Sunday Tafsīr with Shaykh Amin Kholwadia

28:14-21. The upbringing of Musa (AS) is comparable to that of Yusuf (AS), except that Musa (AS) was raised a prince under the very eye of the emperor himself. Consequently, he was privy to the lives of the Egyptian aristocracy and the inner workings of the government machine. He was also well-equipped with the knowledge, skills and sophistication befitting a prince. Three women are included in the reach of the word, "muhsineen", in this verse: the mother and sister of Musa (AS), and the queen who raised him. Their reward lay in Musa (AS) becoming the wise, knowledgeable young man that he came to be, prepared to play the role that he was destined for. Shaykh Amin calls out the relevance of this verse to our lives as parents watching over and raising children in our times. Our motives must also be to raise children who do good. We must not pollute our motives with petty and self-serving intentions that for that would only deprive us, as children have a mind of their own. The following verses cover Musa's (AS) act that resulted in the death of a man, his expression of tawbah to Allah (S), and the events that led to his flight from Egypt. Shaykh Amin reminds us that Musa (AS) follows the sunnah of Aadam (AS) in seeing fault within himself and in the influences of shaytaan. This is the way of the pious. Whereas Yusuf (AS) was sent to prison (a confined space), Musa (AS) was sent into exile. This is a part of Musa's (AS) reflections on tawheed. Prophets will always choose a place that facilitiates their free worship of Allah (S) be it within the walls of a prison or the vast openness of the wilderness.

28:7-13. The session begins with a discussion of the word wahy and it's specific usage for the primoridal instinct of a mother to nurse her child. Wahy may come to certain individuals, but the reception of wahy does not make the recipient a Nabi. The distinction is that a Nabi is required to reveal the wahy received, while a non-Nabi is required to conceal it. The wisdom behind the inspiration that the mother of Musa (AS) received lies in the fact that ordinarily there would be no motivation to suckle a child that is destined to be slain by the police of the Fir'awn. But the mother of Musa (AS) was inspired to nurse him. And the rest of her actions that are borne by the wahy she received defiy all logic and rationale. Wahy is above all logic and rationale. It comes from a realm where the seemingly contradictory come together in perfect harmony. This verse embodies a universal parenting philosophy with the mother of Musa (AS) serving as a role model.

28:1-6. In this session, Shaykh Amin presents an introduction to Surah Al-Qasas. Where the preceding surah, Al-Naml, deals with the affairs of Sulayman (AS), a nabi who was privileged with dominion over man, beast and jinn, Surah Al-Qasas deals with the challenges of Musa (AS). Musa (AS) is the underprivileged Nabi who struggles with leading his tribes, a difficult and irreverent people, out of the clutches of Fir'aun. The Shaykh reiterates the wisdom behind our lack of undertanding of the harf al-muqatta'aat, the broken letters that begin certain chapters, of which Al-Qasas is one. Submission to the will of the Divine lies in the paradaox of the eloquent Arab who is able to comprehend compound words constructed with letters, yet is confounded by the meanings of the letters themselves when they are placed in Divine order. This is a mu'jizah of Allah (S).