Louder Miracles

There is a further reason why, so far as we know, the muʿjizāt, the miracles, of Mūsā (peace be upon him) are louder than those of the other prophets. They are more prominent and more conspicuous, because that was what was needed. The people needed it. They did not need small miracles; they needed great ones. The two miracles of Mūsā (peace be upon him) that we know of are the ʿaṣā, his staff, which turned into a serpent — an enormous serpent — and his hand, which became luminous. When he drew it out it was brighter than the sun, it appears: a great brightness. Today one might say that a man is shining something or other; but in those days there was no such notion. It was a plain miracle in those days. Today a miracle would be different, times having moved on to other things. There was no way anyone could suppose that a man might produce such a thing of himself, by any human capacity.

And still many of them did not believe. They did not believe. How could a man fail to believe in a stick turning into a serpent, and in those days above all? And this brightness, the luminous hand, the beaming palm: they must have used much obstinacy, much prejudice, much animosity, to set themselves against it. One may simply tell; for what else would make a man do so? Here, then, are the verses from beyond the hundredth, from verse 108^**:

Qāla al-malaʾu min qawmi Firʿawna inna hādhā la-sāḥirun ʿalīm. Now, when Mūsā (peace be upon him) showed that — but before coming to it, it is worth understanding how the thing came about at all. How did Mūsā (peace be upon him) and Pharaoh come to meet? Whence do they come? What is happening here?

What happened, in substance, is that there were droughts — great droughts and hardships in the land, in the holy lands. Recall the account of Yaʿqūb (peace be upon him) and the account of Yūsuf (peace be upon him): it was thus that his brothers first came to Yūsuf (peace be upon him), the distribution being made there. That comes in the chapter upon the account of Yūsuf (peace be upon him) in any case. So people began to come, there being much food, since, mā shāʾ Allāh, upon the counsel of Yūsuf (peace be upon him) — he had advised them well as to how the supplies should be kept through the years of plenty, upon the dream seen by the ruler, by the king of that time. So everyone began to come there. Thus the Banū Isrāʾīl came in great numbers to Egypt and began to settle there; for when there is drought everywhere, a man must go elsewhere. They stayed with Yūsuf (peace be upon him), under his charge, and thereafter began to have children there; they became inhabitants of Egypt, and grew at length into a great minority — the second largest body after the Copts. After Pharaoh's people they were the largest group there.

But the various Pharaohs — the several successive pharaohs — did not treat them well; some of them oppressed them grievously. And when it came to Ramses II — most probably it was he — he lies in the Egyptian Museum today; one may go and see him for some ninety Egyptian pounds if one wishes. Or one may look at him online: his mummy may be seen after four thousand years.^*** He in particular enslaved them; he made them as slaves, as slave labour: the pyramids, all of that slave labour.

Of Mūsā (peace be upon him) there is no need to give the account here, for it comes later — how he was brought up in the house of Pharaoh; Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ sets that out. But at length he sees the persecution of his own people and their enslavement. So Mūsā (peace be upon him) says to Pharaoh:

Qad jiʾtukum bi-bayyinatin min rabbikum: he has brought these signs — for he came and claimed prophethood. Pharaoh said: if you have them, if you are what you say, then show us some signs. And he showed the two signs. And Mūsā (peace be upon him) said to Pharaoh, in verse 105, fa-arsil maʿiya banī Isrāʾīl: send the Banū Isrāʾīl with me; we shall return to the holy lands, we shall go from here; there is persecution here. So:

Qāla in kunta jiʾta bi-āyatin fa-ʾti bihā in kunta mina al-ṣādiqīn. Pharaoh asks him to bring the signs, and he shows them. Fa-alqā ʿaṣāhu: he casts down his staff, and it becomes a serpent; and then he draws out his hand, and it shines, and astounds everyone there.