Surah Taa-Haa (20) — Ayah 32

32. 1. It is said that when Musa (Moses) ﷺ was being raised in Pharaoh’s royal palace, instead of a date or a pearl, he put a burning coal in his mouth, which burned his tongue and caused a stutter (Ibn Kathir). When Allah commanded him to go to Pharaoh and deliver His message, two things came to Musa’s ﷺ mind: first, that Pharaoh was a very tyrannical and arrogant king, even claiming to be a lord; second, that a man from Pharaoh’s people had been killed at Musa’s ﷺ hands, because of which Musa ﷺ had to flee to save his life. That is, one was the fear of Pharaoh’s greatness and tyranny, and the other was the apprehension of the incident that had occurred at his own hands. In addition to these two, there was a third matter: the stutter in his tongue. Musa ﷺ prayed, “O Allah! Open my chest so that I may bear the burden of prophethood. Make my task easy for me,” meaning, “Help me in the mission that lies ahead of me, and untie the knot from my tongue so that I may deliver Your message to Pharaoh with complete clarity, and if needed, defend myself as well.” Along with this, he also prayed, “Make my brother Harun (Aaron) ﷺ (it is said that he was older than Musa ﷺ) as my helper and supporter, my minister and partner in the task.” Wazir (minister) is in the sense of mu’āzir, meaning one who bears the burden. Just as a minister bears the burden of a king and is his advisor in the affairs of the kingdom, in the same way, Harun ﷺ would be my advisor and burden-bearing companion.