Sura 20, Ta ha (O Man). Mecca 45

The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:

إِذْ أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى أُمِّكَ مَا يُوحَى ﴿٣٨﴾

20: 38.  "Behold! We sent to thy mother, by inspiration, the message:

C2557. The story is not told, but only those salient points recapitulated which bear on the upbringing and work of Moses.

Long after the age of Joseph, who had been a Wazir to one of the Pharaohs, there came on the throne ofEgypt a Pharaoh who hated the Israelites and wanted them annihilated. He ordered Israelite male children to be killed when they were born.

Moses' mother hid him for a time, but when further concealment was impossible, a thought came into her mind that she should put her child into a chest and send the chest floating down the Nile. This was not merely a foolish fancy of hers. It was Allah's Plan to bring up Moses in all the learning of the Egyptians, in order that that learning itself should be used to expose what was wrong in it and to advance the glory of Allah.

The chest was floated into the river Nile. It flowed on into a stream that passed through Pharaoh's Garden. It was picked up by Pharaoh's people and the child was adopted by Pharaoh's wife.

See 28:4-13.

أَنِ اقْذِفِيهِ فِي التَّابُوتِ فَاقْذِفِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ فَلْيُلْقِهِ الْيَمُّ...   

20: 39.  "'Throw (the child) into the chest, and throw (the chest) into the river:

...بِالسَّاحِلِ يَأْخُذْهُ عَدُوٌّ لِّي وَعَدُوٌّ لَّهُ...

the river will cast him up on the bank, and he will be taken up by one who is an enemy to Me and an enemy to him':

C2558. Pharaoh was an enemy to Allah, because he was puffed up and he blasphemed, claiming to be God himself.

He was an enemy to the child Moses, because he hated the Israelites and wanted to have their male children killed; also because Moses stood for Allah's revelation to come.

...وَأَلْقَيْتُ عَلَيْكَ مَحَبَّةً مِّنِّي ...

but I cast (the garment of) love over thee from Me:

C2559. Allah made the child comely and lovable, and he attracted the love of the very people who, on general grounds, would have killed him.

... وَلِتُصْنَعَ عَلَى عَيْنِي ﴿٣٩﴾

and (this) in order that thou mayest be reared under Mine eye.

C2560. See n. 2558 above.

By making the child Moses so attractive as to be adopted into Pharaoh's household, not only was Moses brought up in the best way possible from an earthly point of view, but Allah's special Providence looked after him in bringing his mother to him, as stated in the next verse, and thus nourishing him on his mother's milk and keeping him in touch, in his inner growth, with the feelings and sentiments of his people Israel.

إِذْ تَمْشِي أُخْتُكَ فَتَقُولُ ...   

20: 40.  "Behold! thy sister goeth forth and saith,

... هَلْ أَدُلُّكُمْ عَلَى مَن يَكْفُلُهُ...

'Shall I show you one who will nurse and rear the (child)?'

C2561. We may suppose that the anxious mother, after the child was floated on the water, sent the child's sister to follow the chest from the bank and see where and by whom it was picked up. When it was picked up by Pharaoh's own family and they seemed to love the child, she appeared like a stranger before them, and said, "Shall I search out a good wet-nurse for the child, that she may rear the child you are going to adopt?"

That was exactly what they wanted. She ran home and told her mother. The mother was delighted to come and fold the infant in her arms again and feed it at her own breast, and all openly and without any concealment.

...فَرَجَعْنَاكَ إِلَى أُمِّكَ كَيْ تَقَرَّ عَيْنُهَا وَلَا تَحْزَنَ...

So We brought thee back to thy mother, that her eye might be cooled and she should not grieve.

C2562. The mother's eyes had, we may imagine, been sore with scalding tears at the separation from her baby.

Now they were cooled: a phrase meaning that her heart was comforted.

...وَقَتَلْتَ نَفْسًا فَنَجَّيْنَاكَ مِنَ الْغَمِّ وَفَتَنَّاكَ فُتُونًا...

Then thou didst slay a man, but We saved thee from trouble, and We tried thee in various ways.

C2563. Years passed. The child grew up. In outward learning he was of the house of Pharaoh.

