A Fragrance of Hajja Aminah Adil

First Sohbet

MUSA (as)

When Musa (as) went up Mt. Sinai he told his people he would be gone for forty days. But the Bani Israil in those days counted the day as one and the night also as one. So they reached forty days in half the time and they thought
that because of their sins their prophet had been taken away from them.

Earlier when Musa (as) had led them out of Egypt they had crossed the Red Sea safely by Allah’s permission. Pharaoh and his armies following behind them had been drowned when the sea closed back over them. All the soldiers with their armor, their weapons, their gold and silver, all were covered by the sea. The law of the Jews forbids them from taking the spoils of war. The weapons and artifacts that washedup onto the shore had to be destroyed by burning. This left only a molten mass of the metals from which they were made.There was a man called Samiri, a companion ofthe Prophet Musa (as). At the time when Samiri was a child, P haraoh had ordered the killing of all the boys of the Bani Israil. Samiri ’s parents sent him into the desert to protect him from Pharaoh.

Jibrail (as) would come and suckle these small sons of the Bani Israil with his wings. Because of this Samiri was very familiar with the Archangel and, unlike most people, he could see Jibrail (as) riding the Horse of Life when he came to visit Musa (as). Samiri gathered the sand from the hoof print of this horse and hid it in his jubba. Samiri made his living as a goldsmith. He took the melted gold from pharaoh’s army and mixed it with the sand from the footprint of the Horse of Life and fashioned a statue of a golden calf that moved and talked because of the power of that sand. The Bani Israil were always asking for a god idol to worship just as their neighbors had. Samiri told them that their prophet Musa (as) had forgotten to give them their idol and so now he would give them this calf to be their god. The Bani Israil began to worship this calf and dance around it.

At that time the Bani Israil numbered seventy thousand people. Only twelve thousand did not succumb to worshipping the calf. Sayyidina Harun (as) went with that twelve thousand to another distant place.Meanwhile, S. Musa (as) was in khalwat on Mt. Sinai waiting to be given the Torah. He was so close to Heaven that he could hear the leaves being cut and the scratching of the Divine Pen. There were so many leaves of the Torah that not even seven camels could carry them all. Jibrail (as) came to S. Musa (as) and told him that his people had gone astray and were worshipping a calf. S. Musa (as) in anger said, “O my Lord. You are the One Who guides and the One Who misguides.

It is You Who has misled them. ” S. Musa (as) got the Torah and came down to his people. He saw them dancing around the calf. He grabbed Harun (as) by the beard accusing him of misleading the people. Harun (as) explained that, fearing for his life, he had left the people alone. Musa (as) then threw the Torah to the ground.Two pages broke and the writing flew away. “Why didn’t you wait the forty days for me to return?” Musa (as) asked his people. “Samiri deceived us, ” they answered. The punishment of Samiri was that from that day to the end of time no one talked to him or came near him. As for the calf, they burned it, but gold doesn’t burn it only melts. So S.Jibrail (as) told Musa (as) to go to the bank of the Nile and gather a grass growing there called, “Kimiya”. This herb would make the gold burn to ashes.

Musa (as) sent his nephew Qarun to collect a handful of this grass but Qarun was greedy and he took a camel load for himself and he hid it. S.Musa (as) spread the handful of Kimiya on the calfand it burned to ashes. At that time the law of the Bani Israil required a physical punishment for every breach of the law; they could not just be forgiven as we can be now. Their sins were written by the Divine Will on the foreheads and their doors for all to know. Allah commanded that for the sin of idol worship the twelve thousand who did not worship the calf should kill the fifty-eight thousand who did, and this was accepted by all. Early in the morning they went out into the desert. The fifty-eight thousand sinners sat in rows and the twelve thousand believers had to kill them, even the members of their families and loved ones. But they could not look into their faces and kill them so from Allah’s Mercy came a dense cloud that blurred the faces of the sinners enabling the believers to carry out God ’s Orders. From early morning until after ‘Asr the cloud remained. When it cleared there was blood and dead bodies all over the sand.

Musa (as) cried out to his Lord, “O my Lord, my community is finished.” Allah answered him that because all had obeyed the Lord ’s judgment, executioner and executed were all awarded Paradise. But S. Musa (as) continued to cry that his community was not as strong they had been before and they were not clean. Allah then commanded Musa (as) to throw the ashes of the calf into the Nile and then drink from the water. Those whose hearts were pure would remain men but those whose hearts were tainted would begin to look like cows. In this way they could tell the pure from the impure. They executed the ones who looked like cows and so completely purified the community. However, the result was that all the people drank the water in which the gold had been dissolved and to this day all the Bani Israil have the love of gold in their hearts. Now Qarun took his camel loaded with Kimiya and began turning everything into gold, even the doorstep of his house. He bought many white slaves and sent them around the streets dressed in gold to make people envious.

Qarun wanted to be the Prophet. He was jealous of S. Musa (as). He wanted the community to be his. He invited the people to his house to eat and drink until even the believers began to gather there. He had so many treasures that seventy camels were not able to carry even the keys to his treasure chests. S. Musa’s (as) people had to pay Zakat. They had to pay one out of four, whereas Muslims only have to pay one out of forty. Musa (as) asked Qarun for his Zakat. Qarun began to argue and to bargain. Musa (as) offered him, “Pay one in one hundred, one in one thousand.” Qarun refused even this. He even got a prostitute to agree to swear that she was pregnant by Musa (as).All the people gathered at Qarun’s house. Qarun invited Musa (as) to come in and give Sohbet, which he did. Then he invited the people to ask questions. A man asked, “If someone steals what is the punishment?” “We cut off his hand, ” answered Musa (as). “If he commits adultery?” “He is stoned, ” Musa (as) answered. Then the prostitute appeared and would have given false testimony against Musa (as) but Allah tied her ongue. Musa (as) laid his staff on her stomach and the baby spoke and told the name of its real father. S. Musa (as) was hot tempered. He asked Allah to give him power over Qarun as he had given him over P haraoh. He told the people to choose sides. All went with Musa (as) except two who stayed with Qarun.

Musa (as) ordered the earth to swallow them to the knees. Then Qarun, out of fear, offered to pay his Zakat. Musa (as) ordered the earth to swallow him to the waist. Musa (as) said, “To hell with your Zakat, ” and Qarun then offered half of all his wealth.“Keep your money, ” said Musa (as) and ordered the earth to swallow them to the neck. Qarun offered all his money but still Musa (as) ordered the earth to swallow the three completely. The people began to talk that now Musa (as) had all Qarun’s money for himself. So Musa (as) ordered the earth swallow the treasure as well. Allah told Musa (as), “Qarun asked you forty
times for forgiveness. If he had asked Me even once I would have forgiven him.” Still to this day Qarun and his two companions continue to sink lower into the earth by the order of S.Musa (as).