Appearance
Verses 75–93
Now God turns to relate the story of Moses and his brother and assistant Aaron with Pharaoh and his chiefs. The story is summarized, but He presents it in a manner that corresponds to the different stages of the mission of the Prophet of Islam and his calling his people and the tyrants among Quraysh and others towards God: The fact is that none of them believed except the weak amongst them, and the Quraysh persecuted them until they were forced to emigrate. So, the Prophet and a group of the believers emigrated to Medina. However, the Pharaohs of his people and their chiefs pursued them, so God destroyed them on account of their sins. God granted the believers the blessings of Islam and provided them with a good provision, but they differed after knowledge came to them and God will judge between them.
All of this confirms what God had confided to His Prophet in these verses concerning the future events that he and his people would face, and confirms what the Prophet himself had told his Companions and his nation: ‘You will surely follow in the footsteps of the Children of Israel, such that if they entered a lizard hole, you would enter it also.’
ثُمَّ بَعَثْنَا مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ مُوسَىٰ وَهَارُونَ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَئِهِ بِآيَاتِنَا فَاسْتَكْبَرُوا وَكَانُوا قَوْمًا مُجْرِمِينَ ٧٥
(10:75) Then, after them, We sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and his elite with Our signs, but they acted arrogantly and they were a guilty lot.
Meaning: ‘After Noah and the messengers who came after him, We sent Moses and his brother Aaron with Our signs to Pharaoh and the elite of his people, who were the Egyptians, but they arrogantly rejected Our signs and persisted in their crimes.’
فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ عِنْدِنَا قَالُوا إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَسِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ ٧٦
(10:76) When the truth from Us came to them, they said, ‘This is indeed plain magic!’
Based on the apparent meaning of the verse, ‘the truth’ in this verse refers to the true signs of God, like his staff turning into a serpent or his hand glowing white. God made these the sign of His message of truth, but when this truth came to them, they derided it and claimed, ‘surely, this’—pointing to the signs of truth—‘is plain magic!’ Note that the verse only refers to God’s signs as ‘the truth’ because they had derided it as magic.
قَالَ مُوسَىٰ أَتَقُولُونَ لِلْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَاءَكُمْ ۖ أَسِحْرٌ هَٰذَا وَلَا يُفْلِحُ السَّاحِرُونَ ٧٧
(10:77) Moses said, ‘Do you say of the truth when it comes to you? Is this magic? Magicians do not find salvation.’
Meaning: ‘When Moses heard what they said and their accusation that the truth was plain magic, he said to them, rebuking their statement in the form of a question: “Do you say of the truth when it comes to you that it is magic?” Then he repeats his rebuke in the form of a question, saying: “Is this magic?”’ Their actual statement in the first question is omitted for the sake of brevity, since the second question implies it. When He says, Magicians do not find salvation, this could be an adverbial sentence explaining the rebuke indicated by his saying: Is this magic? It could also be an independent informative statement indicating the reality that Moses disassociates himself from the practice of magic because he sees himself as divinely saved and that magicians will not receive salvation.
قَالُوا أَجِئْتَنَا لِتَلْفِتَنَا عَمَّا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا وَتَكُونَ لَكُمَا الْكِبْرِيَاءُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا نَحْنُ لَكُمَا بِمُؤْمِنِينَ ٧٨
(10:78) They said, ‘Have you come to us to turn us away (li-talfitanā) from what we found our fathers following, so that supremacy may be yours in the land? We will not believe in the two of you.’
Laft (‘to turn away’, the root from whence the verb talfitanā is derived) means to divert someone from something.
Therefore, the meaning of this verse is: ‘Pharaoh and his chiefs said to Moses, reproaching him, “Have you come to us to turn us away and divert us from what we found our fathers following …”—meaning the path of their forefathers and their ways—”so that supremacy may be yours in the land?”—meaning leadership, government, the exercise of power, and the influence of their will, implying that “you two are using religious preaching as a way to abolish our established way on earth and establish a new way that you two have innovated and wish to set-up in its place, through which you would gain authority and supremacy in the land by spreading it among the people and asking us to believe in you and obey you.”’
In other words: ‘You have come to replace the Pharaonic regime rooted in the Egyptians with an Israelite state led and directed by you two, and we will not believe in you so that you can achieve your goals and reach your desired ends with this fabricated call.’
وَقَالَ فِرْعَوْنُ ائْتُونِي بِكُلِّ سَاحِرٍ عَلِيمٍ ٧٩
(10:79) Pharaoh said, ‘Bring me every expert magician.’
Pharaoh ordered his elite to confront Moses’ miracle with the magic of the magicians, as detailed in the rest of the verses that narrate the story and indicated by the following verses.
فَلَمَّا جَاءَ السَّحَرَةُ قَالَ لَهُمْ مُوسَىٰ أَلْقُوا مَا أَنْتُمْ مُلْقُونَ ٨٠
(10:80) So when the magicians came, Moses said to them, ‘Throw down what you have to throw.’
When they came and faced Moses and prepared to confront him, Moses said to them: ‘Throw what you have prepared of ropes and staffs’, as they had prepared them to cast them forth and make them appear as snakes and serpents with their magic.
