(Lessons 33'40)
Musa (AS) is the most frequently mentioned person in the Quran. He was born in Egypt about 3,500 years ago, and belonged to the tribe of Israel that had migrated to Egypt from Canaan during the time of Yusuf (AS). At the time of Musa’s (AS) birth, the ruler of Egypt, known as the Pharaoh, oppressed the Israelites, enslaving them and even killing their newborn sons. To prevent her son meeting the same fate, Musa’s (AS) mother put him in a chest and cast it in River Nile, from where he was picked up by Pharaoh’s household, and Pharaoh’s wife adopted the child. Musa (AS) thus had a royal upbringing.
In his youth, Musa (AS) mistakenly killed a man, and the fear of punishment and injustice from a tyrant regime caused him to flee Egypt and settle in Madyan, where he married. About a decade later, while journeying alongside his family, Musa (AS) received his first revelation; Allah spoke to him directly, commanding him to preach to Pharaoh, and tell him to free the Israelites from bondage. Allah further granted Musa (AS) several miracles as proof of his prophethood, and later, the Torah was revealed to him.
Musa’s (AS) brother, Harun (AS), was also granted prophethood and made his assistant, but despite preaching to Pharaoh and his people for many years, they both were dismissed as magicians, and vehemently opposed and threatened. Finally, on Allah’s command, the Israelites, led by Musa (AS), fled Egypt to escape bondage; they were pursued by Pharaoh and his soldiers who ended up drowning in the Red Sea. The Israelites, however, were repeatedly ungrateful to Allah, and so were deprived of their native homeland of Canaan for another forty years.