The Seed · Messengers
Moses
The messenger God spoke to directly, sent to free a people and to call them back to God alone.
Mention in the scripture Moses. He was devoted, and he was a messenger prophet.
[19:51]No person is named in the Quran more often than Moses. His name appears in 134 verses, across 34 suras.
His story has everything. A baby on a river. A young man who makes a terrible mistake. A voice from a fire. A tyrant, a sea, a mountain and a calf.
Through all of it runs one message. God gave it to Moses at the very start, at the fire.
This page follows his life through the Quran, and it ends where it began: God alone.
Who Moses Was
The Quran tells us plainly who he was: “Mention in the scripture Moses. He was devoted, and he was a messenger prophet.” [19:51] He was both a messenger and a prophet.
God spoke to him directly: “And GOD spoke to Moses directly.” [4:164]
God told him: “O Moses, I have chosen you, out of all the people, with My messages and by speaking to you.” [7:144] And: “I have made you just for Me.” [20:41]
God gave him the scripture: “And we gave Moses the scripture, complete with the best commandments, and detailing everything, and a beacon and mercy” [6:154]. That “we” is God speaking. The Quran calls it “the book of Moses” [46:12].
His brother Aaron stood beside him: “we granted him, out of our mercy, his brother Aaron as a prophet” [19:53].
A Baby on the River
Moses was born into fear. Pharaoh ruled Egypt as a tyrant. He was “slaughtering their sons, while sparing their daughters” [28:4].
So God spoke to the heart of Moses' mother: “Nurse him, and when you fear for his life, throw him into the river without fear or grief. We will return him to you, and will make him one of the messengers.” [28:7]
The river carried the baby to Pharaoh's own family. Pharaoh's wife said: “Do not kill him, for he may be of some benefit for us, or we may adopt him to be our son.” [28:9]
God kept the baby from nursing from anyone. Then his sister stepped forward and offered a family that could raise him [28:12]. That family was his own.
God says He “restored him to his mother, in order to please her, remove her worries, and to let her know that GOD's promise is the truth” [28:13].
A Mistake, and a New Start
Moses grew up strong, and God gave him wisdom and knowledge [28:14]. One day he saw two men fighting, one from his people and one from his enemies. He struck the enemy, and the man died [28:15].
Moses knew at once that it was wrong. He said: “This is the work of the devil” [28:15]. Then he turned to God: “My Lord, I have wronged my soul. Please forgive me,” and God “forgave him” [28:16].
He fled the city. On the road he prayed: “May my Lord guide me in the right path.” [28:22]
At a well in Midyan he helped two women water their flock [28:23]. Then he sat in the shade and prayed, with nothing to his name: “My Lord, whatever provision You send to me, I am in dire need for it.” [28:24]
God answered. The women's father took him in, and Moses married one of the daughters [28:27]. He stayed in Midyan for years [20:40].
This is worth holding on to. God still made Moses His messenger after his mistake. A sin we have repented of does not shut the door.
The Fire on the Mountain
Years later, Moses set out with his family. On the slope of Mount Sinai he saw a fire [28:29]. He went to it, and a voice called him.
God said: “I am your Lord; remove your sandals. You are in the sacred valley, Tuwã.” [20:12] And then came the heart of everything Moses would ever teach: “I am GOD; there is no other god beside Me. You shall worship Me alone, and observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) to remember Me.” [20:14]
God gave him two signs. His staff turned into a moving serpent [20:20]. His hand came out “white without a blemish” [20:22].
