Melaka Is the Promised Land

Part 5: Between Mashriq and Maghrib – Why Did Musa Choose Mashriq?

After hundreds of years living as slaves in Egypt, located at the centre of the world between the Nile, the Euphrates, the Levant and Yemen, Allah granted a great favour to the Children of Israel. While they were still in Egypt, Allah commanded them in Surah al A‘raf 7:137 that they would inherit mashariq al ardh wa magharibaha, the eastern parts of the earth where the sun rises and its western parts as well.

وَأَوْرَثْنَا الْقَوْمَ الَّذِينَ كَانُوا يُسْتُضْعَفُونَ مَشَارِقَ الْأَرْضِ وَمَغَارِبَهَا

“We caused the people who had been oppressed to inherit the eastern parts of the earth and its western parts.”

Surah al A‘raf 7:137

At that moment Pharaoh planned to kill and oppress them even more severely, as recorded in Surah Yunus 10:83:

عَلَىٰ خَوْفٍ مِّن فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَإِهِمْ أَن يَفْتِنَهُمْ

“They were in fear of Pharaoh and his chiefs that they would persecute them.”

Surah Yunus 10:83

This revelation forced Prophet Musa to make an immediate decision. Two directions had been given by Allah, the east and the west. Musa chose the east. When they arrived at the seashore, his followers became doubtful and anxious as recorded in Surah Ash Shu‘ara 26:61:

فَلَمَّا تَرَٰٓءَا ٱلْجَمْعَانِ قَالَ أَصْحَـٰبُ مُوسَىٰٓ إِنَّا لَمُدْرَكُونَ

“When the two groups saw one another, the companions of Musa said: ‘We will surely be overtaken.’”

Surah Ash Shu‘ara 26:61

But Musa remained firm because the eastern direction was the direction of revelation, not human interpretation. Musa replied in the next verse, 26:62:

قَالَ كَلَّآ ۖ إِنَّ مَعِىَ رَبِّى سَيَهْدِينِ

“He said: ‘No! Indeed, my Lord is with me. He will guide me.’”

Surah Ash Shu‘ara 26:62

Thus the gate of the east was opened and the gate of the west was forgotten. The path to the mashriq became the divine decree for that journey. As they crossed and Pharaoh was drowned, Allah declared that the entire episode of taghut had been sealed. Allah says:

فَٱنتَقَمْنَا مِنْهُمْ فَأَغْرَقْنَـٰهُمْ فِى ٱلْيَمِّ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَا وَكَانُوا۟ عَنْهَا غَـٰفِلِينَ

“So We took vengeance upon them and drowned them in the sea because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them.”

Surah al A‘raf 7:136

Based on this verse, this was the decisive moment that sealed the choice between the Children of Israel and the west. The west would lead them back to the Nile Delta, the seat of Pharaoh’s power. The west was the direction of their history of enslavement. The west was not the direction of their future. When Pharaoh was destroyed, Allah cut the power of the west and ended all forms of taghut. The segment of the Children of Israel who remained in Egypt inherited the land after Pharaoh perished, whereas the group that departed with Musa received the inheritance of mashariq and magharib as written in 7:137. Thus the west was closed to the Exodus group and the east became their destined future.

وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ الْحُسْنَىٰ عَلَىٰ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ

“And the good word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel.”

Surah al A‘raf 7:137

This is the proof that after Pharaoh was drowned, the gate of the future was opened. At this moment two great favours took place. First, the grant of muluka as mentioned in Surah al Maidah 5:20. Second, the granting of the two ends of the earth, mashariq and magharib, which Allah had decreed for them in 7:137. Mashariq in this study refers to the Malay Archipelago, while magharib refers to its twin counterpart in Central America and the Caribbean.

This verse carries three conclusions. Allah Himself chose both ends of the world for them. This gift came after their liberation from Pharaoh. This inheritance is not a small political territory but a vast expanse of land for them to build a new identity as a free people and no longer slaves.

To understand why Musa chose the mashriq, we must observe the direction of travel after crossing the sea. The Children of Israel had never lived in Palestine throughout their enslavement. They had no ancestral land to “return” to. The west meant returning to Egypt. Allah never commands liberated slaves to return to the land of their oppressor. The east was the direction of liberation from taghut. The west was the direction of returning to the old world.

The structure of Allah’s verses in the Quran supports this understanding entirely. The Red Sea lies east of Egypt. The Exodus moved eastward. The first revelation after liberation also directed them eastward. Not a single Quranic verse describes Musa travelling west or any other direction after liberation. The west is always associated with Pharaoh’s power structure and their past suffering.

