{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/mos03.htm","path":"isl/pro/mos03.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/mos03.htm","text":"Sacred Texts\u00a0\nIslam\u00a0\nIndex\u00a0\nPrevious\u00a0\nNext\u00a0\nMoses Going Out From Egypt to Midian With Fear\nMoses went out in a hurry from Egypt and he did not get ready for travelling\nbut only depending on God to guide him to the right way, and he was with\nno companions or with a caravan in that long and hard travel, because he\nwas one that seeking safety for himself by himself and afraid of an enemy\nthat wants to kill him and has no other target except to have his blood\nand he is the tyrant of this earth and he made all of the people as soldiers\nfor himself and as slaves, and so he (Moses) can not prepare for travelling\nand he had no one to ally with him and no one to take his advice. As attributed\nto Al-Tabari that he said that Moses had nothing to eat except of the leaves\nof the trees and he went out of Egypt with barefoot, and when he reached\nMidian his bottom feet skin fell down because the long walk affected his\nfeet bitterly.\nAs mentioned by Ibn-`Abb\u00e2s: he (Moses) reached the waters of\nMidian, and the green color of the vegetables would appear obviously from\nbehind his abdomen for his thin-looking body, and when he reached the water\nof Midian he saw groups of people seeking water for their cattles and saw\ntwo women keeping their sheeps away from the water waiting the powerful\nshepherds to finish watering their sheeps and when they finish they then\ncome to seek the water that is left for they had no man or the power to\ncompete with others, and they were weak so they have to be late until no\none is there, and the people that got the power would seek first the waters\nof the wells because it is cleaner and purer, and the water that lasts\nat the end would be mixed with mud from the bottom of the well, as one\npoet said:\nWe drink in our attendance clean water\nAnd other than us would drink sadness with mud\nSome historians said: Moses (PUH) was a serious man and a truthful one\ntoo, and when he saw such a thing he did not like to see women staying\nat the end until men finish, so he asked the two women about their need\nand why they keep their sheeps away, so they said to him: we do not approach\nwater until all of these men leave, for if we tried to reach water and\ncompete with them they would keep us away by their power and we have no\none to protect us, and we wait here because our father is an old man and\ncan not take care of everything. So then Moses protected them and banished\nall of the shepherds and reached the well and watered their sheeps and\nno one could keep him away because they respected the powerful always and\nthey saw his strength and dealt with him in respect in return.\nAnd some interpreters said: Moses found a large rock and water cannot\nbe reached except by removing it by many powerful people, so he took it\noff from the well and watered for the two women, but the holy phrases in\nquran say it apprently that there were lot of people over the well so there\nwere no need to remove the cover of the well if it had any, for the presence\nof the people already watering their sheeps is not done unless the well\nwas already uncovered. Then the daughters of Jethro went back to their\nfather with their sheeps and when he saw them he was amazed for their early\ncoming, but when he knew their story with Moses he accepted that and sent\none of them to call Moses, and she went to him in a place near by the well\nand said to him with embarrassment: my father is calling for you to reward\nyou for your deed with us, and then, because Moses was so tired and hungry\nwhich made him so weak, said: My Lord! I am needy of whatever good Thou\nsendest down for me.\nIt is mentioned that he did not ask for anything more than bread to\neat it with the vegetables of the ground. He saw that the relief is close\nand God answered his prays and the relief is coming from the side of that\nwoman and her father. Some interpreters like Ibn-`Abb\u00e2s and others\nsaid that he requested food, and some said that he made one of the two\nwomen hear him saying: My Lord! I am needy of whatever good Thou sendest\ndown for me, as to show them that he needs some help for he had no money\nnor something to eat, so his pray was like a pray that was answered immediately,\nor it might be just that the beautiful deed bears the fruit so fast and\nGod increases the rewards for His faithful worshippers. Just by calling\nhim to her father he went with her in a hurry and saying to her: be behind\nme, for I am someone from a family that did not use to look at the backs\nof woman, so guide me while I am behind you.