As-Sajdah · Makki · ayah 23 of 30

As-Sajdah 32:23

وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا مُوسَى ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ فَلَا تَكُن فِى مِرْيَةٍ مِّن لِّقَآئِهِۦ ۖ وَجَعَلْنَـٰهُ هُدًى لِّبَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ

“And We certainly gave Moses the Scripture, so do not be in doubt over his meeting.[1176] And We made it [i.e., the Torah] guidance for the Children of Israel.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Mūsā was given a Book and met resistance; the Prophet ﷺ is told he walks the same road, and will meet him on it.

A reflection

The meeting that left us five prayers

Most of the commentaries read min liqāʾihi, 'of meeting him', in the plainest way. Do not doubt that you will meet Mūsā, or that you met him, on the Night Journey. Both Sahihs record the Prophet ﷺ describing him from that night: a tall, brown-skinned man with tightly curled hair.

Sahih al-Bukhari also preserves what happened at that meeting. In the sixth heaven Mūsā (as) greeted him: 'Welcome, brother and prophet.' As the Prophet ﷺ passed on, Mūsā wept. Asked why, he answered with a prayer. 'My Lord, this young man sent after me: more of his community will enter Paradise than of mine'.

Then fifty prayers a day were made obligatory. Coming back down, the Prophet ﷺ reached Mūsā again. 'I know people better than you,' Mūsā said. 'I struggled with the Children of Israel with the hardest struggle. Your community cannot bear it. Go back to your Lord and ask Him.' He went back, and it became forty. Back again, thirty, then twenty, then ten, then five. At five a voice declared that the obligation was settled, eased for His servants, and every good deed would be rewarded tenfold.

Sit with what that means. A prophet who had spent his life with a stubborn people spoke from experience. His long struggle became our relief. Every time you stand for one of five prayers instead of fifty, you are living inside that conversation.

The root of liqāʾ pictures two travellers who have walked towards each other for a long time and at last stand face to face. The first hearers knew talaqqī: going out of town to meet a traveller coming home. That is the meeting this ayah promises. Two men who had walked the same road, each grieving for his people, meet at last. The older one weeps for his own, and then spends his experience on the younger one's people.

Why return to this ayah? Because one reading of it stands behind the shape of every Muslim's day. It also says something about how Allah treats His messengers. He does not leave them to walk alone. He tells them who walked before them, and then He lets them meet.

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.