In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
Allah Almighty says,
ٱذْهَبْ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ إِنَّهُۥ طَغَىٰ ﴿٢٤﴾ قَالَ رَبِّ ٱشْرَحْ لِى صَدْرِى ﴿٢٥﴾ وَيَسِّرْ لِىٓ أَمْرِى ﴿٢٦﴾ وَٱحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِّن لِّسَانِى ﴿٢٧﴾ يَفْقَهُوا۟ قَوْلِى ﴿٢٨﴾ وَٱجْعَل لِّى وَزِيرًا مِّنْ أَهْلِى ﴿٢٩﴾ هَـٰرُونَ أَخِى ﴿٣٠﴾ ٱشْدُدْ بِهِۦٓ أَزْرِى ﴿٣١﴾ وَأَشْرِكْهُ فِىٓ أَمْرِى ﴿٣٢﴾ كَىْ نُسَبِّحَكَ كَثِيرًا ﴿٣٣﴾ وَنَذْكُرَكَ كَثِيرًا ﴿٣٤﴾ إِنَّكَ كُنتَ بِنَا بَصِيرًا ﴿٣٥[Qur'an Ta-Ha 20:24-35]
Go to Pharaoh. Indeed, he has transgressed." (24) [Musa] said, "My Lord, expand for me my breast [with assurance] (25) And ease for me my task (26) And untie the knot from my tongue (27) That they may understand my speech. (28) And appoint for me a minister from my family - (29) Aaron, my brother. (30) Increase through him my strength (31) And let him share my task (32) That we may exalt You much (33) And remember You much. (34) Indeed, You are of us ever Seeing." (35)
When Allah ordered Prophet Musa alayhissalaam to go to Fir'aun and invite him to worship Allah, he did not try to get out of it or give excuses as to why he shouldn't perform or rely on his own self and on his own ability. Instead, he asked Allah to grant him five favors.
1. Give calmness in his heart -- to expand the ability of his heart to enable him to receive all the knowledge and wisdom of prophethood, and at the same time to bear with the slander of those people who will oppose him in his mission.
2. Make the task easy for him -- having been granted prophethood he realized that it is not the human ability and skill or other apparent causes which make affairs easy or difficult. In reality, things become easy or difficult as Allah wills.
In a hadith the believers have been advised to seek Allah's help in their affairs:
"0 Allah! Be kind to us and make our difficult tasks easy because it is easy for You to make every difficult thing easy."
3. Untie the knot in his tongue so that people may understand his speech
calm his heart and make his mission easy.
4. Make for him assistance from his own family (Harun) -- this relates to the assembling of means which would facilitate the successful completion of his mission, and the most important among these was the appointment of a deputy or a helper, who would assist him in this task.
He specified the person from his own family because the behavior and conduct of a member of the family is well-known. Besides, there is mutual affection and understanding between the members of the family which greatly helps towards the accomplishment of the mission. But it is essential that the person selected should be competent and in possession of the merit necessary for the performance of his duties so that his selection may not be attributed to nepotism and favoritism.
Nowadays when there is a scarcity of people of integrity and dedication, the ruler who appoints his own close relatives to be his deputies renders himself liable to public criticism. When, however, the standards of probity and integrity are high, such appointments are considered normal and are, in fact, conducive to the more efficient performance of sensitive assignments.
Although Musa had the power to appoint his brother Harun as his deputy on his own, but he petitioned to Allah to confer the appointment on his brother in order to seek His grace.
5. Increase his strength through his deputy and let him share his task
Allah granted all his requests.
In this there are great lessons for us.
Allah has chosen Prophet Musa to do da'wah to the worst tyrant. Musa was the kind of person who cannot stand to see injustice. He could easily get angry and take matters into his own hands. Someone like Fir'aun could easily make Musa nervous and/or angry. When you do da'wah, you cannot be nervous and/or angry. You need to be calm in your heart. Musa asked this of Allah before he embarked on his huge mission.
What gives us calmness in the heart is lots of dhikr. Through dhikr, we will remember that Allah is present, watching, seeing, hearing and in complete view of our circumstance. We cannot lose sight of that or our emotions will have control of us. Good companions and a conducive environment definitely contribute towards the better performance of worship and dhikr (remembrance of Allah.) A person whose friends are negligent about Allah cannot devote himself to His worship with the same quality and quantity as the person who is fortunate to have the company of pious men and righteous friends devoted to Allah's worship and dhikr.
When you see someone who is disobeying Allah, especially your loved ones or close friend, you can easily get angry, upset and even depressed because you might feel that you have failed or you have not done enough. Remember, people next to you is not Fir'aun. You shouldn't be stressed or nervous about doing da'wah to them. They may say obnoxious thing or reject you completely but they cannot be as bad as Fir'aun. You shouldn't be angry or depressed. Make the du'a of Prophet Musa and remind yourself that your job is to put in your best effort and Allah will help you and give barakah (blessing) to your effort.
If you didn't accomplish what you set out to do, maybe that you didn't put enough effort, so Allah didn't give the barakah (blessing); or maybe you put the effort, and Allah didn't give barakah and maybe that is better for you. We have to trust Allah with the outcome of our efforts. Go in your mission with positive attitude and Allah will make it easy for you. Don't start something with a negative or defeated attitude.
When Allah chose Musa to confront Fir'aun, there was no better candidate than him to do the job. Even so, Musa still asked Allah to expand his breast with assurance and ease the task for him. He realized that it is not the human ability and skill or other apparent causes which make affairs easy or difficult.
We have to realize that our qualification, as good as they are, is never enough. Allah has to make the task easy for us.
There is no Muslim who should accept himself doing mediocre work or less than perfect job. In whatever a Muslim does, it should be the best. There is no reason why it shouldn't be the best. Allah created us in the best form. He gave us the intellect, good work ethics and ability to get work done. We should use these gifts to accomplish our task towards perfection. If you are a student, you should work to your potential to be the best; if you are a doctor, you should be the best doctor; if you are a taxi driver, you should be the best taxi driver. This should be an attitude of a Muslim going in any task or job. And always remind ourselves that our accomplishments are not because of our own doing and effort but they are because Allah give us that ability to accomplish those tasks. This would keep us away from arrogance.
May Allah enable us and our families to take advantage of the wisdom of these verses and to live for our Deen and to make the best of this world for our Deen. Ameen.
Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakum Allahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
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