As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatahu
Qur'an Weekly this is Sh. Abdul Nasir Jangda coming back to you again with Stories of the
Prophets. Today we're going to be talking about Musa alayhis salaam. Again, inshAllah! Musa alayhis salaam, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
tells us that when he was a young man he had a very traumatic incident, unfortunate incident
that occurred. Before I tell you the story, for the purpose of educating my brothers and
sisters, what we believe about the prophets is that they are "معصومون" [ma'soomoon]
- we do not attribute sin to the prophets because they are protected by Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. So I am going to speak about it in a way which is respectful and I would like
everyone to be able to appreciate how I am talking about this incident from the life
of Musa alayhis salaam. Musa alayhis salaam, young man grows up in
the palace of Firaoun but he does not know that he is from Banu Israel. He is walking through
the marketplace one day and there is a man from Banu Israel, a simple poor man, and he
sees Musa alayhi salaam. He cries out, "Musa, Musa! Look at this man. Look what he is doing
to me!" And it was a man from the people of Firaoun, the Coptics. So Musa alayhis salaam
goes over there and tells the man from the Copts because typically in that society at
the time, the people of Firaoun used to persecute and violate the rights of the people of Banu
Israel. So Musa alayhis salaam goes over there and tells the Coptic, "What are you doing?
What's going on over here?" And the Coptic of course he's part of the elite society,
he tells Musa "Why don't you move along and mind your own business?" And Musa alayhis
salaam says, "I'm trying to make sure everything is ok here." And the man turns around and
gets in Musa alayhis salaam's face. He gets all up in his grill. Like, what are you gonna
do about it? So Musa alayhis salaam to defend himself, pushes the man, strikes the man,
shoves him off of himself, not realizing his own strength or maybe just due to an unfortunate
circumstance, the man ends up dying. Either due to the blow or the fall, the man ends
up dying. Now, it was not intentional. No one else was really around. That man from
Bani Israel runs off and Musa alayhis salaam leaves the scene as well. Before you know
it panic breaks out into the city, into the town - somebody killed one of the elite. Somebody
killed one of the people of Firaoun. Nevertheless Musa alayhis salaam was passing
through the marketplace again soon thereafter and again that man from Banu Israel is standing
there fighting with somebody. Musa alayhis salaam sees him and says, "You're making trouble
again", meaning that last time you were making trouble something so terrible happened and
you're making trouble again? And the man screams out, "Musa don't kill me like you killed the
other guy, the other day!" And everybody finds out that Musa alayhis salaam was involved
in the accidental death of that man, that individual. So moving along, Firaoun and his
people put out the word to arrest with the possibility of executing Musa alayhis salaam in retribution
for the death of the other individual. At that point in time, somebody comes to Musa
alayhis salaam and says, "You need to get out of town. You need to get out before they
get you." Musa alayhis salaam leaves there. And from there it's a whole nother story from
the life of Musa alayhis salaam, when he goes to "مدين" [Madyan]- a city that is present
day northwest of Saudi Arabia, et cetera. The summary of it is: he goes there, settles
down, finds a mentor, finds a wife, raises a family - he really, really figures things
out and he's out there for a really long time, ten years or so. Now, Musa alayhis salaam
is traveling and that's where he sees the fire in the distance and he goes there and
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala selects and chooses him for prophethood. He gives him divine inspiration,
revelation. As part of his mission, He tells him, "اذْهَبْ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ إِنَّهُ طَغَىٰ"
[Adh/hab 'Ilá Fir`awna 'Innahu Ţaghá] "Go to Firaoun because he has lost his mind. He has gone way too far." Musa alayhis salaam immediately
expresses his concern to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he makes lots of dua. Musa alayhis
salaam even says to Allah "وَلَهُمْ عَلَيَّ ذَنبٌ فَأَخَافُ أَن يَقْتُلُونِ"
[ Wa Lahum `Alayya Dhanbun Fa'akhāfu 'AnYaqtulūni] "I am wanted
for a sin there, amongst those people and I am afraid they are going to try to kill
me." Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says "كَلَّاۖ فَاذْهَبَا بِآيَاتِنَا ۖ إِنَّا مَعَكُم مُّسْتَمِعُونَ"
[Qāla Kallā ۖ Fādh/habā Bi'āyātinā
ۖ 'Innā Ma`akumMustami`ūna] He says, "No, absolutely not. Go, and go with Our signs. Go with these
