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Hazrat Dawood (David)Conclusion

There are some verses of the Qura’n that highlight the status and greatness of Moses but also raise a few questions. The 16th verse of Surah Qassas tells us that when Moses struck the Egyptian who was fighting with an Israeli and the man died. Moses had no intention of killing him and so he says:

“Lord! Verily I have wronged myself, so forgive me. He forgave him. Verily He is oft-forgiving most merciful.”

Is it not a proof of guilt that he said that “I have wronged myself”? the verse 15 of Surah Qassas tell us that Moses after killing the person said,

“This is Satan’s doing; he is indeed a clear enemy and a misleader.”

It was after this that Moses was commissioned for prophethood and he went to the Pharaoh to enjoin him to God. The Pharaoh replied as in verses 19-20 of Surah Shuara:

“You did what you did (killed a man) and you are one of the ingrates.”

It is true to say that Moses was not commissioned as a Messenger of god when he killed the person but it is also true that every apostle of god has to have the certitude and purity of thoughts and deeds before being made an apostle. The use of the words “the cursed ones” is unwarranted for certain things.

The Answer:

We should first consider the circumstances of this killing; it was unintentional and in legal terms it is consider a non-premeditated murder and also whether it was warranted or not?

Surely this deed cannot be termed as a sin because we should consider the fact that the people of the Pharaoh oppressed the Israelis and used to slaughter the milk suckling infants. They killed the males and kept the females for their unjust use and they tortured them in various ways. This is covered by the Qura’nic des c r i p tion of the Egyptians as the people “who spread mischief on earth.” Moses went out to help the oppressed. Killing such a member for a murderous society is surely permissible and so how can the chastity of Moses be tarnished?

So accusing him means not knowing the hidden motive behind the action of Moses and the words “I have wronged myself” here means that he put himself into hardships that he expected to result for killing a Copt. This meant that he would lose the benefits that he had by obeying the Pharaoh. It is no secret that oversight is a personal deed and it is something which a person bans for himself in lieu of a greater deed.

The words, “This is Satan’s doing.” Points to the fight that ensued between the Copt and the Israeli. This deed was a blind reflective action and he asked for forgiveness because of this oversight. The same is found in the case of Adam and eve, and they asked for forgiveness from god after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. . Verse 23 of Surah A’raf says:

“They said, “Lord! We have wronged ourselves. We shall certainly be among the losers if You do not forgive us and bestow Your mercy on us.”

The origin of the word Zaaalliin is “Zillal” and means to move away from purpose. Actually it has vast connotations and not just reneging from religion and truth and it can be used for any person just like Moses who put himself in peril. the other meaning is to move away from the path of well being and adopting the path of worldly wealth and glamour. He did not feel safe in Egypt so he went to the mountain and to Median where he got the help from God. He spent many years under the watchful eyes of apostle Shoaeb (Jethro) and was prepared by God for the Messengership.

It is no secret that some people this “Izlaal” as absence of knowledge about something for Moses did not know that a single strike could kill that Copt. This is why this murder is not intentional or premeditated but accidental. The first mean seems more proper because the Pharaoh understood something else and so he did not levy any punishment for Moses.

Secondly, We learn about the circumstances from verse 143 of Surah A’raf

“When Moses came to the place appointed by we and his Lord addressed him.

 He said, “My Lord! Show thyself to me so that I may look upon you.” God answered, “You can never see me by any means but look upon the mount if it stays in its place then you can see Me.” When the Lord manifested himself to the mount, he turned it into dust and Moses fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses he said, “All glory is for you God! I turn to You in repentance and I am the first to believe.”

In this instant it is said:

Firstly, Why did Moses seek forgiveness after being installed at such a high status?

Secondly, would he not swooned because of the lighting had there been no opposition?

Thirdly, “I turn to you in repentance” tells us that he did commit a mistake.

The commentators have given various answers. The best among them is that Moses did not insist on seeing God but his people did. Verse 55 of Surah Baqarah says:

“And remember you said “O Moses We shall never believe in you until we see God manifestly.” Then only did the lightning seize you. The other verses of the Qura’n tell us that Moses was asked to take the elders of the Bani Israel to the mountain and ask for the beatific vision. Verse 15 of Surah A’raf says:

“And Moses took 70 of his people for Our place of meeting: when they were seized by a thunderbolt, he prayed, “Lord! Had You so willed you would have destroyed both them and me long before; would you destroy us for the deeds of the foolish ones among us? This is nothing more but a test set by You; and you cause whom you will to stray and you lead who you will on the right path. You are our protector: so forgive us and bestow mercy upon us. You are the best of those who forgive.”

So whatever Moses said was as per command of God and a duty. The lightning was not sent to harm Moses but just to make the people of Israel realize God’s authority and for Moses to tell them that they could never see God. They cannot even see the reflection of His glory. It had made some of them swoon and burnt some; does this result negate the authority of God?

The words “I am sorry” was said on the insistence of the Bani Israel and earlier they had said, “we would like to see you”

Some people cite the verse of Surah Kahf and say that Moses did commit a mistake but the mistake included the people as well. Verse 61 of Surah Kahf says:

“When they reached the junction they forgot their fish which took its course through the river as in a tunnel.”

Verse 63 of Surah Kahf says:

“When we reached the rock I forgot the fish.”

How can his companion commit the mistake of forgetting when he was none other Joshua son of Nun who is acclaimed as a Prophet of God by the commentators? We are thus trying to prove that the Prophets does commit the mistake of oversight.

