A woman from a clan of Bani Israel held her newborn baby in her arms, looking down at the innocent life with hopeless eyes. Eyes that had seen nearly a dozen babies butchered in her family. Eyes that had seen the cruelty of the Pharaoh's soldiers.
We inspired the mother of Moses: "Nurse him, but when you fear for him, put him then into the river, and do not fear or grieve. We will certainly return him to you, and make him one of the messengers."
But her Lord comforted her. The only one that she would ever worship was Allah. And she trusted Him. With everything that she was, she trusted Him. So she nursed her child. The child that was as beautiful as the moon. The child that held his mother's heart in his chubby little hands . The child she would give her life for. She nursed her baby boy, put him in a box, and with a heart alight with faith, threw that box into the sea. She didn't grieve. She didn't fear.
She only believed.
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The whole of Egypt had become a slaughterhouse. The ruler of Egypt was now playing god more than ever before. Wasn't a god at leisure to do whatever he wished to his people? They were nothing but numbers, after all.
"Nowhere is safe."
"The Pharaoh's soldiers are constantly on guard."
"I hear they have the eyes of crows and the senses of ants. Nothing can escape them. How will any baby survive?"
The markets were filled whispers, no one daring to speak aloud, fearing wrath upon themselves. A woman clutched her child to her chest, heart racing and loud. Would she too have her baby snatched from her, and butchered right before her eyes?
Would she too weep in despair like the many mothers she had seen?
It was not something she could tolerate. She had to do something. Anything. Somehow, she had to keep her baby boy away from the soldiers of the Pharaoh.
So she made a choice. A choice that many may judge, but it was the only one she could make.
She hid and walked and ran, until she came upon a cave. She entered the cave with her baby boy clutched close to her chest, and left the cave with empty hands. Can you imagine how she might have felt, sealing the mouth of the dark and hollow cave with her infant inside? Alone, without anyone to comfort him when he cried, or to feed him when he got hungry?
But to her, it was all she could do to protect her child from the worst tyrant in history. So she turned her back to the cave that housed her child, her lifeline, and left.
