Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 45 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:45

ثُمَّ أَرْسَلْنَا مُوسَىٰ وَأَخَاهُ هَـٰرُونَ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَا وَسُلْطَـٰنٍ مُّبِينٍ

“Then We sent Moses and his brother Aaron with Our signs and a clear authority[957]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Then came Musa with his brother Harun, carrying Allah's signs and a proof that stormed the heart as an army storms a town.

A reflection

Whose signs?

In a small museum, a shepherd's staff hangs in a glass case. It is plain worn wood, darker where a hand held it for years. The label beside it carries a famous name. Visitors peer at it, half expecting something. It is just a stick.

The ayah says Musa and Harun were sent bi-āyātinā: with Our signs. The commentators list them. A companion of the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have counted nine. They were the staff, the shining hand, the locusts, the lice, the frogs, the blood, the parting of the sea, the years of drought and the shortage of fruits. Two concise commentaries give a similar list.

Notice the small possessive: Our signs. Not Musa's. Musa himself told Allah what his staff was for. I lean on it, he said, and beat down leaves for my sheep with it (20:18). It was a shepherd's tool. Every wonder that came through it was Allah's. He does not need the credit; He needs nothing at all. The possessive is there for our sake, so that we see truthfully where wonders come from.

That is a cure for a quiet kind of pride. Whatever we hold, a degree, a skill, a platform, a reputation, is a stick until Allah does something through it. The surgeon's hand, the teacher's voice, the writer's pen are all lent. When something good happens through them, the honest word is still: His sign, not mine.

It also guards against the opposite error. If the signs are His, then our ordinariness is no barrier. A shepherd with a stick was enough for Allah to confront the most powerful ruler of his age.

The humble response is to hold our tools lightly and offer them freely. Look at the "staff" in your hand today, whatever you use most to do good. Thank Allah for what He has done through it, and ask Him to use it again.

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.