And We tried thee with trials. In other words, “We cooked you well with trial until you became limpid and immaculate, then We took you totally to Ourselves, so that you would not belong to any other.” “O Moses, We took you to the oven of trial and put you into self-purification so that nothing would remain in your heart but My love and nothing on your tongue but My remembrance.” What were those trials and troubles that sat on his head? When he was first born he was born in secrecy, in a house without lamp, poor, without pleasures. His mother could not have a son be- cause of fear of Pharaoh, who was killing sons. She put him into the casket and threw it in the river. His first home was the river. His second home was the sword, the execution ground, and seeing the enemy. His third home was fear of the Egyptians, because he had killed one of them. Then he fled looking back at them, his heart upset, his spirit bewildered, his feet bare, and his stomach hungry. He did not know where to go, and then he reached Midian and became a wage-earner and a shepherd with Shuʿayb. In burning and remorse because of constant tribulation he said, “How long will You drive me to every street? How long will You make me taste every poison? First You toss me in the river, then You show me to the enemy. Then You throw me into exile working for Shuʿayb as a shepherd. How could a shepherd have the worth for You to call him without intermediary? Then You bring him to Mount Sinai, You speak with him countless words. And if he says, 'I want vision from You,' You say to him, 'Moses, thou shalt not see Me' [7:143].” Thus He threw him into trial mixed with gentleness, He adorned him with wounds mixed with tenderness, and He washed him with many sorts of trial. What was all this for? It was so that he would belong to Him, just as He says:
