From amongst the Anbiya, the name of Musa NabiAS finds the most mention in the Quran. These 28 surahs and verses offer detailed accounts of Musa Nabi’sAS conflict with the Pharaoh and his struggle in communicating the message of Allah to the people.
The Pharaoh saw in the stars that a child would be born among the Israelites that year, who would be the cause of the end of his empire. Therefore he ordered his men to slay all new born males and spare the females. When Musa NabiAS was born, AllahTA revealed to his mother thus:
“Feed him and then when you fear for him cast him into the sea. Do not fear or grieve; We will return him to you and make him one of the Messengers.” (Qur’an, 28:7)
AllahTA instructed Musa’s mother that should the Pharaoh’s soldiers find out about the birth of her son, she should put him into a chest and sent it floating down the Nile. Musa Nabi’s mother did as she was told, though she knew not how and where the flowing waters would carry her son.
Musa NabiAS, safely cradled inside the chest, reached the shore of the Nile. The Pharoah’s wife saw the chest and asked the servants to bring it to her. She opened it to find the most beautiful baby lying inside. She took the baby to the palace.
AllahTA filled her heart with love for the baby. She took him to the Pharaoh and narrated the incident. The Pharaoh insisted that it was a trick of the people of Israel and tried to kill the child.
However his wife did not let him harm Musa NabiAS and defended him until the Pharaoh allowed her to keep him. AllahTA narrates this incident:
The family of Pharaoh picked him up so that he might be an enemy and a source of grief to them. Certainly Pharaoh and Hamaan and their troops were in the wrong. The wife of Pharaoh said, “A source of delight for me and for you; do not kill him. It may well be that he will be of use to us or perhaps we could adopt him as a son.” (Qur’an, 28: 8-9)
And thus the Pharaoh and his family, unaware of what destiny had in store for them, adopted Musa NabiAS as their own, in the hope that the child would some day benefit them.
In the meantime, Musa’sAS mother was concerned about her son since she did not know what had happened to him. AllahTA mentions her state of mind and her forbearing strength:
Mother of Musa felt a great emptiness in her heart and she almost gave him away; only We fortified her heart so that she would be one of the believers. She said to his sister, “Go after him.” And she kept an eye on him from afar and they were not aware. We first made him refuse all wet-nurses, so she (Musa’s sister) said, “Shall I show you to a household who will feed him for you and be good to him?”
That is how We returned him to his mother so that she might delight her eyes and feel no grief and so that she would know that God’s promise is true. But most of them do not know this. (Qur’an, 28: 10-13)
The Pharaoh’s wife handed Musa NabiAS to several wet nurses but he refused them all, accepting only his mother.