Part of Women's Suffering (series completed)
· Lesson 6 of 18
The suffering of women in the time of Moses, peace be upon him | Episode (6) | Breastfeed him and give him birth, do not be afraid, do not be sad, and give good tidings
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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The story of the suffering of the woman during the time of Moses, peace be upon him.
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"Suckle him, then cast him."
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"And do not fear, nor grieve, and receive the glad tidings."
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The beginning of the relief from the suffering of the mother of Moses
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came through the divine inspiration that Allah, Almighty and Glorious, revealed to her through His saying:
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"That you suckle him."
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“And We inspired the mother of Moses, saying: Suckle him and, when thou fearest for him, then cast him into the river and fear not nor grieve. Lo! We shall bring him back unto thee and shall make him (one) of Our messengers.” (28:7)
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“And We inspired the mother of Moses, saying: Suckle him and, when thou fearest for him, then cast him into the river and fear not nor grieve. Lo! We shall bring him back unto thee and shall make him (one) of Our messengers.” (28:7)
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"We shall surely restore him to you and make him one of the messengers."
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This divine revelation encompassed two commands, two prohibitions, and two glad tidings.
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He commanded her to suckle him so that he would become accustomed to her milk,
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and this was the very first step in protecting her child from the enemy of Allah, Pharaoh, and his soldiers.
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So she complied with the command of Allah.
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But why should she suckle him if she was going to cast him into the river?
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Such questions never issue from the people of faith in Allah,
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whenever a command comes to them from Allah or His Messenger.
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This is because the people of faith know with absolute certainty
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that whatever Allah commands must inherently contain wisdom,
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whether it is apparent to them or remains hidden.
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It is precisely here that the reality of a woman's faith shines through when facing divine commands and prohibitions:
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Does she comply immediately, or does she offer excuses by questioning the wisdom before complying?
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Whoever conditions her compliance with her Lord's command upon understanding the wisdom or being personally convinced of the ruling—
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she has not truly venerated her Lord,
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nor has she truly believed that Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise, and All-Aware, Glorified and Exalted is He.
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As for the mother of Moses, she submitted unconditionally to her Lord's command
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and suckled Moses, peace be upon him.
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Al-Tahir ibn 'Ashur, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"Allah only commanded her to suckle him
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so that his physical frame would be strengthened by his mother's milk,
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for a child thrives far better at the beginning of life on its mother's milk than on the milk of any other woman;
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and so that his final feed before being cast into the river
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would serve as sustenance to sustain his physical frame during the interval between his being cast into the river,
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its retrieval by the family of Pharaoh,
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his delivery to Pharaoh's palace,
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the search for wet nurses,
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his sister's directing them to his mother,
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up until she was brought to nurse him—
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thus he was returned to her after being separated from her for merely part of a day."
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As for how long she continued to suckle him,
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or when fear overcame her regarding the enemy of Allah, Pharaoh—
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all of this is known to none except Allah,
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and we have no knowledge of that matter.
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Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"The most correct statement regarding this matter
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is to say that Allah—exalted be His mention—commanded the mother of Moses to suckle him,
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and whenever she feared for him from the enemy of Allah, Pharaoh, and his troops,
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she was to cast him into the river.
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It is quite possible that she feared for him months after giving birth to him;
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whichever was the case, she carried out what Allah revealed to her regarding him.
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There is no binding transmission establishing proof on this point,
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nor is there any rational necessity to specify precisely which scenario occurred."
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Thus, the soundest of all views in this regard
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is to state as Almighty Allah stated:
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It was part of Allah's revelation to her that she suckle him,
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and whenever she feared for him, she was to cast him into the river—
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and this was the sole way available to her
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to save him from Pharaoh's henchmen.
