a few days at sea, suddenly al-Khidr took an axe and began to damage the ship

Moses, peace be upon him, shouts at him: What are you doing?

Al-Khidr ignores him and kept breaking the ship

So they set out, but after they had boarded a ship, the man made a hole in it.

Moses protested, “Have you done this to drown its people?

You boarded this ship for free, and now you want to sink it?

You have certainly done a terrible thing!”

Al-Khird looked at him and responded

“Did I not say that you cannot have patience with me?”

I already told you that you will be seeing things that you won't be patient with

Moses pleaded, “Excuse me for forgetting, and do not be hard on me.”

Indeed, Moses, peace be upon him, forgot

He damaged the ship, and the people came to repair it, but they said nothing to the righteous servant

They disembarked them at the other shore, and the two went on

ntil they reached a people where children were playing

Moses, peace be upon him, was looking at the scene

He was looking at the children

He was observing the children

The children were far away from the people

He was observing one of the boys

When al-Khidr approached one of the children, he grabbed him, choked him, and then killed him

Here, Moses did not forget the promise that he made to Al-Khidr but he objected

Al-Khidr killed a soul

Moses protested, “Have you killed an innocent soul, who killed no one?

A young boy? How did you dare to kill him?

“Have you killed an innocent soul, who killed no one? You have certainly done a horrible thing.”

This is much more terrible than what you have done to the ship!

He answered, “Did I not tell you that you cannot have patience with me?”

Moses did not say that he forgot but he couldn't bear looking at the scene

Moses replied, “If I ever question you about anything after this, then do not keep me in your company, for by then I would have given you enough of an excuse.”

So they moved on until they came to the people of a town.

It was a stingy town. The refused to give them hospitality.

They reached this town

Each time they knock a door, they were denied hospitality and generosity

They wanted to leave the two

As they were leaving, al-Khidr saw an old wall in one of the houses that was about to collapse

Al-Khidr asked Moses for help

He helped him in repairing the wall

After repariring the wall, both felt tired

Moses, peace be upon him, said to Al-Khidr who didn't ask for any payment

It was a people who denied them hospitality despite that they were travellers

Then, he builds a wall for them for free?

When they left, Moses, peace be upon him, told him

“If you wanted, you could have demanded a fee for this.”

At least, you could have asked for a payment for repairing the wall

Al-Khidr looked at Moses, peace upon him signaling the end of the journey

I won't be able to continue this journey with you

He replied, “This is the parting of our ways. I will explain to you what you could not bear patiently.

I'm going to explain to you the three events that you were unpatient toward

However, this is the end of the journey

This is the parting of our ways.

May Allah have mercy on Moses; if he had been patient with al-Khidr, we would have heard extraordinary wonders from that journey

This is a saying of our Prophet, peace be upon him, which comforted him with these stories and helped him endure the people

Al-Khidr said to Moses, "The journey has come to an end, and this is the time for parting."

But before we part, I will tell you what happened

He said: Please tell me

Do you recall the ship that we took and the generous people who invited us?

Yes, the ship that you broke to sink its people

On the other side, a tyrannical and oppressive king was waiting for them. You did not know about him, O Moses.

That king went to the shore that day and said to his soldiers, "Any ship you see without defect, seize it."

His soldiers were spread along the shore, inspecting the ships that docked

If they found a sound and intact ship, they would seize it by force.

So I wanted to damage this ship so that it would not be seized by force, because its owners are poor but honorable people.

“As for the ship, it belonged to some poor people, working at sea.

So I intended to damage it, for there was a ˹tyrant˺ king ahead of them who seizes every ˹good˺ ship by force.

You see? I did not do this to harm them, but rather as an act of mercy towards them

What about the boy that you killed? Why did you kill him?

That pure and innocent soul - how did you dare to kill it?

As for the boy, he two righteous parents

The two righteous parents were praying God to provide them a righteous son to assist them

Allah granted them this boy, but in the knowledge that He taught me, if this boy were to grow up, he would not be righteous

He would become wicked and unjust, and he would harm his parents

Yes, I'm telling you what you're hearing o Moses

He will harm them and he will force them into disbelief

So I wanted to take his soul before he reached maturity, so that Allah, the Almighty, would not hold him accountable

This is the first reason

Then, out of mercy for his parents, so that they would not disbelieve with him

Third, so Lord would give them another, more virtuous and caring in his place

“And as for the boy, his parents were ˹true˺ believers, and we feared that he would pressure them into defiance and disbelief.

So we hoped that their Lord would give them another, more virtuous and caring in his place.

What about the wall? Why did you repair them wall despite that they do not deaserve it?

Listen to the story of the wall o Moses

The village is a village of mean people. In this village there are two young orphans who had a righteous father

It was said that the intended person was not the father, but the seventh grandfather,

He was the righteous one and he used to pray for the protection of his descendants.

God protects the offspring of righteous men

This seventh grandfather or father had a treasure before his death and his children were young

He was afraid that if he died, the mean people would take their treasure

because the children were young and would not be able to protect their treasure.

He put the treasure under the wall

If my children grow up and the wall falls and they discover this treasure, this will be when they grow up.

This was the only plan that he had

But unfortunately the father died while the children were still young and the wall almost fell.

If it falls, this treasure will be revealed.

Out of mercy for the orphans, God sent them that righteous servant.

Rather, God, out of mercy for the orphans, sent them the two best people at that time.

Moses and Al-Khidr

This is to preserve the treasure for them, out of respect for that righteous father.

“And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city,

and under the wall was a treasure that belonged to them, and their father had been a righteous man.

Look at the impact of the righteousness of the father on the children

So your Lord willed that these children should come of age and retrieve their treasure, as a mercy from your Lord.

Do you everything that I did o Moses?

I did not do it ˹all˺ on my own.

This is the revelation of God on me

This suggests that he is a prophet

I did not do it ˹all˺ on my own. This is the explanation of what you could not bear patiently.”

The journey between Moses, peace be upon him, and Al-Khidr is over

Moses bade farewell to Al-Khidr and went back to his people, to the Children of Israel

He returned to his people, but during that period a sad incident happened to Moses, peace be upon him.