Approaching the West — Page 58
A pproaching the West—58 Among God’s Messengers, whose assigned mission was kept sustained through their successors (khulaf ā ’), let us study the dispensations of two important Messengers— Moses and Jesus. Moses was assigned the mission to liberate the Children of Israel from the slavery of the Pharaoh, and to bring them back from Egypt to Canaan—the Promised Land. To avoid an armed conflict with the war-like people of the Philistine, Moses chose not to go through their country, and led the Israelites through a longer route that passed through the wilderness of Sin. On arriving at Mount Sinai, he received the divine Laws, including the Ten Commandments. During the time that Moses spent at Mount Sinai, he designated Aaron, his elder brother, the duty to supervise the Children of Israel. Aaron acted as his deputy for forty days and nights. Referring to this event, the Qur’ ā n states, And We made Moses a promise of thirty nights and supplemented them with ten. Thus the period appointed by his Lord was completed–forty nights. And Moses said to his brother, Aaron, ‘Take my place amongst my people in my absence, and manage them well and follow not the way of mischief-maker. (7:143) The Arabic words used in this verse for “Take my place” are ‘akhlufn ī for that the root word is ‘kha-la-fa,’ the same root from where the term ‘Khal ī fah’ is derived. “Khal ī fah” not only means a “successor,” who comes after his predecessor, but it also means a “deputy” who might be appointed in the lifetime of an authority.