Zia Sheikh – How we can learn Dawah from the Stories of the Prophets Day 18
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Alhamdulillah, As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Today I am going to go through a
few verses of Surah Shu'ara, the story
of Musa A.S. Musa A.S.'s story
is mentioned in many places throughout the Qur
'an with a different variety and different wordings
and so on.
Surah Shu'ara is unique in the sense
that it mentions the story of Anbiya A
.S. in a different way.
The snippets of the life stories are mentioned
of many Anbiya A.S. but the majority
or the biggest story that is found in
that particular Surah is the story of Musa
A.S. followed by the story of Ibrahim
A.S. then shorter snippets of the stories
of the Anbiya A.S. Now why in
the Qur'an Allah SWT keeps on bringing
the stories of the Anbiya Remember that our
Ummah is the Ummah of Dawah.
We are supposed to be inviting people towards
Allah SWT.
As Allah declares in the Qur'an Himself
kuntum khaira ummah, ukhrijat lil nas, ta'muruna bil
ma'ruf, wa tanhawna anil munkar, wa tu'minuna
bilillah.
You are the best of nations, you have
been sent for the benefit of mankind, you
order people to do good, you forbid them
from evil, while you have Iman in Allah
SWT.
So and other verses in the Qur'an
that indicate that this Ummah has been sent
for Dawah because the Prophet A.S. was
the last Prophet.
So what better way to teach us Dawah
than to show us how the Anbiya A
.S. gave Dawah in their time and also
to tell us the challenges that they faced
and how they dealt with those challenges.
That is why the stories of the Anbiya
A.S. are repeated again and again.
So today I am going to talk about
how in Surah Al-Shu'ara Allah SWT
tells Musa that he is going to be
a Prophet and he has to take this
responsibility and how he responds to that responsibility
that is given to him and is put
on his shoulders and how when he goes
to Fir'aun, what is the response of
Fir'aun and how he deals with that
also.
So Insha'Allah let's go through the verses
bit by bit and I'll explain in brief.
Remember when your Lord, He called Musa A
.S. and told him go to the people
that are doing wrong.
Meaning go to Fir'aun, give them Dawah,
invite them towards Allah SWT.
Who are those people?
Ummah Fir'aun, the people of Fir'aun.
Do they not have the Taqwa of Allah
SWT?
So the first instinct that Musa A.S.
had was to look at his faults and
to find his shortcomings and he felt that
there could have been somebody better than him.
This is one thing that we should always
learn that when a responsibility is given to
us any kind of responsibility we should feel,
we should think am I capable of doing
this job or not?
Am I capable of being a responsible person
and fulfilling this responsibility or not?
And this is exactly what Musa A.S.
felt.
Immediately he looked at his shortcomings and the
things that could stand in his way in
fulfilling the mission that Allah SWT was giving
him.
So he said that First of all I'm
afraid that they're going to deny me.
Why would they deny him?
Because he was from the Israelites, he was
from Bani Israel and they were from the
Qibteen, the Coptics.
They were ruling the country and the people
of Musa A.S. they were slaves.
They had been slaves for the Egyptian kings,
the pharaohs for centuries and because of that
he felt that how could a slave go
in front of the king and tell him
to leave his way of life.
So he immediately said they're going to deny
me.
The second thing My heart is tight meaning
I don't feel confident and my tongue it
stutters.
I have a stutter in my tongue.
I cannot speak properly.
Why don't you send my brother Haroon?
Why don't you make him a prophet?
So there are different verses in the Quran
that talk about different things that Musa A
.S. requested Haroon to be.
In this verse he's requesting that send Haroon
instead of me.
Make him a prophet not me.
In another verse he said make him in
Surah Taha make him equal to me, make
him my partner.
And in another verse make him my support.
Make him my support meaning he should support
me.
So basically the understanding is from the Mufassireen
that initially like here Musa A.S. requested
that he be sent instead of him.
Don't make me a prophet, make him a
prophet.
When Allah S.W.T. rejected that then
he said okay make him my partner and
make him a support for me rather than
make him a different prophet altogether.
But here he's saying that instead of me
send Haroon.
And I have committed a sin against them
so I'm afraid that they're going to kill
me.
So what was the sin?
It was a mistake that he made that
two people were arguing an Israelite and a
Qibti were arguing.
So he stood up for the Israelite and
he hit the Qibti and without intention he
killed him.
His intention was just to hit him but
instead of just hitting him that person fell
down dead.
So completely by mistake but because of that
he ran away and he was in exile
for 10 years and now on the way
back from that exile Musa A.S. is
getting this responsibility of prophethood.
So he says to Allah S.W.T.
that I've committed a sin and that sin
because of that I'm afraid that they're going
to kill me.
Allah S.W.T. says certainly not.
You know you have to go, you have
to fulfill the responsibility.
Both of you go with our signs.
We are with you, we are listening carefully.
Meaning that we're going to be assisting you
all the way.
Come to Fir'aun and you go to
Fir'aun and tell him that we are
the prophets of Rabbul Alameen, the Lord of
the Worlds.
