{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/mos22.htm","path":"isl/pro/mos22.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/mos22.htm","text":"Sacred Texts\u00a0\nIslam\u00a0\nIndex\u00a0\nPrevious\u00a0\nNext\u00a0\nQ\u00e2run (Korah) and What He Was Given and His\nEnd\nKorah did have pride with himself over the Israelites for his wealth, and\nhe used to go out with his full ornaments to the public to show his pride\nto the people and most people feared him for they needed him. As attributed\nto Muj\u00e2hid and he reported from someone telling the story that he\nsaid that Korah one day went out one day with all his servants and his\nmen on white horses with purple paddles and they counted as much as seventy\nthousand men, and they said: he used to go out with four thousand knights\nand with him three thousand white bondmaids that wore jewels and reddish\ngarments..etc, and it is mentioned in the gospel: the keys for Korah's\nstores are to be carried with sixty mules and every key is in the size\nof a finger and every key opens up to a treasure.\nIn general what some people said about Korah is that he was a man of\nthe Israelites that God gave him wealth so much that even his keys were\ncarried hardly by powerful men, so he was a famous man among his people\nand everyone wished to be like him and they saw it was such a great thing,\nand the wisemen of Korah's people used to advise him and warn him against\nthe end of such pride and pointed out that he should leave the denial of\nGod's favours and must thank God for His favours upon him and must not\ncorrupt in the land and must seek what God prepared for him in the after-life\nand he must show his knowledgement of God's favours by giving to the poor\npeople and must limit his joys to what is allowed for him, and must not\nspend his joys on corrupting in the land for that brings the wrath of God\nand facing God's favours with such corruption is a reason for God to change\nthese favours..etc, but he did not listen to any of that and turned a deaf\near towards it and used to say about what he had of wealth: I was given\nall of that because of my wisdom and he did not look at the previous nations,\nif he was a wiseman without that pride in his soul that orders him with\nthe wrong-doing, he did not see how God destroyed them while they were\nof more power and number than him and all of that was not useful for them,\nand those who followed the ornaments of life were jealous of what Korah\nhad of ornaments and they said: Ah, would that we had the like of what\nhath been given unto Korah! Lo! he is lord of rare good fortune(Al-Qasas:79),\nand the people of mind and wisdom of the believers answered them: Woe unto\nyou! The reward of Allah for him who believeth and doeth right is better,\nand only the steadfast will obtain it(Al-Qasas:80), and his end, for ignoring\nGod's favours and never been thankful to God, was that God destroyed him\nwith all what he had and made him taste bitterly the results of his deeds\nand so the eath swallowed him with his dwelling-place and he could not\nfind someone to help him, and those who wished his place before said: like\nif God gives wealth to anyone He likes, and also God did say: Now Korah\nwas of Moses' folk, but he oppressed them(Al-Qasas:76), and as attributed\nto Ibn-`Abb\u00e2s he said: Korah was made a king over the Israelites\nby the pharaoh in Egypt and he used to wrong them, and they say: he was\na cousin of Moses, for Korah was the son of Yas'hur ben Q\u00e2hi\u00fe\n(Kohath) and Moses is the sonf of Amram ben Kohath, and so Kohath was their\ngrandfather, and it is said also that he was his maternal cousin, and there\nis no big difference between the two and only God knows. They say also:\nwhat is meant by Korah saying that was told by Quran: I have been given\nit only on account of knowledge I possess(Al-Qasas:78), meaning that I\nwas raised in level upon people by my wisdom, and it was the wisdom of\nreligion and regulations and it is said that it was the wisdom of chemistry\n(or alchemy) and the wisdom of trading, and some say that he knew about\nthe treasures of Joseph (PUH), and all are probable, and there is no doubt\nthat he was a smart man and for this he was made a prince over the Israelites\nby the pharaoh.\nIt is mentioned about the reasons for his destruction is that when\nMoses got out of Egypt with the Israelites and lived with them in the desert\nafter the destruction of the pharaoh and his folks, he (Moses) ordered\nthem to fight the giants in the lands of Shem (Canaan) and they did not\nobey him and said to him: So go thou and thy Lord and fight! We will sit\nhere(Al-M\u00e2'idah:24), and God commanded them to enter the land but\nwhen they denied so, He forbid it for them for forty years and they shall\nwander on earth, and Korah was one of them and with them and used to read\nthe Torah and no one had a voice better than his and he was called Al-Manun\n[the word seems to mean in Arabic \"one of good voice\"] for his good way\nin reading and he worked with chemistry (or alchemy), so when it got so\nlong for the Israelites they got into the repentance but Korah denied to\nbe with them, and Moses used to love him so he (Moses) said to him: O Korah,\nyour folks are into the repentance and you are sitting here? Go with them\nor the punishment will reach you, but Korah mocked at his saying and did\nnot answer his calls, and then Moses went out from him with sadness and\nsat in the yard of his (Korah's) castle and he wore a headcover made of\nhair and two shoes of the skin of an ass, so then Korah ordered to throw\nat him some ash mixed with water, and when he did so Moses got so mad,\nand he used to have some hair strings in his shoulder that would come out\nwith blood whenever he is angry, so then Moses then said: O Lord, if You\ndid not get angry for me then what shall I be? Then God inspired to him:\nI ordered the heavens and earth to be with you so command them with whatever\nyou want. Korah ordered to close the castle's gates so Moses came and pointed\nto the gates and they went open and he got inside, so when Korah looked\nat him he knew that he came with the punishment so he said to him: O Moses\nI shall ask you by the rights of the relationship between you and me to\nleave me, then Moses said to him: O son of Levi your talk would not take\nme back, then Moses said: O earth, take him, so he went inside with his\ncaslte into the ground and Korah went into the ground to his knees level,\nso he cried and swore to him by the rights of their relationship, so then\nMoses said: O son of Levi, your talk would not take away what was revealed\nupon you, and then the earth swallowed him with his dwelling-castle and\nhe was destroyed. But this previous tale is suspecious and has somethings\nthat are not applicable for the level of prophecy and its kindness.