Picture a wide, wide river sparkling in the sunshine. On the water floats a little basket. And inside the basket, fast asleep, is a tiny baby. Where is he going? Only Allah knows, and Allah is steering.
Long ago in Egypt there lived a king called Pharaoh, and he was not kind at all. He thought he was the greatest of everyone, and he was very unkind to one group of people, so unkind that their mothers were afraid for their baby boys.
Musa (alayhis salam), which means peace be upon him, was born right in that scary time. But listen to what Allah did. Allah put a message into his mother's heart: feed your baby, and when you feel afraid for him, place him in the river. Do not be afraid, and do not be sad. I will bring him back to you, and I will make him a messenger.
That is a very hard thing for a mother to do! But she trusted Allah completely. She tucked baby Musa into a little basket and let the river take him. And that basket was not just drifting along. Allah was carrying it, like the safest pair of hands in the world.
And where did the river bring the baby? Right to the garden of the palace, the palace of Pharaoh himself! The king's wife found the little baby, and her heart melted with love the moment she saw his face. He is a comfort for my eyes, she said. Let us keep him as our son. Allah had poured His own special love onto Musa, so that hearts turned soft whenever they looked at him.
Now baby Musa got hungry. But here comes another secret part of Allah's plan: the baby would not drink milk from any woman in the palace. Every nurse tried, and the baby turned his little face away and cried. The whole palace did not know what to do!
Musa's big sister had been quietly following the basket along the riverbank, watching everything. She stepped forward and said: shall I show you a family who will feed him and truly care for him? Yes, they said, bring her, bring her!
And so baby Musa was placed back into the arms of his very own mother. He drank his milk right away. Nobody in the palace knew who she was, but Allah knew. The mother held her baby again, exactly as Allah had promised, and the palace even paid her and looked after her! The Qur'an tells us Allah returned him to her so that her eyes would be cooled and she would know that the promise of Allah is true.
Musa grew up strong and safe, and became one of the greatest prophets of all time, the prophet mentioned most in the whole Qur'an. But it all started with a basket, a river, and a mother who trusted Allah.
So when you snuggle down tonight, remember the little basket on the big river. When Allah makes a promise, He always, always keeps it. And the One who watched over baby Musa is watching over you.