Why Every Prophet Was a Shepherd

Number three: what kind of work did Mūsā do when he was working for this man? He was rāʿī al-ghanam, a shepherd of goats or sheep. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: mā min nabiyyin illā raʿā al-ghanam — every prophet has been a shepherd of sheep. Why sheep specifically? And why a shepherd specifically?

Being a shepherd is being responsible. And being a shepherd of sheep — sheep are the weakest of the livestock we have. They are weaker than cows and weaker than camels. That weakness makes the shepherd very alert. He always has to keep his eyes open, to guard the sheep from the wolf and to keep them from getting lost, because a sheep cannot survive on its own, but a camel can. So the shepherd learns to be very alert — because the anbiyāʾ are going to be protecting a whole nation, a whole nation of weak people.

Allah (swt) says the human being is weak. So Allah (swt) makes the prophets go through this training of being shepherds, so that they learn to be responsible — because it is the responsibility of the shepherd to take care of the flock.