Prophet Musa’s (AS) Politeness | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed | Summer Intensive

The Story of Musa and Yusha — The Lost Fish

Yusha is saying that it's not like I took the fish and threw it in the ocean. It's not what I did. I felt bad for the fish — poor fish, I'll go back in the ocean.

It took its own path in the ocean — and it was a very strange path. Strange. The word عَجَبًا was also used in the story of أَصْحَابُ الْكَهْف. A second connection of the words — this is not a coincidence, this is actually connected internally.

Allah says about the people of the cave, it was a unique story. Why was it a unique story? Because it's not normal for someone to sleep for 309 years and wake up the way that they slept. It is also not normal for a fish to be outside of water and still be alive after all those days to an extent that it can jump back into the ocean.

So it was unique. Just like how the humans should have been dead but they were alive, the fish should also have been dead but it was still alive. Some would say that the bag, or the box, or whatever Allah called it in which he was holding the fish — there were a few droplets of water that fell inside there and it kind of gave it some life. But the reality of عَجَبًا is that it's actually not per se logical. It's just something which is unique to Allah's قُدْرَة.

Musa's Response — The Etiquette of a Leader

Musa's response — if anyone's a parent, or an elder sibling, or a teacher, or any form of employer, or whatever it may be — this response is so powerful and unique. At this point you could have said, "What did I bring you for? You had one job. Just hold the fish. You had no other job, brother." You could have said that.

Yusha is in an uncomfortable state right now. But Musa brings him back up. This is where we understand that Musa is the most stern prophet that we have known in the Qur'an. There is no one more stern than him.

Al-Qurtubi says that every prophet was supposed to speak softly — but only one prophet was explicitly told to speak softly. Who? Musa. It's not like the other prophets were not supposed to speak softly — they were all supposed to. But only Musa was actually told: make sure you speak to him in a soft manner. Because he was naturally stern.

Our Personalities Are Not an Excuse

Our personalities cannot be an excuse for how we deal with people. It's a scapegoat. Our sternness cannot become oppression. Our sternness cannot lead to a lack of character. Our rigidness should be upon ourselves, not towards people. And similarly, our softness cannot be a weakness in deen. Like, "We're very soft so we can't give da'wah. We're very soft so we can't speak to our children about praying salat." No — softness cannot be a weakness, and sternness cannot be oppression. That personality of ours has to fit within the paradigm of deen.

And we know it can happen — because Umar was stern, but he was also soft. And Abu Bakr was soft, but he was also stern. And we see that in the seerah of the Prophet.

Musa's Words of Reassurance

He says, "Don't worry — that's actually where we need to go anyway. It's alright. The fact is, it's no biggie. Wherever we lost it, just take me back there." مَا كُنَّا نَبْغِ means: "That is what we are searching for." So he actually, in a way, is giving Yusha credit about where they should be going — even though it was Yusha who made the mistake of losing the fish.

The Etiquette of Saying "I" — Adab with Elders

You also see in the ayah:

فَإِنِّي نَسِيتُ — "I forgot." What is نَسِيتُ for those who study Arabic? "I forgot." What did Allah say? Both of them forgot. Allah can say, the father can say, the mother can say, "We forgot." But the child should always say, "I."

Now it's me and you, dad — we both lost it. "Both lost it." This is أدب — this is etiquettes. Allah is superior — Allah can say نَسِيَا, "they both forgot." But Yusha is a student. He didn't say, "Oh, you know, when we were resting" — إِذْ أَوَيْنَا — "We were resting." Up to this point he is still saying "we." But when he comes to saying the fish was lost, he says: "I forgot." Even though he could have said, "Well, Allah said both of us forgot — so pretty much we're both half-half. You should have reminded me too."

You know when someone does something wrong and they say, "Oh, why did you forget it?" — "Oh, you never reminded me." How can we say that to our parents? Or to anyone that is senior, an elder — not even just a parent. For the youngsters sitting here: deen doesn't just honor parents — it honors elders. Anyone who has age upon us is an elder. And the way we speak to them, the way we interact with them — even if they are uncles and khalas in our community that don't necessarily see eye to eye with our own parents — they are still elders. Their differences are their differences.

Your mother will always have discussions with her sisters or her friends — that shouldn't take away our respect for them. And parents shouldn't let that filter down to children. If we have differences with our sisters and our brothers and our other aunties in the community, don't tell your children about it. Because then they will lose respect for those people.

Of course we have things between us. But the moment it comes down to our children — me and my brothers always have differences about how the school is run and MII. But the students never know about it. Because if they know, then they can speak about it.

So you see here that Yusha simply said: "I forgot." And look at the beauty of that adab.

Forgetfulness Is Forgiven

The Prophet said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 2045; also recorded in al-Bayhaqi and others — classified as sahih by many scholars)

Forgetfulness is actually forgiven. If we forget something, Allah actually forgives us for it.