Bismillah Hir Rehman Nir Raheem
(In The Name Of Allah, The Most Beneficial, The Most Merciful)
If the Gods of Egypt & Pharoah were true to their Godliness, why did they have no knowledge of the baby boy whom they drew out of the water is the Prophet of God? And so they named him Musa meaning 'drawn out of the water'. But, none except Allah made him do the parting of water of the Red Sea.
He is equally revered by Muslims, Christians, and Jews all around the world. He was enlighteningly powerful in his speech and actions. He was deeply moved by the afflictions of his people serving as slaves in Egypt. However, he led them out of such grievous misery and labored to overcome the horrific battle of burden, injustice, and deep sorrow for the love of his people and for the fulfillment of life and death of his own. Before Musa was laid to rest, there came an Angel of Death to him whom he punched very severely.
It is mentioned in Sahih-Al-Bukhari, Chapter No 23 (Funerals), Hadith No.: 1339.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The angel of death was sent to Moses and when he went to him, Moses slapped him severely, spoiling one of his eyes. The angel went back to his Lord, and said, "You sent me to a slave who does not want to die." Allah restored his eye and said, "Go back and tell him (i.e. Moses) to place his hand over the back of an ox, for he will be allowed to live for a number of years equal to the number of hairs coming under his hand." (So the angel came to him and told him the same). Then Moses asked, "O my Lord! What will be then?" He said, "Death will be then." He said, "(Let it be) now. (meaning - death be now)" He asked Allah that He bring him near the Sacred Land at a distance of a stone's throw. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) (p.b.u.h) said, "Were I there I would show you the grave of Moses by the way near the red sand hill."
Discussion: Many Scholars say that Moses punched the Angel of Death because the Angel appeared to him in a human form, as they appeared to many prophets before Moses, and that he entered his place where he lived without his consent. So he thumped into his eye not knowing that he is hitting an Angel of Death who showed up to him as an unknown man & stepped into his house without his permission.
However, In addition to that, I sought to have found the Hadith very explicit about Moses's action towards Azrael that when Allah restores the eye of the Angel and asks him to return to Moses and say if he wishes to live more, let him place his hand over the back of an ox, for he will be allowed to live for a number of years equal to the number of hairs coming under his hand, is maybe because Moses really wanted to live for more purposeful years or maybe Allah just wanted to clear Azrael's presumption of Moses not wanting to die. Allah is all-knowing & never speak aimlessly. So accordingly, he may have prepared the Angel with what to say upon his return to Moses, whereupon Moses straightforwardly asks, 'What will be then' to which Allah says 'Death will be then' and Moses readily chooses death. That way, Azrael would see how the servants of Allah happily embraces death as a means to meet their cherisher.
Furthermore, if we analyze quotations from Torah a divine book given to Moses and the people of his time is mysterious about Moses's death. It just explains in the last chapters of Deuteronomy that Allah commanded Moses to die on Mount
Nebo, that Moses did die there, and that God buried him in a nearby valley in a
place not known to any person (except Allah and Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) who said "Were I there I would show you the grave of Moses by the way near the red sand hill." - Subhanallah!!!). And lastly It states the number of years he lived in Chapter 34, Verse No 7 that Moses was 120 years old when he died.
In particular, the text explains neither the exact mode nor the exact cause of Moses’s death. This is just a piece of evidence of Moses's death from Torah quotations.
Now one may ask, if Torah confirms Mount Nebo to be the place where Moses was buried, what is then the Red Sand Hill that prophet Muhammad is speaking of? A man cannot be buried at two different locations. There should be some possible relation between Mount Nebo and Red Sand Hill, and if there's no relation at all, then either Torah or Sahi Bukhari is not true of Moses's place of burial. But, how can Allah & his apostles be wrong in giving information? Hence, the response to this is very important & interesting to know that Mount Nebo has an expansive view of dry desert land, trees browning up to match the landscape and the River of Jordan trickling in the distance, by the way of Wadi Rum which translates from Arabic to Valley Of Sand which is Red in color. For this reason our beloved Prophet Muhammad said,"Were I there I would show you the grave of Moses by the way near the red sand hill." - Subhanallah!!!
If, however, anyone is still skeptical of Moses's death not being said in detail in God's previous revelation. He/She should understand that such incident from past is confirmed to be true in present when a third person, especially an unlettered man, who was not even born then, is made to open up about the same incident so that He is found to be true in his knowledge & his source from where He gains such information.
Please Note: I'm not an Islamic Scholar nor I qualify to interpret a verse from Quran or Hadith or any other Holy Books. I have just made a modest attempt to discuss the oneness of logical relation/understanding of Moses's action towards the Angel of Death from two different Scriptures of Almighty, after a lot of research and hard work. If anybody has a more pertinent/exact answer to this Hadith or to any of the explanations given above, please feel free to write it in the comment section.
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Zain Khan
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