فَلَمَّا أَلْقَوْا قَالَ مُوسَىٰ مَا جِئْتُمْ بِهِ السِّحْرُ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَيُبْطِلُهُ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُصْلِحُ عَمَلَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ ٨١
(10:81) So when they threw down, Moses said, ‘What you have produced is magic. Indeed Allah will bring it to naught presently. Indeed Allah does not foster the efforts of those who cause corruption.
What Moses says here is an explanation of a reality that God would confirm when He made the truth manifest through him by transforming his staff into a serpent that swallowed the ropes and sticks thrown by the magicians, which they had made to appear in the forms of serpents through their practice of magic.
The truth he revealed to them was that what they had brought was magic, and the nature of magic is to make what is not real appear as though it actually is real to people’s senses and their sight, even though it is false in itself. For surely, God will show it to be false because the divine order is based on affirming the truth, establishing it in the cosmos, defeating falsehood, and nullifying it. Thus, the sovereignty belongs to the truth, even if falsehood sometimes prevails.
That is why he explained his statement, Indeed Allah will bring it to naught presently, by saying, Indeed Allah does not foster the efforts of those who cause corruption. This is because righteousness and corruption are two opposing qualities, and it is part of the divine order to cause what is righteous to profit and cause what is corrupt to fail, that is, to bring about for each of them the consequence that is appropriate and specific to its nature. The consequence of righteous work is that it is suitable and harmonious with the realities of the cosmic order, and it blends with and mixes with them, so God will cause it to profit and maintain its nature. By contrast, the consequence of corrupt work is that it is not suitable or harmonious with these cosmic truths, so it is an exception to this cosmic order. If God were to cause this corruption to profit, it would corrupt the cosmic order in turn.
Therefore, all of the causes and effects within the cosmic order, with all of their power and influence, oppose corruption and attempt to restore it to the right path if possible; otherwise, they nullify it, destroy it, and erase it entirely from the record of existence.
This reality necessarily entails that the effects of magic and all other falsehoods shall not last in existence, and God has confirmed this in various places throughout the Qurʾan. For example, He says, And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot (), and His saying, and Allah does not guide the transgressing lot () and His saying, Indeed Allah does not guide someone who is a profligate, a liar (). Another such example is His saying in this verse, Indeed Allah does not foster the efforts of those who cause corruption.
And He further confirmed it by affirming the positive aspect in the following verse, Allah will confirm the truth with His words, though the guilty should be averse (), as we will discuss presently.
وَيُحِقُّ اللَّهُ الْحَقَّ بِكَلِمَاتِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُجْرِمُونَ ٨٢
(10:82) Allah will confirm the truth with His words, though the guilty should be averse.’
In the previous verse, God said, Indeed Allah does not foster the efforts of those who cause corruption. In doing so, He revealed the same truth contained in this verse from a negative aspect. The present verse expounds the positive aspect of this truth, Allah will confirm the truth with His words. Both aspects of this truth can be seen in the verse in Sūrah al-Anfāl, so that He may confirm the truth and bring falsehood to naught, though the guilty should be averse ().
Based on this, it seems most likely that the term ‘words’ in this verse refers to various kinds of divine decree that govern the affairs of the cosmos in accordance with truth. Surely, whatever God decrees comes to pass, and the divine order governs all aspects of the cosmos, including both truth and falsehood. Therefore, falsehood cannot endure long before vanishing, while the truth remains. This is the meaning of the verse, He sends down water from the sky whereat the valleys are flooded to their capacity, and the flood carries along a swelling foam. And from what they smelt in the fire for the purpose of ornaments or wares, a similar scum. That is how Allah compares the truth and falsehood. As for the scum, it leaves as dross, and that which profits the people remains in the earth. That is how Allah draws comparisons. (). We shall discuss this meaning more fully in our commentary on the quoted verse.
In conclusion, Moses proclaimed this truth to make the magicians aware of the divine order of which they had previously remained heedless and to prepare their souls for what they were about to behold—the overwhelming triumph of miracle over magic and of truth over falsehood. That is why, when they beheld his miracles, they hastened to belief and threw themselves prostrating on the ground, as God has explained elsewhere.
Note that when God says, though the guilty should be averse, He singles out their guilt for mention. This is because the Arabic word ijrām suggests severing, as though they have severed themselves from the path of truth, and built their lives around this severance. Therefore, they detest the victory of the truth, because it implies the end of all they have built for themselves on this basis. That is why God attributes their aversion to the victory of the truth to their guilt, though the guilty should be averse. This evokes the meaning of the earlier verse, but they acted arrogantly and they were a guilty lot ().
