Musa is one of our greatest teachers. Allah SWT narrates his stories, and his words to us in the Quran more than any other prophet.
We learn in Surah Kahf, however, that even the the greatest of teachers are also students. Allah commands Musa AS to search for a man who will show him what he doesn’t know, a man who will teach him.
We can only imagine that the the status and knowledge of this man to whom Musa AS was sent to is immense. This great prophet of Allah, this leader of a nation, is told to trek across endless terrain just to find him.
Yet, when Allah SWT describes such an amazing and knowledge person, he does so by not only calling him a slave, but by calling him a slave from amongst slaves, the most humbling of monikers.
In this, we learn something profound. The more one increases in knowledge, the more humbled he should be. Knowledge increases one’s ranks, and the highest of ranks we may achieve before the Lord of the Worlds is slave.
Often times, in the present day, we think in opposite terms. As we come to understand more and more, we become fuller and fuller of ourselves, losing sight of the purpose of knowledge itself.
Knowledge is not a goal, rather a path. A path towards guidance. If we treat it as anything else it will consume and destroy us with self delusion. If such great men as Musa were humble before the Lord of the Worlds then it is certainly upon us to take that same attitude.
