Eight Years, or Ten

So the father offered the job to Mūsā — but he went a little further; he took another step. He also offered Mūsā one of his daughters.

He said: I intend to marry you to one of these two daughters of mine, on condition that you serve me for eight years; but if you complete ten, it will be a favour from you. I do not intend to place you under difficulty; if Allah wills, you will find me one of the righteous. So he said: I will marry you to one of my daughters. And what is the mahr you will pay? That you work for me for eight years. And if you want to complete ten years, that is up to you. It is not part of our agreement, but I would suggest it; if you want to work for ten years, that would be better. But the bottom line is that you have to work for a minimum of eight.

Mūsā wanted to make it clear. He said: that is settled between me and you; whichever of the two terms I fulfil, there will be no injustice to me, and Allah is witness over what we say. Mūsā wanted the agreement to be clear. He was saying: if I work for eight years, do not blame me; do not do me any injustice. The agreement is that I work for you for eight years.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) asked Jibrīl: which of the two terms did Mūsā fulfil? Did he work for eight, or did he work for ten? Jibrīl (peace be upon him) told Muhammad (peace be upon him): atammahumā wa-afḍalahumā — he fulfilled the more complete and the better of them, and that was ten years. This is iḥsān and itqān, perfection in your work: even though the agreement was clear that he had to work for eight years, he completed ten.