in prostration, saying, “My Lord, direct me to this righteous servant.” So Allah directed him to him. He left the valley, believed in him, affirmed him, and knew that this was from Allah, the Exalted.

Wahb ibn Munabbih said: When Moses’ mother became pregnant with Moses, she concealed her condition from everyone, and none of Allah’s creation became aware of her pregnancy. This was something Allah concealed when He willed to bestow His favor through him upon the Children of Israel. Then, in the year in which he was to be born, Pharaoh dispatched the midwives and instructed them to inspect the women with a thoroughness unlike any inspection they had conducted before. (1)

Moses’ mother was pregnant with Moses, (2) yet her belly did not swell, her complexion did not change, and no milk appeared in her breasts. The midwives did not interfere with her. Then, on the night in which she gave birth to him, she delivered him with no guard over her and no midwife present. No one saw her except his sister Maryam. Allah inspired her: “Nurse him; then, when you fear for him…”—the rest of the verse. His mother concealed him for three months, nursing him in her lap. He neither cried nor moved. Then, when she feared for him, she made for him a tightly sealed chest and cast him into the river at night.

Ibn Abbas and others said: Pharaoh had at that time a daughter, and he had no other child besides her. She was among the dearest of people to him, and each day she would present three requests to Pharaoh. She suffered from severe leprosy. Pharaoh had gathered for her the physicians and magicians of Egypt, who examined her condition and said to him, “O King, she will be cured only at the riverbank. There, a human-like being will be found in the water; take some of his saliva and smear her leprosy with it, and she will be cured of it. This will take place on such-and-such a day, at such-and-such an hour, when the sun rises.”

So, when Monday came, Pharaoh went out to a gathering place on the bank of the Nile, accompanied by his wife Asiya bint Muzahim. Pharaoh’s daughter came with her maidservants and sat with them on the bank of the Nile, playing with them and splashing water upon their faces. Then the Nile brought the chest along, the waves striking it. Pharaoh said, “There is something in the river that has become caught upon the tree; bring it to me.” They hastened toward it in boats from every direction until they placed it before him. They tried to open its door but were unable to do so, and they tried to break it but could not.

Then Asiya came near and saw within the chest a light that no one besides her saw. She handled it and opened the door, and there was a little boy in his cradle, with a light between his eyes. Allah had placed his provision in his thumb, which he sucked, drawing milk from it. Allah placed love for Moses in Asiya’s heart; Pharaoh too loved him and felt tenderness toward him.

Pharaoh’s daughter then came forward. When they brought the boy out of the chest, she took some of the saliva flowing from his mouth and smeared it upon her leprosy, whereupon she was cured. She kissed him and held him to her breast. The wicked men among Pharaoh’s people said, “O King, we think that this is the newborn against whom you have been warning the Children of Israel. He was cast into the river out of fear of you, so kill him.” Pharaoh then intended to kill him.

Asiya said, “A comfort to the eye for me and for you. Do not kill him; perhaps he will benefit us, or we may take him as a son.” She was unable to bear children, so she asked Pharaoh to grant Moses to her, and he gave him to her. Pharaoh said, “As for me, I have no need of him.” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Had Pharaoh said that day, ‘He is a comfort to my eye,’ as he is…”