The Hardest Mission of All

What was Allah (swt) preparing Mūsā for? Allah was preparing him for the most difficult job of all. The most difficult job of all is the job of the anbiyāʾ; that is the most difficult work — the work of the anbiyāʾ of Allah (swt). And the particular work of Mūsā was going to be one of the most challenging tasks that any nabī has faced. Because who is Mūsā going to be dealing with? Allah (swt) is sending him to Firʿawn — to the man who claimed to be God: ana rabbukumu al-aʿlā, and mā ʿalimtu lakum min ilāhin ghayrī.

Allah (swt) is sending Mūsā to face the oldest monarchy living on the face of the earth, and that is the family of Firʿawn: a family who believed that divine blood was running through their veins, who believed that they were the seed of God, the children of God. This family ruled over an empire along the rich river Nile; they had been ruling for centuries and centuries, and nobody dared to stand against the people of God. And against them — against this strong, powerful family headed by Firʿawn, a superpower, an empire, a civilisation of its time — Allah (swt) is going to send one man. That is on one hand.

On the other hand, Allah (swt) is sending Mūsā to deal with Banū Isrāʾīl: a nation that has some remnants of the religion of Allah, but it has been mixed with so much culture and tradition that it has a different face. And they have been living under oppression for a very long time. That oppression has eroded the dignity they have, and it has caused their personalities to be humiliated. That is what happens to people when they live under oppression for a long time.

We found that in the story of Mūsā and the two men who were fighting, one of them from the children of Israel and one of them from the Egyptians. When Mūsā came to intervene, what did the Israelite say? He said: do you want to kill me, as you killed someone the day before? So he betrayed Mūsā, who had helped him the day before. You find that people who live under oppression for a very long time become very selfish, because the government makes sure that they are divided. If they were united, the government would not survive. So they divide the people; they plant the seeds of division among them. And then you have people living on their own islands, thinking individualistically, in a selfish way. These are the kind of people Mūsā is going to deal with — a people who had lost their dignity:

Go, you and your Lord, and fight; we are going to sit right here. So this was the mission — the difficult mission — that Mūsā (peace be upon him) was going to be faced with. But until now, Mūsā has no idea what Allah (swt) is keeping hidden for him in the future.