Then God gave him his mission: “Go to Pharaoh, for he has transgressed.” [20:24]
Moses was afraid, and he said so: “My Lord, I fear lest they disbelieve me.” [26:12] Then he prayed: “My Lord, cool my temper.” [20:25] “And make this matter easy for me.” [20:26] “And untie a knot from my tongue.” [20:27] “So they can understand my speech.” [20:28] He asked for his brother Aaron as a helper [20:30], and God answered: “Your request is granted, O Moses.” [20:36]
Before Pharaoh
God told Moses and Aaron how to speak to the tyrant: “Speak to him nicely; he may take heed, or become reverent.” [20:44]
Their message was simple: “We are two messengers from your Lord. Let the Children of Israel go.” [20:47]
Pharaoh asked who this Lord was. Moses answered: “Our Lord is the One who granted everything its existence, and its guidance.” [20:50]
Pharaoh had made himself a god. He told his people: “I am your Lord; most high.” [79:24]
He called his best magicians to defeat Moses. But when Moses threw his staff, it swallowed what they had made [7:117]. The magicians fell down in prostration: “We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses.” [20:70] Pharaoh threatened to cut them apart. They did not move: “We have believed in our Lord, that He may forgive us our sins” [20:73].
Even among Pharaoh's own people, one man believed. He asked: “How can you kill a man just for saying, ‘My Lord is GOD,’” [40:28].
God sent plague after plague: “the flood, the locusts, the lice, the frogs, and the blood” [7:133]. Each time, Pharaoh's people promised to believe and let the Children of Israel go. Each time, they broke their word [7:134] [7:135].
The Sea
At last Moses led the Children of Israel out. Pharaoh's army came after them. With the sea ahead and the army behind, his people cried: “We will be caught.” [26:61]
Moses answered: “No way. My Lord is with me; He will guide me.” [26:62]
God said: “Strike the sea with your staff,” and the sea parted [26:63]. Moses and his people crossed. Pharaoh's army drowned [26:66].
As the water closed over him, Pharaoh finally said: “I believe that there is no god except the One in whom the Children of Israel have believed; I am a submitter.” [10:90] It was too late [10:91]. God said He would preserve his body “as a lesson for future generations” [10:92].
The Mountain and the Tablets
God called Moses to the mountain for forty nights [7:142]. There Moses asked to see God: “My Lord, let me look and see You.” [7:143]
God answered: “You cannot see Me. Look at that mountain; if it stays in its place, then you can see Me.” [7:143] God showed Himself to the mountain, and it crumbled. Moses fell unconscious. When he woke, he said: “Be You glorified. I repent to You, and I am the most convinced believer.” [7:143]
Then God gave him the tablets: “You shall uphold these teachings strongly, and exhort your people to uphold them—these are the best teachings.” [7:145]
And at the centre of that scripture was the same command: “You shall not set up any idol as a Lord and Master beside Me.” [17:2]
The Calf
While Moses was on the mountain, his people made a calf out of their jewelry. It even made the sound of a calf. And they worshiped it [7:148].
Aaron tried to stop them: “O my people, this is a test for you. Your only Lord is the Most Gracious, so follow me, and obey my commands.” [20:90] They would not listen: “We will continue to worship it, until Moses comes back.” [20:91]
Moses came back “angry and disappointed” [7:150]. He asked them: “Could you not wait for the commandments of your Lord?” [7:150]
He destroyed the calf [20:97]. And he told them the truth again, the truth of every messenger: “Your only god is GOD; the One beside whom there is no other god.” [20:98]
This was not the only time. Just after the sea, they had seen people bowing to statues, and asked: “O Moses, make a god for us, like the gods they have.” [7:138] Moses answered: “Shall I seek for you other than GOD to be your god” [7:140].
A Patient Messenger
Moses was patient with a difficult people for a lifetime.
They asked to see God with their own eyes [2:55]. When God told them to enter the holy land, they refused: “go—you and your Lord —and fight. We are sitting right here.” [5:24] So they wandered for forty years [5:26].
Moses felt it deeply. He asked them: “O my people, why do you hurt me, even though you know that I am GOD's messenger to you?” [61:5]
Yet not all of them turned away. God says: “Among the followers of Moses there are those who guide in accordance with the truth, and the truth renders them righteous.” [7:159]
Moses and the Teacher
Even Moses had more to learn. He found one of God's servants, who had been given knowledge from God [18:65].