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Allah Almighty says:
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“And We inspired the mother of Moses, saying: Suckle him and, when thou fearest for him, then cast him into the river and fear not nor grieve. Lo! We shall bring him back unto thee and shall make him (one) of Our messengers.” (28:7)
4:10
“And We inspired the mother of Moses, saying: Suckle him and, when thou fearest for him, then cast him into the river and fear not nor grieve. Lo! We shall bring him back unto thee and shall make him (one) of Our messengers.” (28:7)
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“And We inspired the mother of Moses, saying: Suckle him and, when thou fearest for him, then cast him into the river and fear not nor grieve. Lo! We shall bring him back unto thee and shall make him (one) of Our messengers.” (28:7)
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﴿We shall surely restore him to you and make him one of the messengers.﴾
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And Almighty Allah says:
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﴿When We inspired your mother with that which was inspired:﴾
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﴿"Cast him into the chest and cast him into the river,﴾
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﴿and let the river wash him ashore;﴾
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﴿an enemy to Me and an enemy to him shall take him."﴾
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“Saying: Throw him into the ark, and throw it into the river, then the river shall throw it on to the bank, and there an enemy to Me and an enemy to him shall take him. And I endued thee with love from Me that thou mightest be trained according to My will,” (20:39)
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﴿"And so that you would be brought up under My watchful eye."﴾
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And the divine command that Allah revealed to the mother of Moses
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was the casting into the chest, followed by the casting into the river.
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The word *qadhf* (casting) signifies throwing with force.
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Why then did He command her to cast him forcefully,
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even though he was a tender infant?
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Abu Zahrah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"In His saying, ﴿Cast him into the chest,﴾
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the divine inspiration included the command to cast him;
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and *qadhf* denotes throwing,
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as Allah Almighty says:
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﴿And He cast terror into their hearts.﴾
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Undoubtedly, expressing this with the word *qadhf*
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conveys a sense of force in the act of throwing,
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reflecting the intense psychological agony churning in the loving mother's heart.
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There was severe hesitation,
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which then culminated in the act of casting—
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as though she were casting a piece of her own soul into a sealed chest,
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unable to perceive physically what Allah would do with him.
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She cast him into the chest amidst immense psychological agony,
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and then she cast the chest containing Moses—a piece of her very soul—into the river,
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while she was in bitter pain.
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The pronoun in the statement of Allah Almighty:
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﴿Cast him into the chest﴾
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refers to Moses beyond any doubt.
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As for His statement, ﴿Then cast him into the river,﴾
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it could refer either to Moses or to the chest.
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In both cases,
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she was casting him while her heart remained utterly attached to him.
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However, the clearer interpretation is that it refers to Moses,
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due to Allah Almighty's saying:
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﴿And let the river wash him ashore,﴾
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“Saying: Throw him into the ark, and throw it into the river, then the river shall throw it on to the bank, and there an enemy to Me and an enemy to him shall take him. And I endued thee with love from Me that thou mightest be trained according to My will,” (20:39)
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for the enmity was not directed toward the chest,
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but rather toward the person of the noble Messenger himself.
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It is worth noting that all the conjunctions use the particle *fa-*,
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which denotes immediate sequence and direct succession
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without any temporal delay.
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This is because the compassionate mother
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desired to hasten the deliverance of her beloved child from being slaughtered,
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and casting him was the only avenue open to her.
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And Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, who inspired her
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through His divine inspiration—which is a form of revelation—
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saved him before he could die of hunger
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or be tossed about by the winds;
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He, Glorified and Exalted is He, expedited his rescue,
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bringing him safely to the shore.
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There is a distinction between the manner of the mother of Moses casting
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Moses into the river,
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and the river delivering Moses onto the shore.
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Abu Zahrah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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'His arrival on the shore was expressed using *ilqa'* (delivering/depositing) rather than *qadhf* (forceful casting),
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because *qadhf* implies throwing from a higher elevation to a lower one,
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and because this delivering was not accompanied by the agony felt by the mother;
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rather, it was an act of mercy from Allah Almighty.'
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At this juncture, the third phase of suffering commenced,
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which was the loss by the mother of Moses of her infant,
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Moses, peace be upon him.
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That helpless infant child,
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placed in a chest in the river,
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as the river carried the chest far away from his mother's sight,
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heading by the command of Allah toward the palace of the tyrant Pharaoh.
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Pharaoh's palace overlooked the river,
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so the guards spotted it,
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pulled it from the river,
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and brought it before Pharaoh and his wife.
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The expected decision
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was his execution,
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because the standing decree in that year
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was the slaughter of every male infant born to the Children of Israel.
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Was Pharaoh able to kill him?
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How did Allah avert execution from Moses?
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And what was the state of the mother of Moses,
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having lost the chest containing her infant, Moses, peace be upon him?
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We shall continue in our next gathering, if Allah wills.
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All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.