Al-Asa
Definition
Al-asa — the staff or rod — is Musa's shepherd's stick that became, by divine power, a miraculous instrument used across the entire course of his prophetic mission. It transformed into a serpent before Pharaoh, devouring the illusory serpents of the court magicians. It struck the sea to part it. It struck the rock to produce twelve springs for the twelve tribes of Israel. Ibn Kathir notes the deliberate ordinariness of the staff's origin — a shepherd's tool, nothing special — and the extraordinary transformation it underwent as a vehicle of divine power. The staff represents the principle that divine power can manifest through the most humble instruments when those instruments are placed in the service of a genuine prophetic mission.
As understood in the classical tradition of Ibn Kathir and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
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