In his inner soul and sympathy he was of Israel. One day, he went to the Israelite colony and saw all the Egyptian oppression under which Israel labored. He saw an Egyptian smiling an Israelite, apparently with impunity.

Moses felt brotherly sympathy and smote the Egyptian. He did not intend to, kill him, but in fact the Egyptian died of the blow. When this became known, his position in Pharaoh's household became impossible. So he fled out of Egypt, and was only saved by Allah's grace.

He fled to the Sinai Peninsula, to the land of the Midianites, and had various adventures. He married one of the daughters of the Midianite chief, and lived with the Midianites for many years, as an Egyptian stranger. He had many trials and temptations, but he retained his integrity of character.

...فَلَبِثْتَ سِنِينَ فِي أَهْلِ مَدْيَنَ...

Then didst thou tarry a number of years with the people of Midian.

C2564. See last note.

After many years spent in a quiet life, grazing his father-in-law's flocks, he came one day to the valley of Tuwa underneath the great mountain mass of Sinai, called Tur (in Arabic). The peak on the Arabian side (where Moses was) was called Horeb by the Hebrews.

Then was fulfilled Allah's Plan: he saw the fire in the distance, and when he went up, he was addressed by Allah and chosen to be Allah's Messenger for that age.

...ثُمَّ جِئْتَ عَلَى قَدَرٍ يَا مُوسَى ﴿٤٠﴾

Then didst thou come hither as ordained, O Moses!

وَاصْطَنَعْتُكَ لِنَفْسِي ﴿٤١﴾

20: 41.  "And I have prepared thee for Myself (for service)"...

Asad’s Version:

(20:38) when We inspired thy mother with this inspiration:

20:39 Other versions

20:40 "[And thou wert under Mine eye] when thy sister went forth and said [to Pharaoh's people], 'Shall I guide you unto [a woman] who might take charge of him? 23 And so We returned thee unto thy mother, so that her eye be gladdened, and that she might not sorrow [any longer]. 24 "And [when thou earnest of age, 25 ] thou didst slay a man: but We did save thee from all grief, although We tried thee with various trials. 28

"And then thou didst sojourn for years among the people of Madyan; 27 and now thou hast come [here] as ordained [by Me], O Moses:

(20:41) for I have chosen thee for Mine Own service.

[[Asad’s notes:

20 Lit., "at another time", i.e., the time of Moses' childhood and youth, which is recalled in verses 38-40. For a fuller explanation of the subsequent references to that period - the Pharaonic persecution of the children of Israel and the killing of their new-boni males, the rescue of the infant Moses and his adoption by Pharaoh's family, his killing of the Egyptian, and his subsequent flight from Egypt - see 28:3-21, where the story is narrated in greater detail.

21 Lit., "take him" (cf 28:9). Pharaoh is described as an enemy of God because of his

overweening arrogance and cruelty as well as his claim to the status of divinity (see 79:24); and he was, unknowingly, an enemy of the infant Moses inasmuch as he hated and feared the people to whom the latter belonged.

22 I.e., "under My protection and in accordance with the destiny which I have decreed for thee" : possibly a reference to Moses' upbringing within the cultural environment of the royal palace and his subsequent acquisition of the ancient wisdom of Egypt - circumstances which were to qualify him for his future leadership and the special mission that God had in view for him.

23 For a fuller account, see 28:12.

24 As is implied here and in 28:12-13, his own mother became his wet-nurse. 25 Cf. 28:14.

26 For the details of this particular incident, which proved a turning-point in the life of Moses,see 28:15-21.

27 See 28:22-28.

28 Lit., "or [that he might] fear" - i.e., that there is some truth in the words of Moses. Since God knows the future, the tentative form in the above phrase - "so that he might (la'allahu) bethink himself", etc., - obviously does not imply any "doubt" on God's part as to Pharoahs future reaction: it implies no more than His command to the bearer of His message to address the sinner with a view to the latter's bethinking himself: in other words, it relates to the intention or hope with which the message-bearer should approach his task (Razi). And since every Qur'anic narrative aims at bringing out an eternal truth or truths or at elucidating a universal principle of human behaviour, it is evident that God's command to Moses to speak to one particular sinner "in a mild manner, so that he might (have a chance to] bethink himself" retains its validity for all times and all such attempts at conversion. ]]