Women about whom the Qur'an spoke (3)

From the nurses of Moses to Bilqis (the Queen of Sheba)

There are a group of righteous women whom the Glorious Qur'an spoke about their roles in protecting and caring for one of the most forbearing Messengers; he was Moses (Peace be upon him).

Five chaste women took part in his life and about whom the Glorious Qur'an spoke:

4- The first was his mother: That woman who was afflicted along with her people by the sedition of killing the male children of Israel. The Pharaoh saw a vision that a man from the Children of Israel killing the Pharaoh and destroying his kingdom.

Another version: The people of the Pharaoh heard from the Children of Israel some inherited prophecies that a man of them shall be a ruler and shall establish a state, so the Pharaoh commanded that all male babies should be slaughtered. When the mother of Moses begot him, she feared and expected that he will be butchered, thereupon Allah inspired her to suckle her boy then put it in a box and throw it in the River Nile.

It was a critical situation for a mother who feared slaughtering for her child, should she throw it with her own hand into the river?! Does not she fear for it to be drowned or crocodiles and fishes may eat it?

However, her strong faith in Allah moved her to put her trust in Allah, hence the glad tiding came to her with two matters: Allah (may He be Exalted) shall send it back to her and shall make it one of the Messengers.

The box flowed on water, and waves and currents drove it to the canal which delivers to the palace of the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh found it and the heart of his wife was attached with it, and it seemed that she had no children, therefore it was a condolence for her, moreover Allah cast the love of that boy into the heart of everyone who saw him, therefore she stood to save it of death. "Kill him not, perhaps he may be of benefit to us, or we may adopt him as a son." [Surat Al Qasas: 9].

She rejoiced that Allah (Glory be to Him) saved it of slaughtering, and the palace of the Pharaoh was opened for it to live therein forever. The worry of Moses' mother over her baby was terrible, therefore sometimes she wished to declare in public that she has a child, but Allah reinforced her to be firm and commanded her daughter (Moses' sister) to follow his tracks.

His sister saw that he refused to suckle from any other woman, then she entered and guided the wife of the Pharaoh to a nurse to suckle it and took them to her mother and when Moses saw her, it suckled from her. Since then, she became its nurse for a fee from the wife of the Pharaoh, and the promise of Allah became true at the end of the day. It lived with its mother who bore it, under the care of the Pharaoh's wife who saved it, and with the effort of its sister who worked hard to bring it back to its mother.

At that limit the role of those three women ends because they delivered Moses to security, and the Glorious Qur'an spoke once again about the wife of the Pharaoh and made her a role model for those who believed: "And Allâh has set forth an example for those who believe: the wife of Fir'aun (Pharaoh), when she said: "My Lord! Build for me a home with You in Paradise, and save me from Fir'aun (Pharaoh) and his work, and save me from the people who are Zâlimûn (polytheists, wrong-doers and disbelievers in Allâh)." [Surat At-Tahrim: 11].

That believing woman (the Pharaoh's wife) observed patience on the disbelief, oppression, and the allegation of Al Uluhiyyah (Allah's Exclusive Right to be worshipped) of the Pharaoh. She found in Moses the joy of her eye and expected that it shall be a joy of the eye for the Pharaoh, however the Pharaoh refused and said to her: "He is a joy for your eyes, but it means nothing to me."

That was true because Moses was a joy for the wife of the Pharaoh by believing in him and believed his call when he grew up.

5- There are two other women who played a great role in the life of Moses (Peace be upon him). When Moses got out afraid from Egypt, waiting for his matter about killing an Egyptian man to be exposed, he reached the water of Madyan (Midian) and there he found two women warding off their sheep from water. They were waiting to water their sheep, so Moses helped them to water their sheep before sheepherders come. Then, they departed to their father early and told him that a strong strange man helped them to water their sheep. The father admired the power of the strange man and asked their daughters to fetch the man to reward him for what he did. One of them went to him shyly and asked him to walk with her to her father. The girl wished that her father would hire that powerful guy to foster the animals and ease the girls, then he concluded an agreement with him to marry one of the two girls on one condition which was to serve the father for eight or ten years.

That wife was with him when he left the city back to his homeland and while he was walking, he went to search for fire and there he received revelation and was given the miracles of the stick and the hand. His wife and her sister played a role in one of Moses' stage of life.

6- Of the women about whom the Glorious Qur'an spoke was Bilqis.

When the dominion of Prophet Solomon was settled and reached a great extent: "Such as shall not belong to any other after me," there was a woman about whom the Qur'an spoke lengthy. She was the queen of Sheba. That queen who was given everything and had a great throne in Yemen but she and her people were worshipping the Sun. When Solomon knew these facts, he sent her a message calling her and her people to subjugate to his state: "Be you not exalted against me, but come to me as Muslims (true believers who submit to Allâh with full submission)." [Surat An-Naml: 31].

He called them to Islam to give up the sun-worship: "but come to me as Muslims (true believers who submit to Allâh with full submission)." He did not want to expand his kingdom, but he had another higher objective which was the spread of Allah's Religion.

That woman who was an idolater was a skillful politician who knew how to deal with authority men. So, she sent a valuable gift and monies to Solomon to test him: whether he was a man of authority or a man of doctrine and creed?

However, he refused that bribe and said: "Will you help me in wealth?" [Surat An-Naml: 36]. "Nay, you rejoice in your gift! * [Then Sulaimân (Solomon) said to the chief of her messengers who brought the present]: Go back to them. We verily shall come to them with hosts that they cannot resist, and we shall drive them out from there in disgrace, and they will be abased." [Surat An-Naml: 36 - 37].

That was a terrible threat forced her to go to him and there she saw her own throne which he brought before she came and added to it some modification to test her intelligence, but she neither recognized it nor admitted it but said: "(It is) as though it were the very same." [Surat An-Naml: 42].

Then he wanted to destroy the idolatry thinking in a scientific way; so he made her enter a hall which its floor was made of polished glass underneath water was running. She thought that it was a running water and in order to pass, she had to pull her garment up so as water would not wet her clothes. At that moment, she realized that there are things which the eyes cannot see (like the polished glass), so she saw the water and could not see the glass. If she was worshipping the Sun because she could see it, there is Allah who created the Sun, and visions cannot grasp Him. Because of her brilliance, she understood the idea and declared her mistake, thereupon she said the words of truth and admitted that she wronged herself because she was worshipping the sun and not worshipping Allah. "She said: "My Lord! Verily, I have wronged myself, and I submit in Islâm, together with Sulaimân (Solomon) to Allâh, the Lord of the `Alamîn (mankind, jinn and all that exists)."" [Surat An-Naml: 44].

Hence, she moved from sun-worship to the religion of monotheism after Solomon had used with her a practical process: Used the technologies which Allah (Glory be to Him) granted.

Thus, Bilqis became a believing righteous woman and joined the group of women about whom the Qur'an spoke.