Taha · Makki · ayah 94 of 135

Taha 20:94

قَالَ يَبْنَؤُمَّ لَا تَأْخُذْ بِلِحْيَتِى وَلَا بِرَأْسِىٓ ۖ إِنِّى خَشِيتُ أَن تَقُولَ فَرَّقْتَ بَيْنَ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ وَلَمْ تَرْقُبْ قَوْلِى

“[Aaron] said, "O son of my mother, do not seize [me] by my beard or by my head. Indeed, I feared that you would say, 'You caused division among the Children of Israel, and you did not observe [or await] my word.'"”

Saheeh International

Essence

Seized by the beard, Harun answers his angry brother with their mother's name and one reason: I was afraid of tearing our people in two.

A reflection

Son of my mother

Harun's first words, with his brother's hands in his hair and beard, are not a defence. They are a name: yā-bna umma, son of my mother.

The commentaries agree that this was a deliberate softening. A narration-based commentary notes that the two were full brothers, sharing father and mother. Yet Harun mentioned only the mother, because, it says, mentioning her here is gentler and more moving. A linguistic commentary says the same: he named the mother to win his brother's sympathy and soften his heart. A concise commentary agrees that her name was the most tender appeal to Musa's heart.

Think of what that name would have carried for Musa. It was their mother who placed him in a chest and cast him into the river. It was their mother whose heart became empty with grief (28:10). Allah returned him to her so that she would not grieve (20:40). To say son of my mother was to bring her into the middle of the quarrel. It reminded Musa where both of them had come from, and who had loved them both before either was a prophet.

In a fight between people who love each other, there is often a turning point. One of them reaches past the argument to the shared origin. Picture two brothers arguing in their late father's workshop about whether to sell it. The voices rise. Then the younger one says quietly: Mum would hate to hear us like this. The room goes still. Nothing about the workshop has been settled. But both of them are suddenly brothers again rather than opponents.

Harun did not argue first. He reminded first. Only after son of my mother did he give his reasons.

In your own quarrels with family, especially when you are being blamed, try reaching for the shared root before the self-defence. It does not prove you right. It reminds you both what is at stake.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.