PERVERSE CONDUCT OF THE JEWISH TRIBE

Initially, Musa directed his struggle against Pharaoh. Before Musa came, his people, the children of Israel, were languishing in slavery. It was for that reason when, as soon as Musa had devised the plan to flee, the entire tribe willingly followed him and left Egypt. However, this in no way implied sincere faith on their part. Among them were people who joined merely out of tribal loyalties. Most probably, the majority saw Musa as a political leader who offered the possibility of release from oppression. Therefore, rather than submitting themselves to the path of righteousness, many of them seized every opportunity to return to their idolatrous practices. Thus, they constantly defied Musa and resisted the true religion brought by him.

First, God commanded Musa to divide the children of Israel into twelve separate tribes:

We divided them up into twelve tribes-communities. We revealed to Musa, when his people asked him for water: "Strike the rock with your staff." Twelve fountains flowed out from it and all the people knew their drinking place. (Qur'an, 7: 160)

The majority of the children of Israel failed to develop a deep-seated faith in their hearts. They dared to ask Musa to show them God, even to the point of declaring insolently that they would not believe unless he complied with such a wish:

And when you said, "Musa, we will not believe in you until we see God with our own eyes." So the thunderbolt caught you while you were (all) looking on. (Qur'an, 2: 55)

Apparently, the traits of this nation were greed and ungratefulness. As sustenance for the children of Israel, at one point, God prepared food miraculously for them. This food, referred to as "manna and quails" in the Qur'an, failed to please the children of Israel, though it had been a favour from God:

And We shaded you with clouds and sent down manna and quails to you: "Eat of the good things We have provided for you." They did not wrong Us; rather it was themselves they were wronging. (Qur'an, 2: 57)

And when you said, "Musa, we will not put up with just one kind of food so ask your Lord to supply to us some of what the earth produces-its green vegetables, cucumbers, grains, lentils and onions," he said, "Do you want to replace what is better with what is inferior? Go back to Egypt, then you will have what you are asking for..." (Qur'an, 2: 61)

This was yet another clear sign of the great ingratitude of the children of Israel.

The Story of Cow

The people of Musa clearly at no point seem to have had a grasp of true faith. As pointed out earlier, they probably followed Musa, not because they wanted to earn the good pleasure of God, but because they saw him as a powerful and determined leader.

In an attempt to tailor the divine religion to their own desires and to their ancient religious practices, they made deliberate distortions to it. In total disregard for the simple and clear nature of the religion, they rendered it complicated and difficult to practice. They were inclined to worship idols rather than God, and altered the religion into a series of rituals.

Their tendency to needlessly complicate the religion is best explained in a story related in the Sura Baqara. In this story, God commands the children of Israel to sacrifice a cow. The command, conveyed by Musa to his tribe, is a very simple one. However, the children of Israel complicated this plain and easy command, and concerned themselves with all sorts of trivial details which were not required. In fact, they went so far as to tell the messenger of God: "Are you making a mockery of us?":

And when Musa said to his people, "God commands you to sacrifice a cow," they said, "What! Are you making a mockery of us?"

He said, "I seek refuge with God from being one of the ignorant!"

They said, "Ask your Lord to make it clear to us what it should be like."

He said, "He says it should be a cow, not old or virgin, but somewhere between the two. So do as you have been told."

They said, "Ask your Lord to make it clear to us what colour it should be."

He said, "He says it should be yellow, a rich yellow, a pleasure to all who look."

They said, "Ask your Lord to make it clear to us what it should be like. Cows are all much the same to us. Then, if God wills, we will be guided."

He said, "He says it should be a cow not trained to plough or irrigate the fields-completely sound, without a blemish on it."

They said, "Now you have brought the truth."

So they sacrificed it - but they almost did not do it. (Qur'an, 2: 67-71)

As related in the above account, the tribe of Musa constantly raised objections against the commands of God. Only when the command became almost non-practicable, due to the petty details they begged for, they relented. In fact, the command was quite plain: sacrifice a cow.

A scrutinizing look into Judaism today will reveal this same stubborn rationale among the Jews. The Talmud, the body of traditional Jewish teaching, includes perplexing details pertaining to daily life and prayers. For instance, from milking an animal, to the use of burning incense, one will find countless details seemingly irrelevant to religion. In Judaism, a person's meticulousness in observance of these details, in his daily life and prayers, is thought to be determinant of his piety. The true essence of piety, on the other hand, that is, faith in God and the day of Judgement, is wholly neglected. As such, Judaism has been changed into a body of rituals with no relevance to the fundamentals of faith, such as remembrance of God, mercy of God, and love for Him.

Rebellion of the Children of Israel Against the Command of God

Upon the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, God promised them a homeland in which to dwell. Much has been said about the objections raised against Musa during this journey in the previous pages. This tendency of theirs persisted until the time they arrived in the Promised Land:

Remember when Musa said to his people, "My people! Remember God's blessing to you when He appointed Prophets among you and appointed kings for you, and gave you what He had not given to anyone else in all the worlds! My people! Enter the Holy Land which God has ordained for you. Do not turn back in your tracks and so become transformed into losers."

They said, "There are tyrants in it, Musa. We will not enter it until they leave. If they leave it, then we will go in." (Qur'an, 5: 20-22)

God's help had always been with the children of Israel. God saved them from Pharaoh by parting the sea and then gave them a land. Furthermore, He promised a definite victory, provided they waged a war against the tyrannical tribe dwelling there. They should have put their trust in God and followed His messenger. Instead, they did not heed Musa's warnings and were fearful. Only two among the lot of them stated that they would put their trust in God and enter the land:

Two men among those who were afraid, but whom God had blessed, said, "Enter the gate against them! Once you have entered it, you will be victorious. Put your trust in God if you are believers." (Qur'an, 5: 23)

Despite such warnings, the children of Israel opposed the messenger of God, and addressed him disrespectfully:

They said, "We will never enter it, Musa, as long as they are there. So you and your Lord go and fight. We will stay sitting here." (Qur'an, 5: 24)

The insolence of the people of Musa became aggravated to such an extent that they began to actually ignore the words of their prophets and openly objected to them. Therefore, Musa pleaded our Lord and asked Him to save him and his brother Harun from this insolent people:

He (Musa) said, "My Lord, I have no control over anyone but myself and my brother, so make a clear distinction between us and this deviant people."

He (God) said, "The land will be forbidden to them for forty years during which they will wander aimlessly about the earth. Do not waste grief on this deviant people." (Qur'an, 5: 25-26)

As mentioned here, the children of Israel were prohibited from the Promised Land for forty years, due to their insolence towards God and His messenger.

For much of his life, Musa had tried to communicate God's message to them. He strove to save his tribe from the worship of idols and guide them to the true religion. His aim was merely to warn people and save them from the torment of Hell, a mission which he carried solely to earn the good pleasure of God. To this purpose, he had confronted Pharaoh and had attempted to rid his people's beliefs of superstition. Nevertheless, he became the object to the cruelties of Pharaoh, as well as his own people. However, he was a noble servant, who lived merely to attain the good pleasure of God, and our Lord saved him from all difficulties inflicted upon him.

There are lessons to be drawn from the ingratitude of the children of Israel, a people who did not follow in their prophets' footsteps, who turned their backs to the religion entrusted to them, and so perverse as to say, "you and your Lord go and fight." God has warned mankind against succumbing to the insolence of the children of Israel towards their prophet:

You who believe! Do not be like those who abused Musa. God absolved him of what they said and he was highly honoured with God. (Qur'an, 33: 69)