Moses
Arabic Musa. Prophet who led Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. The Quran records him having been placed in a basket in the Nile as a child, being taken into the house of Pharaoh , his appearance before Pharaoh, his encounters with court magicians, the plagues sent against Egypt when Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, the parting of the sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's army, Moses' forty days on the mountain, the receipt of the Tablets of Law, and the striking of his staff against a rock in the desert to obtain water. In the Quranic account Moses sets down the tablets containing God's commandments, rather than breaking them, after discovering the Israelites worshiping the golden calf.