And mention in the Book, Moses. Indeed, he was chosen, and he was a messenger and a prophet. And We called him from the side of the mount at [his] right and brought him near, confiding [to him]. And We gave him out of Our mercy his brother Aaron as a prophet.Mūsā ibn ʿImrān^[1] (Arabic: موسی ابن عمران‎, Moses son of Amram) known as Moses in Judaeo-Christian theology, considered a prophet and messenger in Islam, is the most frequently mentioned individual in the Qur'an, his name being mentioned 135 times.^[2] The Quran states that Musa was sent by Allah to the Pharaoh of Egypt and his establishments and the Israelites for guidance and warning. Musa is mentioned more in the Qur'an than any other individual, and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet.^[3] According to Islam, all Muslims must have faith in every prophet (nabi) and messenger (rasul) which includes Musa and his brother. The Qur'an states:

Musa is considered to be a prophetic predecessor to Muhammad. The tale of Musa is generally seen as a spiritual parallel to the life of Muhammad, and Muslims consider many aspects of their lives to be shared.^[5][6][7] Islamic literature also describes a parallel between their believers and the incidents which occurred in their lifetimes. The exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is considered similar to the (migration) from Mecca made by the followers of Muhammad.^[8]

Musa is also very important in Islam for having been given the revelation of the Torah. Moreover, according to Islamic tradition, Musa was one of the many prophets Muhammad met in the event of the Mi'raj, when he ascended through the seven heavens.^[9] During the Mi'raj, Musa is said to have urged Muhammad to ask God to reduce the number of required daily prayers until only the five obligatory prayers remained. Musa is further revered in Islamic literature, which expands upon the incidents of his life and the miracles attributed to him in the Qur'an and hadith, such as his direct conversation with God.

Childhood

According to Islamic tradition, Musa was born into a family of Israelites living in Egypt. Of his family, Islamic tradition generally names his father 'Imram, corresponding to the Amram of the Hebrew Bible, and traditional genealogies name Levi as his ancestor.^[11] Islam states that Musa was born in a time when the ruling Pharaoh had enslaved the Israelites after the time of the prophet Joseph (Yusuf). Around the time of Musa's birth, Islamic literature states that the Pharaoh had a dream in which he saw fire coming from the city of Jerusalem, which burnt everything in his kingdom except in the land of the Israelites. (Other stories said that the Pharaoh dreamt of a little boy who caught the Pharaoh's crown and destroyed it.)^[12] although there is no authentic islamic reference to whether the dreams actually occurred. When the Pharaoh was informed that one of the male children would grow up to overthrow him, he ordered the killing of all newborn Israelite males in order to prevent the prediction from occurring.^[13] Islamic literature further states that the experts of economics in Pharaoh's court advised him that killing the male infants of the Israelites would result in loss of manpower.^[14] Therefore, they suggested that the male infants should be killed in one year but spared the next.^[14] Aaron was born in the year in which infants were spared, while Moses was born in the year in which infants were to be killed.

Other incidents

The sayings of Muhammad (hadith), Islamic literature and Qur'anic exegesis also narrate some incidents of the life of Moses. Moses used to bathe apart from the other Israelites who all bathed together. This led the Bani Israel to say that Moses did so due to a scrotal hernia. One day when Moses was bathing in seclusion, he put his clothes on a stone which then fled with his clothes. Moses rushed after the stone and the Bani Israel saw him and said, 'By Allah, Moses has got no defect in his body." Moses then beat the stone with his clothes, and Abu Huraira stated, "By Allah! There are still six or seven marks present on the stone from that excessive beating." .In a hadith, Muhammad states that the stone still had three to five marks due to Moses hitting it.

Death

Haroon died shortly before Moses. It is reported in a Sunni hadith that when the angel of death, came to Moses, Moses slapped him in the eye. The angel returned to God and told him that Moses did not want to die.^[68] God told the angel to return and tell Moses to put his hand on the back of an ox and for every hair that came under his hand he would be granted a year of life. When Moses asked God what would happen after the granted time, God informed him that he would die after the period. Moses, therefore, requested God for death at his current age near the Promised Land "at a distance of a stone's throw from it.