miracles and signs and message that I have given to you. We are watching and listening
over you. We will be there watching and listening," Now, when Musa alayhis salaam shows up and
presents the message " إِنَّا رَسُولُرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ أَنْ أَرْسِلْ مَعَنَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ"
['Innā Rasūlu Rabbi Al-`Ālamīna 'An 'Arsil Ma`anā Banī 'Isrā'īla] the very first thing that Firaoun responds
with is " أَلَمْ نُرَبِّكَ فِينَا وَلِيدًا"
['Alam Nurabbika Fīnā Walīdāan] I want you to hear the tone. He knows who Musa alayhis salaam is,
he recognizes Musa alayhis salaam, but listen to his tone " أَلَمْ نُرَبِّكَ فِينَا وَلِيدًا"
['Alam Nurabbika Fīnā Walīdāan] "Didn't you grow up from childhood amongst us? "وَلَبِثْتَ فِينَا مِنْ عُمُرِكَ سِنِينَ"
[Wa Labithta Fīnā Min `Umurika Sinīna] And you lived for many years amongst us? "وَفَعَلْتَ فَعْلَتَكَ الَّتِي فَعَلْتَ وَأَنتَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ"
[Wa Fa`alta Fa`lataka Allatī Fa`alta Wa 'Anta MinaAl-Kāfirīna] You can even hear it in the Arabic.
"وَفَعَلْتَ فَعْلَتَكَ الَّتِي فَعَلْتَ وَأَنتَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ"
[Wa Fa`alta Fa`lataka Allatī Fa`alta Wa 'Anta MinaAl-Kāfirīna] And you did what you did
back when you did it? And you were a bad person?" You can tell, right off that bat, Firaoun
is not being honest and he is not being sincere. He is being facetious, he's being sarcastic.
He is mocking Musa alayhis salaam, he immediately brings up his past. Musa alayhis salaam owns up to it, "قَالَ فَعَلْتُهَا إِذًا"
[Qāla Fa`altuhā 'Idhāan] "I did do it back then.." " إِذًا وَأَنَا مِنَ الضَّالِّينَ"
['Idhāan Wa 'Anā Mina Ađ-Đāllīn] "...but I didn't do it intentionally and I didn't do it knowing what I know now." Now this is where I am going to pause and
this is the story I want to share. You see, everything Allah tells us in the Quran is
profound - it has a purpose, it has a meaning, it has a reason to it. Why did Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala share with us the incident about the man dying from the youth of Musa alayhis
salaam? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then shared with us the fact that when Musa
alayhis salaam comes back to preach to Firaoun, the very first thing that Firaoun brings up, hangs
over his head, rubs in his face, talks about in front of people is what happened previously
in his life, in his past. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us about this because this
is going to be something that will occur time and time and time again with people. Everyone
has a past. And we are going to have a lot of people who later on in life, will come
into the masjid, into the community and they are going to have a past. How are we going
to deal with them? If the first thing we do is talk about, think about, bring up, ask
about what happened in their past and the mistakes that they made, we just behaved like
Firaoun. What's the alternative? The alternative is that we leave their past behind. We don't
think about their past, we don't talk about their past, we don't ask them about their
past, we most definitely do not criticize them about their past. But rather, what do
we do? We embrace them, we love them, we accept them for who they are right now, right here
today. And who is that the example of? That is the example of Muhammad, rasool Allah salallahu
alayhi wasalaam. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalaam embraced people, he accepted people,
he did not judge people. Let their past be their past. The story of Wahshy, no matter
what he's done, caused so much pain to the Prophet, he assassinated his uncle, but the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalaam said, "The past is the past." And he accepted people
for who they are right now, for where they were going, for what they could become, what
they could achieve - that's what he paid attention to. That's how he treated them. I always like to share this story, it's a
personal experience that I had that was very powerful to the point where I don't have a
problem calling it life changing. I met a young man who came to my masjid one time,
I was the imam of a masjid and he came for prayer. He was covered in tattoos but I didn't
pay attention to that. He made wudu, he prayed with us. It was the first time I had seen
him in the masjid. It was my habit that when I saw somebody new, when I saw a new face
I would say salaam, welcome them into the community, hoping they had moved into the
area, joined our congregation. So I said salaam to him and asked and he said, "Yes. I just
moved here." And he told about where he just moved from and I knew the imam from his previous
community he was very close with and we hit it off. And he ends up telling me his story. He said,
"I grew up in a bad place with some really bad influences in the family and the neighborhood.
