The Purpose Behind Musa (AS)'s Story - 232

Est. Read time: 6 min
Edition Number: 232
Adapted from: From Palace to Prophecy: Musa (AS)
Instructor: Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Assalamu Alaykum,

Today’s gem is from Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed’s course, From Palace to Prophecy: Musa (AS). In this gem, Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed highlights the essential qualities of leadership through the stories of the prophets.

Hope you enjoy!

We begin in the Name of Allah ﷻ, the Most Merciful and Compassionate,
We ask that He ﷻ sends Peace and Blessings upon our noble and beloved
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

In the Qur'an, Allah ﷻ has mentioned about 35 Prophets by name, highlighting their stories through different ayat and various surahs. However, the one story and the one Prophet who is mentioned more than anyone else, and the one Prophet who has been spoken about in the most surahs, is none other than Musa.

We are here because we wish to actually be able to extract from this story and from this surah that which was the intention of Allah ﷻ for the Prophet ﷺ himself. What was the intended objective that Allah ﷻ had for this surah and for this story to be revealed to the Prophet ﷺ? Why is it so that he is mentioned more than a hundred and 36 times in the Qur'an where his story is mentioned in more than 30 surahs? Why is it so important?

The first reason, Allah ﷻ makes it very clear, which is perhaps the most important reason in this specific story. That in today's time, everyone hears about and everyone wants to learn about the idea of how to be a leader.

Step number one, and the most important quality that is highlighted by Allah ﷻ in the Qur'an and this is the first reason why the stories of the prophets are actually mentioned in the Qur'an. Step number one is that in order for a person to even think about being a leader in this world, in order for a person to even share that thought in their mind, they must first learn how to become a follower. If we don't know how to be followers, we should never be trusted in leadership. If we don't know how to be a follower of someone, how to be able to follow, then we should not be entrusted to be leaders.

The reason why we have spineless, soulless individuals in leadership positions is because they were never taught, and they never learnt the importance of why they should be a follower. Even the greatest human being that Allah ﷻ has given to us, which is our Habib ﷺ, he is told the reason why you have the stories of these prophets is Allah ﷻ says, these are people who We gave guidance to. We gave them guidance. We gave them the right path. And you are to follow them. You are to learn from them. You are to walk in their footsteps. You are to take them as a role model for yourself.

And who is being told this? The greatest and the most perfect human being is being informed that if you wish to be a leader, then learn how to be a follower. If you wish to be in a position where you are supposed to correct someone, learn how to be corrected. If you wish to be a person that wants to advise people, learn how to take advice from people. If you want to criticize individuals, communities, and institutions, learn how to take criticism.

In today's time, every leader wants to reach that position just so they can advise, just so they can correct. Everyone wants to be a teacher, but no one really wants to be a student. Everyone wants to lead, but no one wants to actually be a person that knows how to follow and how to just accept a mistake when they're wrong, how to learn that this is what you should be doing, this is what you shouldn't be doing. It's difficult because we aspire simply to be leaders.

The Prophet ﷺ is told and taught that the reason why you have the stories of Musa and Isa and Nuh is number one, because in order for you to be the leader of this ummah, you must learn how to be a follower and learn how to follow these prophets that came before so that you can lead. A person that has been corrected knows how to correct because they've been through it. They know how it feels when someone tells them off in a disrespectful manner. They know how it feels when they're embarrassed. So when they correct someone, they make sure not to do the same thing. When someone hasn't been corrected before, they don't know how to correct others.

May Allah ﷻ grant us tawfiq to learn the virtues of following before aspiring to lead.

أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم، فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرحيم

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