I want to ask a question about Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, and the question is neuro-psychological in nature. Quoting from the Bible, Exodus chapter 4 and verse 10, and Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue, unquote. Now the parallel version in the Holy Quran is, O my Lord, expand for me my breast and make my task easy for me and loose the knot in my tongue so that they may understand my speech.
Now a large number of books have been written on both sides of the Atlantic by the clinical psychologists who practice as speech therapists. And on the premise of this biblical quotation, they have postulated that Prophet Moses was a stammerer. And now, does this verse, wa aloo utatafil asani, connotes stammering? And now these authors have mentioned… Not only this verse, this has been mentioned in other places in the Holy Quran to imply that Prophet Moses stammered and lisped a little bit.
There is no doubt about it. So he did stammer? Yes. And also, it is a prophecy of Prophet Moses that Imam Mahdi would stammer as well. This is why Prophet Moses also stammered a little bit, though not that much pronounced. Actually, these authors have said not to disparage or to devalue Prophet Moses, just to boost the self-esteem and the morale of the stammerers. By quoting Churchill, he was a stammerer, and then Desmothenes, who was a great Greek orator, who stammered very badly in his childhood.
So that is what they had in mind to quote. You know, there the Holy Quran mentions it to indicate that Allah’s choice is always the true right choice and the best choice. You know what Prophet Moses requested from Allah, after he was made a prophet, was that he could not express himself well. It was rather difficult for him, among other things. So kindly, instead of me, raise my brother as prophet. So Allah raised his brother also into a prophet, raised him as a prophet, to help him, to assist him. But when they went to the Pharaoh’s court, his brother did not utter a single word. All that was said throughout was said by Prophet Moses.
The courageous man that he was, at the heat of the moment, the type of character which was required to present the case of God, I mean, the case of religion to Moses, to Pharaoh, required a person like Moses. And Prophet Harun totally disappears into, you know, almost nothingness. You don’t even think of it. Well, I know millions of people read of the Holy Quran and never take note of this fact, that there is no Harun mentioned when the debate comes and when the case is debated between Moses and Pharaoh. Why?
That is the point, why he is mentioned as a stammerer, that on this plea, otherwise many other prophets may have some small personal defects, not defects, but human shortcomings. Those are not mentioned by the Holy Quran or other books. When something is mentioned, it must have some significance. And here, as I understand, the significance is that ultimately it was Allah’s choice, it was proved to be correct. Although Allah was so benign and beneficent and considerate that he heard the prayer of Moses, but it was really not required. It was unnecessary.
Also it proves the point that prophethood is so much a favour that sometimes it is just shown as favour. Because had it been really required, Moses alone should have been made the prophet and Allah should have declined to accept that request. But he didn’t. So he became a prophet and when he was left alone to discharge the responsibilities of prophecy, he failed. So both these aspects must be brought into focus. And then you understand truly how Allah makes his choices.
On the one hand, when they appear before Pharaoh, it is only Moses who does the work. And when Moses goes to meet Allah, as it is said, whatever you mean by it, then in his absence a disturbance is created which cannot be brought under control by Hazrat Haroon in his absence. Do you see the point?