Moses asked him humbly: “Can I follow you, that you may teach me some of the knowledge and the guidance bestowed upon you?” [18:66] The teacher did things that made no sense to Moses. At the end he explained each one [18:82].
His last words were: “I did none of that of my own volition.” [18:82]
The lesson is for every one of us. Behind what we cannot understand, God is at work. And a messenger of God was not too proud to say: teach me.
His Story, and Where to Read It
The Quran tells the story of Moses in many suras. Here are the main parts.
| What happened | Where to read it |
|---|---|
| His mother puts him in the river, and God brings him back | [28:7] to [28:13] |
| His mistake, his flight, and his years in Midyan | [28:15] to [28:28] |
| The fire on the mountain, and his mission | [20:9] to [20:36] |
| Before Pharaoh, and the magicians who believe | [20:43] to [20:73] |
| The plagues | [7:133] to [7:136] |
| The sea, and the end of Pharaoh | [26:52] to [26:68] and [10:88] to [10:92] |
| The mountain, the tablets and the calf | [7:142] to [7:156] |
| The calf, in his own words | [20:83] to [20:98] |
| The holy land, and forty years | [5:20] to [5:26] |
| Moses and the teacher | [18:60] to [18:82] |
Moses, Jesus and Muhammad
Moses is not a story that ends with Moses. The messengers after him confirmed the scripture that came before them.
Jesus told the Children of Israel: “I am GOD's messenger to you, confirming the Torah and bringing good news of a messenger to come after me” [61:6].
And God says of the Quran: “Before this, the book of Moses provided guidance and mercy. This too is a scripture that confirms, in Arabic” [46:12].
In the Quran, God speaks to the Children of Israel: “You shall believe in what I have revealed herein, confirming what you have” [2:41].
And God promises a double reward to those who held the earlier scripture and then recognized the Quran. They will say: “We believe in it. This is the truth from our Lord. Even before we heard of it, we were submitters.” [28:53] “To these we grant twice the reward, because they steadfastly persevere.” [28:54]
One Message: God Alone
The message Moses received at the fire is the message he carried to the end: “I am GOD; there is no other god beside Me. You shall worship Me alone” [20:14].
He said it to Pharaoh. He said it again when he destroyed the calf: “Your only god is GOD” [20:98].
Moses was honoured by God: “He was, in the sight of GOD, honorable.” [33:69] But he never asked to be worshiped. When he woke after the mountain crumbled, he said: “Be You glorified. I repent to You” [7:143].
So we honour Moses by doing what he did. We worship God alone. We keep up the Contact Prayers. And we trust God when the sea is in front of us.
Moses in Four Verses
Four verses to keep close.
When Moses came at our appointed time, and his Lord spoke with him, he said, “My Lord, let me look and see You.” He said, “You cannot see Me. Look at that mountain; if it stays in its place, then you can see Me.” Then, his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, and this caused it to crumble. Moses fell unconscious. When he came to, he said, “Be You glorified. I repent to You, and I am the most convinced believer.”[7:143]
He watered for them, then turned to the shade, saying, “My Lord, whatever provision You send to me, I am in dire need for it.”[28:24]
He said, “No way. My Lord is with me; He will guide me.”[26:62]
Similarly, we gave Moses the scripture, and rendered it a beacon for the Children of Israel that: “You shall not set up any idol as a Lord and Master beside Me.”[17:2]
Could You Not Wait?
The calf was made by people who got tired of waiting. Moses was gone forty nights, and they wanted something they could see.
Moses asked them: “Could you not wait for the commandments of your Lord?” [7:150] When God seems slow to us, what do we reach for instead?
Growth Prompt
Moses prayed in fear, in exile and in need. Write down one thing you are afraid of right now. Then write Moses' words beside it: “My Lord is with me; He will guide me.” [26:62] Read them both each morning this week.
When I have nothing, do I turn to God the way Moses did in the shade at Midyan?
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