I ended up living a life of crime." Dropped out of highschool, lived on the streets, drugs,
gangs, violence, all of those unfortunate situations. He said that eventually, "I was
arrested for the third felony, the third crime. Three strikes and that's it. You go to prison
for life." He said, "I was 23 years old and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life
in prison." And he said, "I came from a Muslim family, a Muslim background. I didn't know
or remember much of my Islam. As I was sitting there in my cell the night before I was to
be presented before the judge who was going to hear my case, it just hit me that my life
was over. My life was over." So he says, "I didn't even remember how to pray, I didn't
know what to say but I remembered the position of sujood. So I fell down into the position
of sujood and I cried. And I said, 'Oh Allah. I'm sorry I messed up. Please give me another
chance.'" And he said, "The only thing I could think of is something my mother used to tell
me is that she always wanted me to memorize the Quran, be a hafidh. So I said, 'Oh Allah,
I will change my life and I will become a hafiz and memorize the Quran.'" He spent the
whole night crying and in the position of sujood. "The next morning, I go in front of
the judge and my mom is in the back of the courtroom. The judge tells me to stand up,
he looks at my file and he says, 'What if I dismissed your case right now? What would
you go and do? Tell me.' Because the judge said, 'I'm tired of locking away young people
for the rest of their lives. What are you going to do with the rest of your life?'"
And he said, "It's funny you asked me that because I repented last night. I made the
decision to change my life last night and I am going to go and study my religion. I'm
going to be become a better person." So the judge said, "Case dismissed. Get out of here.
Don't ever let me see you in my courtroom again." He says, "I left from the courthouse and I
didn't even go back home. I went straight to the masjid. I asked the imam at the masjid,
I kept going until two days later I ended up at a Quran memorization school and I walked
through the door, with just jeans and a tee shirt. A normal dude except covered in tattoos
from my hands all the way up to my neck and I just walked through the door and one of
the teachers, one of the shuyookh [scholars] saw me and said, 'Salaam alaikum, how can
I help you?' And I said, 'I want to memorize the Quran.' And he said, 'Come on in. Let's
sit down and talk.'" He said, "I didn't even know how to read alif, bah, ta.. that day.
Eight months later I completed memorization of the entire Quran." Eight months. Memorized
the entire Quran. When I met this brother years after this incident,
he was married, he wa a father. He had beautiful children. I remember him coming to the masjid
with his children, they had beautiful character, beautiful akhlaq [manners]. He used to teach
them the Quran. And I remember asking him to lead the prayer for my jama'a- my congregation-
and he recited the Quran beautifully. You never know where somebody is from, you
never know where they are going. Give everyone a fair shake, a fair chance and remember the
second we judge somebody we just behaved like Firaoun. Let's try to stay away from that,
let's try to be careful about that and let the story from the life of the prophet Musa
alayhis salaam, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be more like these great prophets
of Allah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to have the character of Rasool Allah salallahu
alayhi wasalaam. Until next time Quran Weekly, Jazaakullahi khairun. Wasalamu alaikum warahmatu
Allahi wabarakatohu.
