seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Quran 18:54. We have elaborated in this Quran for the people every kind of example, but the human being is a most argumentative being.
55. What prevented people from accepting faith, when guidance has come to them, and from seeking their Lord’s forgiveness? Unless they are waiting for the precedent of the ancients to befall them, or to have the punishment come upon them face to face.
56. We send the messengers only as deliverers of good news and warners. Those who disbelieve argue with false argument, in order to defeat the truth thereby. They take My Verses, and the warnings, for a joke.
57. Who does greater wrong than he, who, when reminded of his Lord’s revelations, turns away from them, and forgets what his hands have put forward? We have placed coverings over their hearts, lest they understand it, and heaviness in their ears. And if you call them to guidance, they will not be guided, ever.
58. Your Lord is the Forgiver, Possessor of Mercy. Were He to call them to account for what they have earned, He would have hastened the punishment for them. But they have an appointment from which they will find no escape.
59. And these towns—We destroyed them when they committed injustices, and We set for their destruction an appointed time.
60. Recall when Moses said to his servant, “I will not give up until I reach the junction of the two rivers, even if it takes me years.”
61. Then, when they reached the junction between them, they forgot about their fish. It found its way into the river, slipping away.
62. When they went further, he said to his servant, “Bring us our lunch; we were exposed in our travel to much fatigue.”
63. He said, “Do you remember when we rested by the rock? I forgot about the fish. It was only the devil who made me forget it. And so it found its way to the river, amazingly.”
64. He said, “This is what we were seeking.” And so they turned back retracing their steps.
65. Then they came upon a servant of Ours, whom We had blessed with mercy from Us, and had taught him knowledge from Our Own.
This is the commentary for this morning.It is when man becomes so iniquitous as to turn away from the truth and so callous as not to care for the evil that he does that a veil is placed over his heart.
According to Kf, the appointed time referred to is the battle of Badr. But Truth is one and the same for all ages, and we see signs of the doom of the latter-day opposition to Islåm clearly approaching.
The personal pronoun their refers to the opponents of Truth, earlier as well as later.
Some reports give his name as Joshua, the son of N∂n, the man who afterwards appears so prominently in the history of Israel. The incidents narrated in the ninth and the tenth sections may be the actual experience of Moses or this journey may simply be an Ascension of Moses, like the Ascension of the Holy Prophet, referred to in the last chapter. What is stated in the next section makes the latter view more probable.
The words Majma‘ al-Baƒrain have been misunderstood generally. It should be borne in mind that Moses lived in Egypt for forty years, and the junction of the two rivers is no other than the junction of the two great branches of the Nile at Khartoum. That the story of this journey of Moses is not found in the Bible or even in Rabbinical literature is no argument against it. Rabbinical literature relates things about Moses which give us strong reason to believe that such a journey was very probably undertaken by him. South of Egypt was the Kingdom of Ethiopia, whose southern boundary reached Khartoum, or the junction of the two Niles, and various accounts met with both in
Rabbinical and Hellenistic literature (see Jewish Encyclopaedia) agree that Moses went to Ethiopia. According to one of these accounts, he became king of Ethiopia by reason of his great prowess in having defeated an enemy, and married the king’s widow. This is corroborated to some extent by the statement in the Bible that “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married” (Num. 12:1). Hence a journey to Khartoum, which was near the southern boundary of Ethiopia, made in search of knowledge, is most probable. The person to whom Moses went was Kha˙ir . Some commentators, however, do not take the words Majma‘ al-Baƒrain literally, taking the meaning to be the union of the rivers of human and Divine knowledge. I would, however, suggest that if we accept this journey in the light of an Ascension, it would be an indication of the limitation of the Mosaic dispensation. Moses’ going on for years until he reached the Majma‘ al-Baƒrain would mean that the Mosaic dispensation would see its termination after a time, the new dispensation taking its place being one which was to be guided by a prophet who is described here as being the Majma‘ alBaƒrain, i.e., the union of the two seas of human and Divine knowledge, or one in whom the temporal and the spiritual would find their highest manifestation, such being the Holy Prophet Muƒammad.
Ïuqub signifies a long time, or a year or seventy years or eighty years.
The loss of the fish was, according to a report, to serve as a sign that the goal had been attained. There is nothing either in the Holy Qur’ån or in the Ïadßth to show, however, that this was a roasted fish.
The taking refuge on the rock shows that they were staying at a place which was flooded by the river, and Moses’ companion, when hastening for refuge, forgot to take the fish along with him. The wonder is not expressed at the fish having gone down into the river, but because he had forgotten to mention the loss to Moses.
OK... the Quran brought up the fact that Moses spent time in Ethiopia. So.... at first I could remember what that was about.... and then I remembered.... Moses murdered an Egyptian overseer. The overseer was Egyptian.... and he was beating a Hebrew slave. Moses lost his cool and beat the Egyptian to death.... then to make matters worse.... he buried the body to try to hide his crime. When he found out that Pharaoh was hunting him... Moses ran... to Ethiopia. There he helped two women who were being bullied at a well.... and that's when he met his first wife.
There's a lot of talk about the number of wives Moses had.
I guess the days of king Solomon, when a leader could have 300 wives and 700 concubines in order to populate the kingdom were yet to come. People are worried about Moses having more than one wife.... comparing Moses and Solomon.... well the argument about the number of wives seems stupid.
Moses was plagued by his crime. Beating a man to death is a very difficult feat to accomplish... physically.... but getting over it must be even harder. Moses was hiding.
Now... about this fish.... well.... Moses's wife was a Gentile.... and the Gentile blood became mixed with Hebrew blood with the union of Moses and his Ethiopian princess. She talked him into going back to Egypt, facing his consequences.... and that would lead to the release of over 2 million Hebrews, slaves, and venders. If he hadn't run into those two women at the well.... no march to the promised land.
Interesting notion.... the fish.... the Gentile and Hebrew marriage..... and the fish parable.
This is about Moses and the fish.....