\nSome interpreters said: he said that to her and made her behind him\nbecause in the first time he walked behind her and the wind then stroke\nher dress and showed some of her skin and so he asked her to be behind\nhim and asked her for guidance while he is in the front, and othes said:\nMoses was a man that lived in luxury in the house of the pharaoh, and then\nhe had troubles which made him so hungry that he would accept any wage\nfor deeds of bravery, and hunger can make lions accept the dead corpses,\nand then he said: I think if he was in a luxury, he would not accept to\ntake wages for his deeds, then he went to that old man and he welcomed\nhim with hospitality and signs of happiness, then he asked him about what\nhappened to him and what is his story after banishing hunger away from\nhim and calming him down, and then Moses told him his story and told him\neverything about himself and about the deeds of the pharaoh with the Israelites\nas for killing the children and captivating the women and making the Israelites\nas slaves, and he told him how he escaped from them in amazement and by\nthe hardest ways, and he told him also about all the hard times that his\nmother faced to give birth to him up to his story with the coptic man that\nhe killed without meaning so, and how then they asked for him to take revenge\nand then he escaped from them to the waters of Midian, all of these were\nstories in a sequence and destined in the knowledgement of He who knows\nthe destiny for a purpose He knows the better, so when he (Jethro) heard\nall of that he calmed him down and said: Fear not! Thou hast escaped from\nthe wrongdoing folk, and so God said in the chapter of Al-Qasas: And when\nhe turned his face toward Midian, he said: Peradventure my Lord will guide\nme in the right road. And when he came unto the water of Midian he found\nthere a whole tribe of men, watering. And he found apart from them two\nwomen keeping back (their flocks). He said: What aileth you? The two said:\nWe cannot give (our flocks) to drink till the shepherds return from the\nwater; and our father is a very old man. So he watered (their flock) for\nthem. Then he turned aside into the shade, and said: My Lord! I am needy\nof whatever good Thou sendest down for me. Then there came unto him one\nof the two women, walking shyly. She said: Lo! my father biddeth thee,\nthat he may reward thee with a payment for that thou didst water (the flock)\nfor us. Then, when he came unto him and told him the (whole) story, he\nsaid: Fear not! Thou hast escaped from the wrongdoing folk(Al-Qasas:22-25).\nThey say that he passed over that distance from Egypt to Midian in\nthree days and when he reached Midian he saw a well that used to water\nthe sheeps, so he sat down on the side and he did not eat anything for\nthree days, so then he looked at two maids keeping away with their sheeps\nso he said to them: why don't you water your sheeps? They answered: we\nwait for others to finish and our father is an old man, so mercy took over\nMoses and got closer to the well and said to the one over the well: give\nme one bucket of water and then one for you as well, and one bucket was\ncarried only by ten people at least, so he had one bucket only by himself\nfor the daughters of Jethro and watered their sheeps, and then went to\nthe shade and said: My Lord! I am needy of whatever good Thou sendest down\nfor me.\nIt is mentioned that the Imam (`Ali ben Abi-T\u00e2lib PUH) swore\nby God that he (Moses) did not ask for anything more than a bread to eat\nwith the vegetables and they saw the green color of the vegetables inside\nhis abdomen because of his thin-looking body. Some said that the distance\nthat he passed over took him eight nights and he had nothing for food but\nonly the leaves of the trees, as mentioned before. When the daughters of\nJethro came back he said to them: you are early this time! Then they told\nhim the story of Moses and they did not know him yet, so then Jethro said\nto one of them: go to him and call him to pay him for what he did for us,\nand then she went to him approaching shyly and said to him then: my father\nis calling for you to pay you what you did for us, so he went with her\nand then the wind stroke her dress and some of her skin appeared, so then\nMoses said to her: be behind me and guide me to the path for I am from\na family that did not use to look at the backs of women, so when he went\nto Jethro he told him his story and Jethro said to him then: Fear not!\nThou hast escaped from the wrongdoing folk..etc, it is mentioned that when\nthe daughter of Jethro came to Moses and said to him: my father calls for\nyou to pay for you what you did for us, Moses then hated to follow her,\nbut he did not find any other way around for he was in a land that he does\nnot know, and when he got into the house of Jethro he found the dinner\nwas ready, so then Jethro said: sit O young man and have dinner, so then\nMoses said: God forbid! Jethro said then: and why is that, aren't you hungry?\nHe said: yes, but I am afraid that this is as for the service I did to\nyou and I am from a household that do not sell the reward of the after-life\nwith all the gold on earth, then Jethro said: no and I swear by God, but\nit is my habit and my fathers' as well to do hospitality for the guests\nand every passer by.\nNext: The Marriage of Jethro's Daughter and Moses","title":"The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Moses: Moses Going Out From Egypt to Midian With Fear","type":"page"}