The Wilderness of the Children of Israel

The Children of Israel wandered in Sinai for forty years after their exodus from Egypt with Moses and Aaron pbut , and this wilderness was a punishment for them due to their rebellion against Moses pbuh and against the divine command to enter the Holy Land (Palestine), and this wilderness was also to reform them and free them from the corrupt manners which were instilled in their souls as a result of the tyranny of Pharaoh and his people over them in Egypt, and the mentioning of the wilderness has come in the Quran, the Almighty said, ﴾20 And when Moses said to his people, “O my people, remember the favor of Allah upon you when He appointed among you prophets and made you kings and gave you that which He had not given anyone among the worlds . 21 O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has written for you and do not turn back and [thus] become losers .” 22 They said, “O Moses, indeed within it is a people of tyrannical strength, and indeed, we will not enter it until they leave it; so if they leave it, then we will enter .” 23 Two men from those who fear said to those on whom Allah has bestowed His grace, “Enter upon them from the gate, for if you enter by it, you will be the ones who overcome . So rely on Allah if you were believers .” 24 They said, “O Moses, indeed we will not enter it, ever, as long as they are within it; so go, you and your Lord, and fight . Indeed, we are sitting right here .” 25 [Moses] said, “My Lord, indeed I do not possess except myself and my brother, so part us from the defiantly disobedient people .” 26 [Allah] said, “Then indeed, it is forbidden to them for forty years, they will be lost throughout the land . So do not grieve over the defiantly disobedient people .”﴿^[1] Before the wilderness, the Children of Israel used to live in Egypt, and the first of them to inhabit Egypt was Joseph son of Jacob pbut . And then he invited his parents and brothers to Egypt when he was forced to become a minister over the treasury by one of the pharaohs . And from that time Israel, or the prophet of Allah Jacob son of Isaac son of Abraham pbut , and his sons moved from the life of the desert, where they used to herd some livestock, to Egypt and to the life of the city and stability . And after that, the progeny of the prophet of Allah Jacob continued

living in Egypt, calling for monotheism and the religion of truth, and abandoning the worship of idols and the deification of the Pharaoh . And perhaps this call would sometimes be made overtly or covertly at other times, and the numbers of the Children of Israel in Egypt increased . And the call for the Truth clashes with the interests of the oppressive rulers from among the Pharaohs, so these oppressors feared the loss of their sovereignty and feared the transfer of the worldly rule to the great prophets from the Children of Israel . Therefore, they practiced the harshest types of oppression and terrorism upon the Children of Israel, so they humiliated and oppressed them, they killed their children, prevented them from practicing their acts of worship and the rites of Allah, and they tried in every way to suppress the teachings of the religion of monotheism and to force the Egyptians and the Children of Israel into polytheism and disbelief in Allah and His religion, and to obey the Pharaoh and all that he commanded them with from the worship of statues and images and killing the believers . And if it was not for the doctrine of awaiting, which was existent for the Children of Israel and acquired in their souls from the glad tidings of the prophets pbut about the [coming of the] awaited successor who will destroy Pharaoh and Haman and their soldiers, not a single believer would have remained among them, and they would not have gathered around this savior when he arrived . But unfortunately it was a gathering of oppressed people around a leader who would save them only from the injustice of a tyrant, and they did not realize that this leader was a great prophet sent to them to sanctify them and purify their souls and restore the religion of monotheism and its teachings, which had almost been obliterated . And Moses pbuh was sent with signs and clear proofs, but Pharaoh and Haman and their affluent soldiers from the Children of Israel, like Qarun, were arrogant and they continued in their transgression and in harming whoever believed in Moses pbuh . The Almighty said, ﴾23 And we did certainly send Moses with Our signs and a clear authority 24 to Pharaoh, Haman, and Qarun; but they said, “A magician and a liar .” 25 And when he brought them the Truth from Us, they said, “Kill the sons of those who have believed with him and keep their women alive .” But the plan of the disbelievers is not except in error . 26 And Pharaoh

said, “Let me kill Moses and let him call upon his Lord . Indeed, I fear that he will change your religion or that he will cause corruption in the land .” 27 But Moses said, “Indeed, I have sought refuge in my Lord and your Lord from every arrogant one who does not believe in the Day of Account .”﴿^[2] After this stage, it was necessary to migrate in the vast land of Allah, and Moses pbuh and the Children of Israel exited Egypt migrating in the way of Allah . But it did not please Pharaoh to see those oppressed ones free and out of his grasp and oppression, so he and his soldiers followed them, and that was the great incident and trial; the Children of Israel stood with the sea ahead of them, and the army of Pharaoh was beginning to appear behind them, so they became frightened and they said, “We are to be captured,” and they did not notice that the one who led them to this place was a great prophet sent from Allah swt , so he pbuh alerted them that they were migrating to Allah by saying, ﴾[Moses] said, “No! Indeed, my Lord is with me; He will guide me .”﴿^[3] So Allah inspired unto him to strike the sea with his staff and so the sea split for him; because the sea is a servant from the servants of Allah, and the sea does not hold to stand as an obstacle before this faithful servant who is relying upon Allah, and the sea does not hold to stand as an obstacle before this torrential stream of faith, and the sea does not hold to stand as an obstacle before Moses pbuh , because Moses is a human and everything on the earth is created to serve the human, who is the creation with the most extensive ability to know Allah, but if he obeyed Satan, he becomes more ignorant and harder than stone, and from the stones are those from which rivers burst, and from them are those which collapse out of fear of Allah . And this miracle was the last sign that Pharaoh and his soldiers saw from Moses pbuh , but their hearts were harder than stone, so they did not stand in astonishment but walked between two mountains of water while their souls were filled with stubbornness and arrogance . So they were drowned; so away with them . And the Children of Israel survived and they crossed the sea and found themselves in a desolate desert after they lived in the fertile valley of the Nile . But Moses pbuh came to them with the glad tidings

and the divine command to enter the Holy Land and he promised them victory from Allah . And after all these signs and miracles which they had seen in Egypt, and after the sea had split and drowned Pharaoh and his soldiers, it should have been that they did not hesitate to obey, and they were supposed to have certainty of victory, but they rebelled and refused to enter the Holy Land!!