The eastern direction in revelation also carries two major symbols. The east is the direction of sunrise, the direction of beginnings and new birth. The east is also the direction of barakah. The prophets before Musa, such as Ibrahim and Lut, moved toward blessed lands in the east as mentioned in Surah al Anbiya 21:71:

وَنَجَّيْنَاهُ وَلُوطًا إِلَى الْأَرْضِ الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا لِلْعَالَمِينَ

“We delivered him and Lut to the land which We blessed for all peoples.”

Surah al Anbiya 21:71

The blessed land in this verse is not confined to a single point because the Quranic concept of barokna is expansive, not narrow. It refers to a zone blessed by Allah for mankind. A land that has repeatedly been destroyed and devastated cannot be that land of barakah. It must lead toward the mashriq, which is safer, fertile and removed from the power struggles of the old world. The concept of barokna in the Quran is not a fixed point but a broad blessed region. If an area has been destroyed repeatedly, such as modern Palestine, it no longer fits the Quranic criteria of continuous, growing barakah. Barokna must align with the lands of the mashriq preserved for them in 7:137.

This is the sacred land commanded in Surah al Maidah 5:21:

ادْخُلُوا الْأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ

“Enter the sacred land which Allah has prescribed for you.”

Surah al Maidah 5:21

This sacred land written by Allah lies in the mashriq inherited in 7:137, which is the Malay Archipelago in this study. It is not Palestine because Palestine lies to the west and is part of the old world’s central arena or ummul qura. Palestine was populated by nations locked in conflict. Palestine lies near Egypt, and returning in that direction is returning toward Pharaoh’s former administrative centre. Although many assume that the Jabbarin were in Palestine, within this framework the Jabbarin were in the sacred land of the mashriq because that land had already been written for them through revelation. The sacred land commanded in 5:21 cannot refer to Palestine because the Quran proves that Musa never entered Palestine. Allah decreed forty years of wandering in Surah al Maidah 5:26. Therefore the land written for them cannot be Palestine in the west but must be the land in the east.

Palestine was inhabited by warring nations. Palestine lies close to Egypt, and moving toward it would mean returning toward Pharaoh’s centre of power. Palestine is located west of the Exodus route, and returning west would mean drawing closer to the political sphere that Allah had just destroyed. The structure of Surah Yunus 10:83 shows that their fear was still attached to the western power. They feared Pharaoh and his chiefs who ruled from the west of Egypt.

Although many assume the Jabbarin lived in Palestine, within this framework the Jabbarin inhabited the sacred land of the mashriq, because that land had already been decreed for them through revelation. The Quran never names Palestine as the location of the Jabbarin. The association of the Jabbarin with Palestine comes from Isra’iliyyat and classical tafsir dependent on Jewish sources. These do not stand as Quranic evidence and therefore cannot bind Quranic interpretation.

Besides the Quranic evidence, ancient geography reinforces this conclusion. From Egypt there was no safe land route toward the west. The only land route was back into Egypt. A sea route westward would require returning to the Nile Delta before entering the Mediterranean, bringing them back into the power orbit they had just escaped. The crossing of the Red Sea was not a small relocation but a complete severance from the old world. Allah opened only the eastern path by splitting the sea. That path was the exit toward the mashriq. Egypt remained for the segment of the Children of Israel who did not believe and did not follow Musa. The fall of Pharaoh lifted oppression from them, while the mashriq became the path for the small believing group who followed Musa.

The concept of barokna becomes the strongest argument. The land of barakah is the land of prophets, the land blessed by Allah with the continuity of revelation. Such a land must be fertile, peaceful and suitable as the base for a free people to continue the prophetic legacy. A land that is being destroyed cannot be the land of barokna. Within this framework the land of barakah lies in the Malay Archipelago. Musa would surely lead his people to the blessed land decreed by Allah, for that is where the legacy of earlier prophets continued. This blessed land will be discussed in greater detail in other sections.

Conclusion

All the evidence presented in the story of Musa proves that the mashriq was not a geographical choice but a decision of revelation. Allah closed all western paths by drowning Pharaoh in Surah al A‘raf 7:136 and opened the path of the future through the inheritance of mashariq al ardh and the command to enter the sacred land in Surah al Maidah 5:21. That land never referred to Palestine because Musa never entered Palestine according to Surah al Maidah 5:26.

Within this framework the mashriq is the region for rebuilding a free community and the land of barokna that continues the prophetic legacy. This is the wisdom behind Musa journeying eastward. That direction was decreed by Allah as the first gate of the Children of Israel’s future and the foundation of the true sacred land in the unfolding of revelation.

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