The Baby in the River: Musa's Miraculous Beginning
Allah's protection of the chosen; a mother's faith
Tonight's story begins with a baby, a river, and a mother's impossible choice. It is the story of how the mightiest king on earth tried to stop a child from being born, and how Allah used the very palace of that king to raise the boy who would one day bring him down.
In the land of Egypt, a tyrant sat on the throne. His name was Fir'awn, the Pharaoh, and he ruled with an iron hand. He had made an entire people, Bani Isra'il, the Children of Israel, his slaves. They built his palaces, paved his roads, and carried his stones until their backs bent and their hands bled. They had no say, no rights, and no hope, or so the Pharaoh believed.
One night, the Pharaoh had a dream that terrified him. He saw a fire rising from among the dwellings of Bani Isra'il, a fire that consumed his palace and everything he had built. His sorcerers and advisors interpreted the dream: "A boy will be born among the Children of Israel who will overthrow your kingdom."
The Pharaoh's solution was monstrous. He ordered his soldiers to kill every newborn boy of Bani Isra'il. Imagine that: soldiers going door to door, searching homes, and any baby boy they found would be taken. The screams of mothers echoed through the streets. It was a time of unspeakable cruelty.
But Allah had a plan. And when Allah plans something, no pharaoh, no army, and no amount of cruelty can stand in the way.
In a humble home, far from the palace, a woman from Bani Isra'il gave birth to a baby boy. The moment she saw his face, she felt something she could not explain: a warmth, a certainty, a light. This child was special. But the soldiers were coming. She could hear their footsteps in the streets, the banging on doors, the crying of other mothers.
Then Allah inspired her heart. Not with the voice of an angel, not with a dream, but with a direct revelation, wahiy, placed into her chest: "Suckle him. But when you fear for him, cast him into the river and do not fear and do not grieve. Indeed, We will return him to you and will make him one of the messengers."
Think about what Allah was asking. Put your baby, your newborn, into a river. Let the current carry him away. Trust that the same water that could swallow him would instead save him. This was not an easy instruction. But the mother of Musa (AS) had a faith that was stronger than her fear.
She nursed her baby, kissed his forehead, and placed him in a small basket that she had woven with her own hands. She sealed it carefully so no water could enter. Then, with tears streaming down her face but trust filling her heart, she placed the basket in the waters of the Nile.
The river carried the basket gently, as if it knew what precious cargo it held. The current did not pull the baby under. The waves did not tip the basket over. The Nile, the great river of Egypt, became a cradle rocking a sleeping child toward the very place no one would have expected: the palace of the Pharaoh himself.
Now, the Pharaoh had a wife named Asiya. She was nothing like her husband. While he was cruel, she was kind. While he oppressed the weak, she quietly helped them. She was a believer in her heart, living in the most dangerous place a believer could live, right beside the worst tyrant of her age.
That morning, Asiya was by the river when she saw the little basket floating toward the palace garden. She reached in and pulled it out. When she opened it and saw the baby inside, her heart melted. The baby Musa looked up at her with bright, calm eyes, and something happened that the Quran describes beautifully: "I cast upon you love from Me," Allah says to Musa in Surah Taha, "so that you would be brought up under My eye."
Allah placed love for this baby in the hearts of everyone who saw him. Even Pharaoh, the man who had ordered the killing of every baby boy, looked at this child and could not bring himself to harm him.
Asiya said: "He will be a comfort of the eye for me and for you. Do not kill him. Perhaps he may benefit us, or we may adopt him as a son." And the Pharaoh agreed.
Think about the irony. The boy that the Pharaoh was trying to prevent from being born was now being raised in the Pharaoh's own home, eating from his table, sleeping under his roof, protected by his guards. Allah had turned the tyrant's own palace into a nursery for the one who would challenge him.
But Allah's plan had one more beautiful detail. Baby Musa refused to nurse from any woman in the palace. They brought wet nurse after wet nurse, and the baby turned his head away from all of them. He cried and cried, hungry but refusing everyone.
Musa's older sister had been following the basket along the riverbank all morning, watching from a distance, her heart pounding. When she heard that the baby in the palace was refusing all the nurses, she approached carefully and said: "Shall I direct you to a household that will nurse him for you and look after him?"
They agreed, desperate. And so she brought the one person baby Musa would accept: his own mother.
Allah had promised: "We will return him to you." And He did. The mother who had placed her baby in the river now held him in her arms again, this time being paid by the Pharaoh himself to nurse her own child. Her tears of sorrow had become tears of joy. Her faith had been rewarded in a way she never could have imagined.
The Quran says: "So We returned him to his mother that she might be content and not grieve, and that she might know that the promise of Allah is true."
Every promise Allah makes is true. Not approximately true. Not sometimes true. Always, completely, without exception, true.
In the Shia tradition, the story of baby Musa carries a deep lesson about how Allah protects those He has chosen for a purpose. Just as no pharaoh could stop Musa from fulfilling his mission, no tyrant in history has been able to extinguish the light of guidance that Allah sends into the world. Imam Ali (AS) once said: "Allah never leaves His earth without a proof, whether apparent or hidden."
The birth of Musa also reminds us of another miraculous protection: the birth of Imam al-Mahdi (may Allah hasten his reappearance), the twelfth Imam in Shia belief. Like Musa, he was born in a time when the ruling powers sought to prevent his existence. Like Musa, he was hidden and protected by Allah's plan. And like Musa, his mission, to establish justice on earth, cannot be stopped by any human power.
Tonight, remember the mother of Musa. She was not a prophet. She was not a warrior. She was a woman who trusted Allah when every part of her wanted to hold her baby tighter and never let go. Her faith was her strength, and Allah honored that faith with a miracle.
And remember: sometimes Allah asks us to let go of what we love most, not because He wants to take it from us, but because He wants to return it to us in a way that is far better than anything we could have planned ourselves.
Key Verse
Wa awhayna ila ummi Musa an ardhihi, fa idha khifti alayhi fa alqihi fil yammi wa la takhafi wa la tahzani, inna raddoohu ilayki wa ja'iloohu minal mursaleen "And We inspired the mother of Musa: Suckle him, but when you fear for him, cast him into the river and do not fear and do not grieve. Indeed, We will return him to you and will make him one of the messengers." Al-Qasas (28:7)
Reflection Questions
- Musa's mother had to let go of her baby to save him. Have you ever had to trust that something difficult was happening for a good reason? What helped you be patient?
- Asiya, the wife of the Pharaoh, was a good person living in a bad place. What can we learn from her about being kind and faithful even when the people around us are not?
- The Pharaoh tried everything to prevent Musa from being born, but Allah's plan could not be stopped. What does this teach us about trusting in Allah's power?