Moses entered that great Prophet’s house where the table was...

Moses entered that great Prophet’s house where the table was already spread for dinner. Jethro requested the young man to sit down for dinner. Moses insisted on not eating the food but Jethro asked him whether he was hungry. Moses replied that he was hungry, but he was afraid that the dinner before him was in compensation for his previous good deed.

He said, “We are of a family who will not even exchange a bit of our good deeds for the Hereafter, even an earth full of pure gold.” Jethro said: “O, young man! I swear to God that this was not what I had in mind when inviting you to dinner. I didn’t intend to recompense your divine deed with food from my table. It is my father’s and my custom to entertain guests and serve them food. After this discussion, Moses sat down at the table to eat.

(2) Really, it is very astonishing that Moses had left Egypt some time ago and been wandering around in the wilderness, but during that time, he was not able to find any suitable food. He had eaten the sweet plants of the desert and upon entering Jethro’s house, he saw a prepared and pleasant table of food.

Even though he was terribly hungry, he decided not to eat the food because he thought that his deed (watering the sheep) was done only for God’s sake and it might possibly be lessened in the sight of Allah by eating the food. However, when Jethro insured Moses that he also intended to please God and had sincere intentions in entertaining his guest, then Moses sat down to eat. Jethro’s sincerity was the reason why Moses became Jethro’s shepherd for the next eight years.

And Moses’ sincerity was the reason why the Prophet Jethro (Pbuh) became Moses’s father-in-law. The Material Issues of the Family The Qur’an says: O ye people! Eat of what is on earth, lawful and good; and do not follow the footsteps of the Evil One, for he is to you an avowed enemy. (3) The Virtues and Vices of Wealth A man’s need for property and wealth to manage his life’s affairs, especially with the burdensome responsibility of managing a family, is a completely natural need.

Wealth and property, business and commerce are not in any way connected with virtue or vice when they are not related to man. For example, iron is a type of property and may be moulded into many shapes. Many tools are made from it, but until man gains control over it, it is simply a material having no benefits and no evilness. Iron is beneficial when managed by a polite, dignified and noble believer.