And this Lord of the Worlds is going
to come later on when Fir'aun asks
Musa A.S. what is Rabbul Alameen?
Who is this Rabbul Alameen that you're referring
to?
So firstly tell him that we are the
prophets from the Lord of the Worlds from
Allah S.W.T. and secondly you have
to set the Israelites free from their bondage,
from their slavery.
So these were two responsibilities that were given
to Musa A.S. to give the message
of Allah S.W.T. and to get
Fir'aun and his people away from shirk
and secondly the slavery that the Israelites were
in to take them out of that slavery,
this was the second responsibility.
So now the next verse it says Fir
'aun is talking.
So this is one of the beauties of
the Quran which is called Ijaz.
Ijaz means that the things that are not
required Allah S.W.T. doesn't mention them.
So how Musa A.S. he took the
responsibility and then he went and how many
days it took to get to Fir'aun
and how he got together with Harun A
.S. all of those details are omitted and
the main things are mentioned.
This is called Ijaz and there are sometimes
in the Quran Allah S.W.T. he
mentions more detail.
For example when Allah is describing Jannah in
Suratul Waqia he mentions a lot of detail.
Why?
Because the person he is enjoying listening to
it.
So when that happens and the details are
mentioned that concept is called Itanab.
Itanab meaning lengthening and more detail.
But when the detail is not required Allah
S.W.T. skips that detail that is
called Ijaz.
So the next ayah it talks about Fir
'aun.
Musa A.S. has gone to Fir'aun,
he has given him the message and now
Fir'aun is responding back to Musa A
.S. So Fir'aun says Did we not
raise you amongst us as a boy and
you stayed amongst us from your years for
many years from your age for many years.
So from the wording it seems that the
Fir'aun that Musa A.S. grew up
with it was not the same Fir'aun
because Fir'aun here he is saying that
you were amongst us not that I raised
you in my palace but you were amongst
us and you were living amongst us.
So from this the scholars say that from
the time that Musa A.S. got back
it was actually the son of that Fir
'aun.
It was not the same Fir'aun, it
was the son of that Fir'aun and
that particular Fir'aun had passed away and
this was a new Fir'aun.
And you did what you did.
First of all he said that we raised
you and if you remember the whole story
how did Musa A.S. end up in
the palace of Fir'aun?
It was because Fir'aun was told by
his fortune tellers that there is going to
be a person from the Bani Israel he
is going to be born in such and
such a time in this year and he
is going to overthrow your kingdom.
So to prevent that from happening Fir'aun
had ordered all of the babies that were
born at that time to be killed and
slaughtered.
And the reason that Musa A.S. ended
up in the palace of Fir'aun was
that Musa A.S.'s mother fearing for his
life put him in a basket, put him
in the river Nile and then he floated
all the way to the door of the
palace and the mother or the wife of
Fir'aun, Asya saw him, fell in love
with him and pleaded with Fir'aun not
to kill him.
So that's how Musa A.S. ended up
in the palace.
So Fir'aun says that we were the
one that raised you you were raised in
our palace, you were raised amongst us and
then and you did the deed that you
did meaning you killed somebody while you were
being ungrateful.
So instead of being grateful to the Tibteen
who raised you you became ungrateful and you
killed one of them and you ran away.
Musa A.S. said yes, I made a
mistake and I was, the word used is
daaleen here I was from amongst the misguided.
Misguided in the sense that not misguided from
the truth rather misguided in the sense that
he was a young man rebellious and maybe
a little bit hot headed so he said
that at that time I was young and
I was misguided from that perspective I did
what I did, yes it was a mistake
on my part.
I ran away from you when I was
afraid of you and Allah S.W.T.
gave me hukm meaning an order, he gave
me a judgement and he made me from
the messengers, from the prophets and you are
shouting your favours to me you are telling
me your favours you are counting your favours
to me and on top of that you
have made all of Bani Israel slaves and
just the one person that you raised in
a palace you are making a big deal
out of it and then on top of
that the reason that I ended up in
your palace was because of you or because
of Firaon your father killing all of those
babies that's the reason I ended up in
the palace anyway it wasn't because of any
deed on your part that you brought me
forcefully into the palace the reason that I
got to the palace was because of the
fact that you are killing all of those
babies so the fact that you are counting
your favours and on top of that you
have made all of the Israelites, the Bani
Israel into your slaves now here Firaon says
ok, what do you have to say who
is this Rabbul Alameen that you are mentioning
you are bringing an order to me to
set the slaves free who is this order
from who is this lord of the world
that is going against us and wants us
to set the Israelites free so the discussion
that takes place is very powerful because it's
one Ayah, Musa A.S. and then the
next Ayah, Firaon the next Ayah, Musa A
.S. the next Ayah, Firaon as if there
is an argument taking place a debate taking
place and one is trying to drive his
point across and the other is trying to
compete with that point and trying to drive,
ridicule that point and put it down and
this really for a person who is giving
Dawah and for us living in a non
-Muslim environment it really shows us that we
need to be persistent there will always be
voices shouting against us and against Islam and
basically rejecting the message that Islam brings and
that will be continuous but you don't just
give up at the first instance of this
kind of dissent against you you have to
be persistent you have to be steadfast and
you have to continue and in other verses
in the Quran you will find that the
dialogue, the rhetoric that is used by the
people against Islam today is exactly the same
rhetoric that was used by Firaon and his
people to scare the people against Musa A
.S. for example in Surah Taha Allah SWT
says the saying of Firaon and his people
they said, meaning the people of Firaon said
these two are magicians they are magicians what
do they want?
