In answer to the video "Muhammad, Musa, and the Angel of Death (Anthony Rogers)"
In the Bible we read of how Esau, who had been deceived by Jacob out of his covenant, and with God's approval, would eventualy reconcile with his brother. Then like with Ishmael and Isaac, they would both attend their father's burrial Gen33:4,35:28-29. Prior to this reconciliation, occurs the strange incident of Jacob's night long "wrestling" with an angel Hos12:4-5.
Jewish oral tradition asserts this angel was Samael, Esau's guardian angel who was against Jacob's blessing (Bereshit Rabba 77 as well as Rashi and the Zohar). The encounter was not conversational but a real clash of titans, a contest so brutal that it says in the Talmud they were casting up dust all the way up to the divine throne!
The celestial entity couldnt overpower Jacob no matter what. They went on for hours like this until daybreak where the angel was able to dislocate Jacob's hip through a stealthy technique consisting of a light touch Gen32:26. But Jacob was apparently so resilient, or maybe this angel so feeble, that he was still grasping the angel with a grip so firm that to extricate himself, the angel eventually gave in to Jacob's demands.
The defeated and submitted angel, in some interpretations it is God Himself in the form of an angel or human shape, acknowledged Jacob's stolen rights over Esau, even blessing him and changing his name. This is because Jacob implies deception. The rabbinic tradition states
"it shall no longer be said that the blessings came to you through trickery and deceit, but with nobility and openness, and ultimately, the Holy One, blessed be He, will reveal Himself to you in Beth-el and change your name, and there He will bless you, and I will be there.“ He then acknowledged them (the blessings) as being his (Jacob’s)".The "nobility" of Jacob was not in humbly admitting to deceit, repenting and restituting others' rights but instead in succesfully wrestling a celestial entity wanting to punish him
Gen32:29"Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have commanding power with [an angel of] God and with men, and you have prevailed".Years after the deception, Jacob wondered whether Esau still held a grudge against him. Upon finding that he did, he prepared for war all the while still sending gifts to appease his brother. It never crossed Jacob's mind to return his brother's stolen rights.
An interesting anecdote in Muslim literature is that of Moses' encounter with an angel of death. The angel, sent in human form (both the Quran and the HB state that angels appear in this world as humans) was slapped by Moses so hard that his eye fell from its socket. Moses was a passionate man who many times physically expressed his inner frustrations, anger or fears.
In sura kahf he contested the actions of an envoy from God despite the warnings not to interfere. But as when he punched a man whom he thought was an unjust aggressor, inadvertendly killing him 28:15-19 when he threw down the tablets of revelation or when he violently seized his older brother Aaron 7:150,20:94 none of his actions were incited by base desires or sinful motives. Maybe Moses in this case did not believe him to be God sent initially, just as Ibrahim and Lut did not originally know that their guests were angels. Whereas Ibrahim expressed his fear by remaining silent and taking his distance from the angelic guests, Moses reacted impulsively and ended up punching the angel.
The unspecified circumstances of the encounter or the dialogue that occured led Moses to do what he did. Add the fact that Moses had almost finally attained his life mission, after suffering over a 100 years of untold hardships, trials and frustrations, of having the promised land within reach. This expressive man, who according to the HB was taken to God at the age of 120 while he still possessed all his strength and health Deut34:7 was certainly not going to let an unidentified visitor compromise his noble life goal, someone he most probably saw as a threat, just as Ibrahim was originally fearful of his unanounced angelic visitors who came as humans 15:52.
But as he saw the same visitor a second time with his eye restaured he couldn't dispute whatever the angelic envoy was saying, so he humbly accepted that his time had come, just as he always humbly returned to God following his outbursts 7:151,28:15-16. Moses declined God's offer through the angel of having his years extended, preferring 100 times to meet his Lord right away in the everlasting abode than delaying it for a few more years in this ephemeral world
"Allah restored his eye and said, "Go back and tell him (i.e. Moses) to place his hand over the back of an ox, for he will be allowed to live for a number of years equal to the number of hairs coming under his hand." (So the angel came to him and told him the same). Then Moses asked, "O my Lord! What will be then?" He said, "Death will be then." He said, "(Let it be) now." He asked Allah that He bring him near the Sacred Land at a distance of a stone's throw. Allah's Messenger said, "Were I there I would show you the grave of Moses by the way near the red sand hill."This is the reality of Moses, the noble prophet's dignified end.
Neither did a mysterious sin lead to him being prevented entry to the promised land nor was God "furious" at him for some convoluted reason the judeo-christian scholars will never cease conjecturing about.
This leads the discussion to one of the most controversial issues to the talmudic rabbis. When during their exodus the Israelites arrived to Marah, a locality in the desert of Shur, they found a source of water from which they could not drink because of its bitterness. Moses prayed for a miracle from God, who in answer told him to cast a piece of wood in it to make it drinkable Ex15:22-25. As they continued their journey they arrived to Elim where 12 springs of water were ready for them Ex15:27. They continued their advance until the desert of Sin where an abundance of water sprang from a rock after Moses was commanded to strike with his staff Ex17:1-7. Many years later, towards the end of the Israelites' wandering in the desert resulting from their refusal to trust in God and enter the promised land when commanded, they arrived and camped at the desert of Zin Numb20:1-13.
As before, the Israelites longed for water so Moses was commanded to take his staff and, along with his brother Aaron go talk to a rock for it to produce water. Instead of talking to it, Moses struck it twice with his staff (the staff God had explicitly ordered him to take with him at the site), following the method that worked before, which caused an abundance of water to gush forth. Both Moses and Aaron are then forbidden from leading the Israelites to the promised land, a role now trusted to Joshua, Moses' disciple.
The reason for that divine decree is the source of much controversy in rabbinic writings, with many speculating on whether the forced relinquishing of their leadership to guide the Israelites to the promised land was directly linked to the striking of the rock instead of talking to it, or something else.
After all God did tell him to take the rod with him, and water did gush from the rock as a direct consequence of being struck. Also, Aaron was equally punished yet he wasnt the one to have "disobeyed" the command by striking the rock instead of talking to it. Although the text clearly states that the events "at the rock" directly led to this divine decree, nowhere does the text explicitly define the cause that led to it.
In fact the wide range of comments offered in traditional interpretive literature is so vast, from Moses comitting no sin at all to a long list of transgressions that led to demoting him from his position, that most Jewish scholars loath to investigate the issue in depth, fearing to unjustly burden Moses with sins he might not have ever comitted.
We Muslims will let them wander on blindly in their baseless conjectures.
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