We will read the verse in which Moses spoke with the “ chosen one of god’ Khizir and  promised that he would not ask for the secret details of any of his actions but Moses forgot and objected against Khizir’s deed of boring a hole in the boat. Khizir then reminded him of his promise then Moses said, as in verse 73 of Surah Kahf:

“Do not berate me for forgetting and be not severe in my relation with you”

And this has come more than twice so does this suggest that the prophets could make the mistake of forgetting. Is it not a duty for the apostles to avoid mistake and forgetfulness to protect their chastity?’

Answer

The commentators have adopted a style in answering this question. Some say that “Nisiyan” means forgoing something at times though it is not forgotten. We find this in the story of Adam as described in verse 115 of Surah Ta-Ha;

” We had already taken a covenant from Adam but he forgot.”

It is also proven that Adam had not forgotten his covenant about not eating the forbidden fruit with God. The problem here is that not complying with this agreement is taken as a sin.

 Some people have said that the person who forgot was not Moses but his companion and one who forgets cannot be an apostle of God. It is then proven that we have erred in understanding the verses of the Qura’n.

In this verse we will see that the companion of Moses observed the fish reaching the water and coming back to life. Moses had told him but he forgot. So the one who forgot was the companion and not Moses because only he had seen the incident. The term “They both forgot” is like attributing the mistake of a person to his group and it is often used as such.

If it is said that intellectually which issue is more important than this one then we will say that the companion of Moses had seen more important miracles

Forgetting the fish does not have any importance because of this purpose.

The non-remembrance is often attributed to Satan because of it coming back to life and its connection to the secret of the man who was told to help Moses with his knowledge. It has been attributed to Satan because of his power to tempt and prevent mankind from attain its goal, or at least to delay this. But the blame is put on the companion of Moses.

Some hadiths are narrated from the Holy Messenger as follows:

Moses was sleeping when the fish fell into the water and swam away but his companion who saw all this did not wake him up or inform him and he forgot to do so even after Moses have woken up. A day or two nights passed then the companion spoke about this event and gave the details that led them to return to the place where the fish had gone into the water. (1)

Some say that the apostles of God are protected from forgetfulness that is related to their mission and it is not connected with other deeds. So forgetfulness is a normal process.

But it is not so it is only related to revelations, prophethood, he nurturing, the education and the preaching is not connected with this but the status of chastity demands that it should be connected with all of them and the word “Nisiyan” has been used in this sense in these verses.

Sayyid Murtaza the late scholar says that there are three reasons for Moses saying, “Do not berate me for forgetting.”

Firstly this forgetting should be known to be connected with the truth and there is no surprise that Moses forgot even in this short space of time since he was busy in other problems.

Secondly, this means, “do not ask me that which I have forgone.”(Moses had forgotten the covenant) even though he knew it to be one of the conditions. Khizir had told him, “do not ask me about anything until I explain it myself.”

Thirdly, what Moses meant by saying “Do not berate me” was doing not admonish me for ignoring and it is something like forgetting. Sayyid Murtaza further says, “there is no problem if we attribute this to be not like forgetting but if it is actually forgetting then it should mean that forgetting the command of God is not permissible for the apostles for it is something not found in them. It will not be considered wrong for the apostles forgetting to eat or drink but even this is not found in them.

There is another verse about this great apostle with the same meaning. Verses 150 and 151 of Surah A’raf say:

“When Moses came back to his people angry and grieved he said, “What you have done in my absence is evil. Did you become hasty to bring on the judgment of your Lord?” he put down the tablets and seized his brother by (the hair of) his head and dragged him. Aaron said, “Son of my mother! The people disregarded me and went to slay me! Do not make the enemies rejoice over my misfortune, and do not count me among the sinful people. 151 Moses prayed, “O my Lord! Forgive me and my brother. Admit us to your mercy for you are the most merciful of those who show mercy.”

Many questions arise here.

Firstly, why did Moses throw the tablets that contained the commandments of God on the ground?

Secondly, why did he treat his brother so harshly when he had not erred at all?

Thirdly, why did Moses ask for forgiveness for himself and his brother? If we consider the event that this great apostle faced after he had gone to meet his God we will realize that this was necessary.

Moses spent years in sowing the seed of Oneness of God among the people and then went to meet Him. The seed had grown in their hearts but he found that these efforts came to naught when he returned and his people had been tempted by Samiri. The bowed before him and became polytheists and idolaters again. The divine light of faith had been extinguished in most of their hearts.

Moses was very surprised and angry but his anger was for God and this is one reason. The other reason is that Moses had faced such difficult situations many times in his life and he kept cleansing their hearts but their hearts were still diseased. The problem was to establish the faith once again in their hearts and not just the respect for the tablets.

The anger of Moses and the exposition of this evil deed was nothing but severity and this is why he was harsh with his brother, caught and pulled his hair and threw the tablets down. He shouted so hard that he could be heard by everyone and they were forced to think about the evil of worshipping the calf that made Moses severe on his brother. His action was not limited to Aaron but was to admonish one and all and he could not be successful without doing it.

So this was more important than throwing the tablets as some people believe. The word “Alqa’ means to set it down and he did so with anger which was due to his people reneging on their faith and this is expressed in verse 54 of Surah Baqarah.

What Samiri did among the Israelis merited a severe chastisement. In short, this severity was for a great purpose and is not without questions for it is compulsory for creating awareness. (Think deeply)

 


 

1. Tafsir Maraghivol.15 page 174

 

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