they want to take you out of their
lands of your lands they want you to
go out of your lands meaning they want
to take over this country and they want
to get rid of your exemplary lifestyle how
many times have you heard this before?
Muslims, they don't love freedom they want to
take away our freedom they want to change
our way of life this is exactly what
Firaon said about Musa A.S. exactly and
there are so many other verses that we
can compare with the politics of today the
politics of fear fear mongering scaring people against
Islam and Muslims this is exactly what Firaon
did many many years ago so what was
the dialogue that took place between Musa A
.S. and Firaon so first of all he
said who is this lord that you are
referring to?
he is the lord of the heavens and
the earth and whatever is in between them
so nothing is remaining he is in charge
of everything he is in charge of you
he is in charge of me he is
in charge of your policies he is in
charge of your kingdom that is Rabbul Alameen
if only you had yaqeen if you had
conviction about this he is Rabbul Alameen so
Firaon says Firaon says to the people around
him are you listening carefully?
meaning trying to ridicule Musa A.S.'s claim
why?
because Firaon he said I am your lord
and here he is he is claiming that
somebody else is the lord so he says
to the people are you listening?
are you listening to this claim that this
person is making?
Musa A.S. persists he doesn't give up
Musa says your lord and the lord of
your previous forefathers and this statement is very
powerful why?
because the people used to worship the kings
that came before them so this statement basically
says Allah is your lord you are here
today you will not be here tomorrow you
are going to leave this world tomorrow and
your forefathers they were here yesterday and they
are not here today so the lord remained
you and I we will leave this world
our forefathers left this world the forefathers that
you worship they are gone but the lord
he remained so your lord and the lord
of your forefathers this lord is everlasting we
and our forefathers and the forefathers that you
worship they have gone and we will continue
to leave Allah is the one who is
everlasting so the response from Fir'aun is
again one ayah Musa A.S the next
ayah Fir'aun he says Fir'aun says
this prophet that is sent to you he
is indeed he is indeed a mad man
Musa A.S doesn't give up he continues
the lord of the east and the west
and whatever is in between them if only
you had understanding if only you could understand
again lord of the east and west why
because Fir'aun he claims to be the
king but he is the king of a
very limited country he is the king of
the only surrounding area of Egypt whereas he
goes to the next country there is another
king and he goes to another on the
other side of the border another king Musa
A.S says this lord that I am
talking about he is not just limited by
these boundaries by these barriers he is the
lord of everything between the east and the
west and in between them Allah is in
charge of everything if only you had understanding
so Fir'aun again responds he says Fir
'aun says if you take anybody other than
me as a god then I am going
to make you into a prisoner and you
are going to rot in prison so this
is a threat from Fir'aun now so
the dialogue is taking place rhetoric from both
sides and ultimately Fir'aun is giving a
threat to Musa A.S but Musa persists
and continues with his Dawah so he says
how about if I bring you something very
clear what if I show you a miracle
and Musa A.S was given two miracles
which he showed Fir'aun said ok bring
them if you are truthful and obviously he
thought that Musa A.S has nothing in
comparison to what I have so he is
up for the challenge he says bring me
whatever you have bring it on Musa A
.S he threw down his staff his stick
and it became a huge serpent there are
different words used for the serpent sometimes small
sometimes big the wording is used and the
scholars say that it started off maybe as
a small snake and it grew into a
big snake and other different interpretations given by
various scholars but other words are used for
the serpent or the snake that came and
he took out his hand and it was
shiny for the people around him so this
was the second miracle that was given to
Musa A.S and now at this point
Fir'aun becomes scared he was very argumentative
he was very he was very resistant to
the Dawah of Musa A.S now he
sees these miracles and he knows that this
is something out of the ordinary now he
starts scaring the people around him and telling
them that this person is a threat to
you is a threat to your kingdom and
we need to do something about it and
what happened after that was all of the
magicians were gathered on a particular day and
then there was a challenge that took place
a duel that took place between them Musa
A.S. defeated them and the magicians also
became Muslims which made Fir'aun even more
mad but the point is in this short
span of verses we find many lessons that
a person who wants to give Dawah he
needs to learn from persistence remaining adamance and
steadfast recognizing one's own shortcomings how to deal
with resistance by becoming more and more steadfast
and not giving up all of these lessons
we learned from these particular set of verses
I pray that Allah gives us tawfiq to
understand and practice what has been said on
that