How Should We Understand the Stories of Prophet Musa Told in the Quran?

Our Lord encourages believers to read and understand the Quran. Although the Quran is generally a book that is easy to understand (Surah Al-Qamar,17……), understanding a certain part of it, that is, the müteşabih verses, requires intensive and systematic study and analysis. In the narration of many stories in the Quran there is a müteşabih narrative feature, and the Quran counsels us not to reach a definite conclusion without having sufficient knowledge (Surah Ta-Ha,114)

The majority of the Quran consists of muhkem verses. Muhkem verses are verses that are easily understood, valid in their primary meaning, and clear. Müteşabih verses, on the other hand, are verses of resemblance, they contain allusive meanings, and understanding müteşabih verses too is within the realm of possibility. Indeed, while in Surah Al-Imran verse 7 “Muhkem verse” is said, in Surah Hud verses 1-2 “Verses made muhkem” is said. The plain meaning of this is that while muhkem verses are muhkem in themselves, that is, even on their own; müteşabih verses made muhkem within the wholeness of the Quran by other verses on the same subject are verses that are not muhkem on their own.

The most important point we must pay attention to when evaluating müteşabih verses is that the subject accords with the general logic of the Quran, with the laws of nature and with reason. Allah has given no information in the Quran that contradicts reason. The situation is the same in the stories of Prophet Musa, and our Lord has wanted us to evaluate the stories within the framework of general logic.

After this short explanation, let us do a short reflection on how we should understand certain müteşabih/resembling verses in which the stories of Prophet Musa are told;

The resembling (müteşabih) method also resorted to in certain verses describing what Prophet Musa experienced, certain opponents of the Quran who cannot reflect as is due, by saying “the expressions told in the form of Prophet Musa’s staff turning into a serpent and eating the serpents of the magicians, previously supporters of Pharaoh, are (God forbid) nothing but fairy tales”, bring a superficial and insincere criticism against Allah’s final message.

Now let us recall the relevant verses;
7:115 – The sorcerers said to Musa: “O Musa! Will you display your skill first, or shall we?”

When we examine the verses written above; for the purpose of supporting the denying and oppressive mentality represented by Pharaoh, on the previously agreed day of HACC (proof-debate) the opponents of creation first put forward their evidence. Then Prophet Musa presented his tawhid-rooted arguments against these ideas. For example, Darwinism uses people’s lack of knowledge on scientific subjects and tries to create a presupposition among ignorant masses. The method used for this is to perform mass hypnosis through abundant repetition and to be able to create the effect of a spell.

Today this effect of mass hypnosis has engulfed the whole world. So much so that a great part of people have been turned into ardent defenders of “evolution”, about which they in fact know nothing. In fact many of them are not even conscious of what they are defending. They have merely been influenced by the imaginary pictures of ape-men gradually straightening up that they see in the daily newspapers, or by news such as “our ancestor was a worm”. With such suggestions, mass hypnosis has been brought to success. Because of this false success, no one has thought to ask “is there any evidence?”.
When Prophet Musa presented the evidence of Creation, even those who defended the ideas of the denying mentality based on everything having formed by chance, seeing the intellectual rout they suffered in the face of the reality of creation, immediately believed. What this narrative is, is that people of pure reason were able to see the scientific and rational evidence of Allah, the Creator of the whole universe.

The background of the narrative in the form of Prophet Musa’s staff turning into a serpent and eating the other serpents is like this.

Allah knows best.