Quran 20:38 · Taha

The original inhabitants of Egypt were the Copts (Qibti) whose political and religious representative was Pharaoh. The other community there was that of the the Children of Israel (Israelites) who had migrated and settled there during the period of Joseph (Yusuf). At the time of Moses’ birth, Pharaoh, intending the complete extermination of the Israelite race, had given orders for all male children born in Israelite homes to be killed. Moses’s mother, inspired by God, placed her baby in a basket and set it adrift on the waters of the river Nile, in order to save him from being killed. The basket floated down the river and reached a spot near the royal palace where Pharaoh and his wife saw him. Moved by pity for the small child, they took him and kept him in the palace. Thereafter, at the suggestion of Moses’s sister, his mother was appointed to breast-feed him. It was a miracle of God that Moses was brought up and educated by that very Pharaoh who would have had him killed, had he known his identity, and who was later to become his greatest enemy. When Moses grew up, he intervened in a quarrel between an Egyptian and an Israelite. When he took the Egyptian to task, the latter died quite unexpectedly. Then, orders were issued by the government for Moses to be arrested. But, Moses secretly left Egypt and reached Midian. There in the desert, he had many new experiences. After the Egyptian’s being killed, Moses prayed with great fervour to Almighty God, as a result of which He led Moses to understand that this incident could afford him valuable lessons.