While he was still in his mother’s womb, Allah revealed to her: “Do not fear and do not grieve. We shall return him to you and make him one of the Messengers” (al-Qasas 28:7). She was instructed that, once she delivered, she should place him in a chest and cast it upon the river. When the child was born, she obeyed.
But the moment her son disappeared from her sight, Satan whispered to her and she said to herself, “What have I done with my boy? Had he been slaughtered before me so I could bury and shroud him, that would have been dearer to me than throwing him to the sea’s beasts and fish.”
The water carried the chest until it reached a landing place where the maidservants of Pharaoh’s wife used to draw water. Seeing it, they took hold of it and were about to open it. One of them said, “There is treasure inside. If we open it, the queen will never believe the story of what we found.” So they carried it just as it was, without removing anything, and delivered it to her. When she opened it, she saw a baby boy, and Allah placed in her heart a love for him the like of which she had never felt for anyone. “The heart of Moses’s mother became empty” (al-Qasas 28:10) of every thought except Moses.
When the slaughterers heard of the child, they came to Pharaoh’s wife with their knives to kill him; this too, Ibn Jubayr, was among the trials. She said, “Leave him be. One child will not increase the numbers of the Children of Israel. Let me go to Pharaoh and ask that he grant him to me. If he does, you will have acted well; if he orders him slain, I shall not blame you.”
She came to Pharaoh and said, “He will be a comfort to my eye and yours” (al-Qasas 28:9). Pharaoh replied, “For you, yes—but I have no need of him.”
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “By the One in whose hand my soul is, had Pharaoh agreed that he be a comfort to his eye just as his wife did, Allah would have guided him as He guided her, but that was denied to him.”
The queen then sent for every woman who had milk so that she might choose a wet-nurse. Yet whenever a woman tried to suckle him he would not take her breast, until Pharaoh’s wife feared he would refuse all milk and die, and this saddened her. She therefore had him taken to the market and public square in hope of finding a nurse he would accept, but he still refused.
Moses’s mother awoke distraught and said to his sister, “Follow his trail and look for him. Do you hear anything about him? Is my son alive, or have the beasts devoured him?” She had forgotten what Allah had promised her. “His sister watched him from a distance, while they were unaware” (al-Qasas 28:11). (Junub refers to someone who fixes his gaze on something far off while remaining unnoticed nearby.)
When all the wet-nurses had failed, the girl, overjoyed, said, “Shall I direct you to a household who will care for him on your behalf and treat him with sincere affection?” (al-Qasas 28:12). They asked, “How do you know their sincerity? Perhaps they are related to him,” and they began to doubt her; this too, Ibn Jubayr, was among the trials.
She replied, “Their sincerity lies in their affection for him, their compassion toward him, their desire for the king’s favor, and their hope for his benefit.” They sent her off, and she went to his mother and told her the news. When the mother arrived and placed him in her lap, he lunged toward her breast and nursed until his little sides were full.