Prophet Musa (a)

Israel’s family decided to stay in Egypt. For a long time they were happy. The family grew. There were many people related to Israel and they became known as the Bani Israel. For some reason the Egyptian people did not like the Bani Israel. A new Firawn became ruler of Egypt. Israel’s people became slaves to the government. They were forced to do many unpleasant jobs and were treated very badly. One night Firawn had a dream. His high priest, Haman, told him what he thought the dream meant. An Israel boy would be born and he would grow up and cause the death of Firawn. This made Firawn very angry and so he thought of a horrible plan. All the boys born to the Israelites would be killed at birth. He thought this would stop the dream from coming true. Imran and his wife had two children, a girl called Maryam and a boy called Iram. Soon after Firawn told of his plan, Imran’s wife found out that she was going to have another baby. They were pleased but they were also worried that if the baby was a boy, he would be killed. She did not tell anyone that she was going to have a baby. He stayed at home and kept her secret until the baby was born. It was a boy. She loved the baby very much but realized that if she kept him, he might be killed. She put the baby in a special box and Maryam went with her to the river Nile. They carefully put the box in the river and prayed that it would sail to safety. Allah was watching over the baby. No harm would come to him. The box sailed into Firawn’s gardens. Some maids were there and saw the box caught in the bull rushes. They pulled it out and were amazed to find a beautiful baby inside. They took him to Firawn’s wife, Asia, who looked at him and knew at once that he was an Israeli. Firawn wanted to kill the baby but Asia cried and cried and was so upset that eventually he said she could keep him and even adopt him. The baby was called Musa. He was not happy. He cried because he was hungry but would not take milk from anyone. Maryam heard of this and she let it be known that she knew someone who might be able to help. She went to her mother and told her what had happened. They went to the palace and when Musa was put in her arms he stopped crying and took milk from her. With Allah’s help Musa and his mother were reunited. She was able to look after Musa for a long time and he loved her dearly.