\nThere is another reason for the destruction of Korah and that is Moses\nappointed Aaron to take care of the altar and the Israelites used to bring\nthe gifts and offerings to Aaron and there were no one above Aaron except\nof Moses, the religious leadership was for Moses and the priesthood was\nfor Aaron, and Korah had nothing of that while he was one of the highest\npeople among the Israelites so he opposed this and said to Moses: you have\nthe prophecy and Aaron had the priesthood and I had nothing although I\nread Torah more than you both and I cannot bear this, so Moses answered\nhim in a long speech that means in general that Aaron was given that not\nby me (Moses) by it is from God, so then Korah said: by God I shall not\nbelieve this except by an obvious clue.\nHere, Moses gathered the chieftains of the Israelites and Aaron with\nthem and then Moses asked God to show the virtues of Aaron and his rights\nto be in his position so that no one would have greed for his position,\nand then lot of miracles occured by him so much that no one ever had to\nthink of having his place instead and no one of doubt would still has his\ndoubts about Aaron, then Korah said: this is not so wonderous as much as\nyou do with magic, and then he went out in madness and stayed away from\nMoses with his followers and they were a lot and Moses started to have\nsome sympathy for him because of their relationships while he (Korah) used\nto hurt him from time to time and everyday his pride would increase and\nhis hate for Moses is increased as well.\nThen Korah built a dwelling-place and made its gates of gold and hanged\non its walls sheets of gold, and the folks of the Israelites used to sit\nwith him and meet him for he was the richest among them and had lot of\nmen as well and they needed him and he was like a king among them for his\nwealth, and then God revealed the regulations of poor-giving (Zakat) for\npeople's money so Moses asked him for it but he denied and Moses made an\nagreement with him to pay for every one thousand coins that he has just\none coin, and for every one thousand sheeps just one sheep and for every\none thousand things one thing, so he thought of it and noticed his riches\nbut his soul did not allow him to accept that.\nThen Korah gathered the Israelites and said to them: Moses commanded\nyou with everything and you followed him and now he is trying to take your\nmoney from you, then they said to him: you are our master so command us\nwith what you like, so he had nothing to do but because of his tyranny\nhe asked for a harlot and made a reward for her composed of one thousand\ncoins, and some said a golden basin and he promised her to be one of his\nwomen and do everything she wants just to charge Moses and tell people\nthat he (Moses) had an intercourse with her and she must say that in front\nof the Israelites.\nThen Korah gathered the Israelites and Moses came and started his sermons\nand said with his sermons: whoever stole his hand shall be cut, and whoever\nsaid lies about others he shall be wipped eighty times, and who commited\nadultery and he has no wife he shall be wipped for one hundred times and\nwhoever did it and he has a wife then he shall be thrown with stones until\ndeath, and then one said: even if it was you? He answered: yes, then Korah\nsaid: the Israelites claim that you had an intercourse with that woman\nand she claimed that and she admitted that in front of all, and then he\nbrought her, and then when Moses looked at her he shouted and made her\nswear heavily and warned her and said to her: what are you saying with\nthat disbeliever? do you claim adultery with me? She could not bear it\nthen and admitted the truth and said: Korah asked for me and rewarded me\nand promised me with gifts just to claim that and God forbid that and you\nare the purest of all, and then Korah bent his head down and knew that\nhe is doomed, and Moses fell down prostrating and crying and saying: O\nLord, Your enemy hurt me\u00a0 and wanted to defame me, O Lord if I was\nYour prophet then has Your wrath upon him and make him in my hands, then\nGod inspired to him: raise your head up and command the earth with whatever\nyou want and it shall obey, so then Moses said: O Israelites, God sent\nme to Korah as He sent me to the pharaoh so whoever was with him let him\nbe away and whoever is with me let him be with me, so then all the people\nleft Korah alone except of two men and then Moses said: O earth take them,\nand it then swallowed them to their knees, then he said again: O earth,\ntake them, and it swallowed them to the waists, and then he called again\nand it swallowed them to their necks.\nIt is mentioned that Korah with his folks asked Moses for mercy when\nthey were under the punishment, and Korah asked him by God and by the relationship\nthat were between both of them, and he asked him as much as seventy times\nbut Moses never looked at him for his extreme anger, and then Moses said:\nO earth take them away, so the earth swallowed them as well as his dwelling\nplace and his riches as a sign of the innocence of Moses against the charges\nof the Israelites if they said that he (Moses) was greedy for Korah's fortunes,\nand all of that is pointed out by the holy phrase in God's saying: O ye\nwho believe! Be not as those who slandered Moses, but Allah proved his\ninnocence of that which they alleged, and he was well esteemed in Allah's\nsight(Al-Ahz\u00e2b:69), and also in God's saying: And (remember) when\nMoses said unto his people: O my people! Why persecute ye me, when ye well\nknow that I am Allah's messenger unto you? So when they went astray Allah\nsent their hearts astray. And Allah guideth not the evil-living folk(Al-Saf:5).\nNext: The Story of The Cow","title":"The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Moses: Q\u00e2run (Korah) and What He Was Given and His End","type":"page"}