فَمَا آمَنَ لِمُوسَىٰ إِلَّا ذُرِّيَّةٌ مِنْ قَوْمِهِ عَلَىٰ خَوْفٍ مِنْ فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَئِهِمْ أَنْ يَفْتِنَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ لَعَالٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَإِنَّهُ لَمِنَ الْمُسْرِفِينَ ٨٣ وَقَالَ مُوسَىٰ يَا قَوْمِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ آمَنْتُمْ بِاللَّهِ فَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلُوا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُسْلِمِينَ ٨٤
(10:83-84) But none believed in Moses except some youths from among his people, for the fear of Pharaoh and their elite that he would persecute them. For Pharaoh was indeed a tyrant in the land, and indeed he was unrestrained. And Moses said, ‘O my people! If you have faith in Allah, put your trust in Him, if you have submitted.’
Some commentators on the Qurʾan have suggested that the pronoun ‘his’ in ‘his people’ actually refers to Pharaoh rather than to Moses, and that the youths who believed in Moses from Pharaoh’s people were those whose mothers were Israelites and whose fathers were Egyptians. Therefore, they followed their mothers in believing in Moses. Some said that these youths were Egyptians, while others have argued that it refers to Pharaoh’s wife and the believer from Pharaoh’s clan (referenced in verses ) and ), along with a servant girl and another of Pharaoh’s wives who was called Mashāṭa.
Others have argued that the pronoun refers to Moses rather than Pharaoh and the youths mentioned here are a group of the Israelites who had learnt magic and were associates of Pharaoh. Others still have said that these were all Israelites, numbering 600,000 in total, and they are called ‘youths’ here because of their relative weakness. Yet others have argued that these are the offspring of the Israelites to whom Moses was sent, but many of whom had perished over a long period of time. However, as will be evident to the reader, there is nothing in the wording of the verse to suggest any of these interpretations.
What the context of the verse suggests, and what is apparent from its wording, is that the pronoun refers to Moses, and the offspring from Moses’ people are some of the weak members of the Children of Israel, not including their elite, powerful, and noble members. This would make sense, given that the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians and subjugated to their rule and their laws. In such situations, it is common for the noble and powerful to use any means to preserve their social status and national prestige, and to try to please the oppressor who controls them by offering wealth, showing loyalty, feigning advice, and avoiding things that he dislikes. Therefore, it was not possible for the elite of the Children of Israel to openly agree with Moses and display their faith in him.
However, the stories about the Children of Israel in the Qurʾan serve as evidence that many of the arrogant and powerful among them did not believe in Moses right until the end of his mission, even if they outwardly submitted to him and obeyed his general orders that were aimed at saving the Israelites and benefitting their nation, securing their people’s freedom, and in alignment with their own personal interests. Obedience in these matters was one thing for them, but having faith in God and following the teachings brought by Moses was another thing entirely.
Based on this, the pronoun ‘their’ in the phrase, ‘and their elite’ can be understood as referring to the youths of the Children of Israel, who, in their faith, were afraid of the elite and the nobles among their own people. Perhaps they prevented them from believing because of their own lack of faith, or because they feigned disbelief to keep Pharaoh and his people happy, so they would not be persecuted or oppressed by them.
As for the suggestion that the pronoun refers to Pharaoh and that it is plural because he had companions, or to the youths because they were Egyptians, these are claims without any basis in the text of the verse—especially the first one.
The verse says, that he would persecute them, meaning to torture them and force them to return to his faith. The verse also says, for Pharaoh was indeed a tyrant in the land, and indeed he was unrestrained, meaning that the reason for their fear was Pharaoh’s uninhibited despotism in his rule.
Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘The result of Moses and Aaron being sent to Pharaoh and of the tyranny of Pharaoh and his elite, was that only the weakest members of the Israelites believed in him. However, they feared their own elites and they feared that Pharaoh would persecute them on account of their faith. Moreover, it was right that they should fear him, for surely Pharaoh was at that time a tyrant in the land with complete power over them. He was utterly unrestrained in his despotism. He did not treat his subjects justly, and he went to extremes in his oppression and persecution.’
Now, if it were possible to read the phrase ‘his people’ as referring to all of those to whom Moses was sent and to all of those who heard his message from among both the Egyptians and the Israelites, the meaning of the verse would stand on its own without any need for the aforementioned explanations.
And Moses said, ‘O my people! If you have faith in Allah, put your trust in Him, if you submit’: Having faith in God engenders some knowledge in the believer, however general, about their relationship with God, namely that He is the ultimate cause of everything and that He is the director of all affairs. This knowledge calls on them to submit to God and to desist from relying on the apparent material causes of things, for that would be ignorant. Instead, they should turn all matters over to God and rely on Him. That is why the verse first conditions placing their trust in God and on their faith in Him, then adds to this the condition of their submission to Him.
The meaning of this verse can be understood as follows: ‘If you have believed in God and have submitted to Him, then place your trust in Him.’ However, the verse distinguishes between faith and submission, and does not say, ‘If you have believed and submitted to God…’, and this is because the two conditions differ in terms of their state. Faith, in the sense of belief, is already established for them. However, submission is part of the fulfilment and completion of faith. Not every believer has necessarily submitted, rather it befits the believer to complete their faith through submission.
Therefore, the distinction between these two conditions indicates that one of them is a necessary established condition, while the other condition is a goal that is to be achieved. This renders the meaning: ‘O my people, if you have believed in God—and you have indeed believed—and submitted to Him—and you should do so—then place your trust in God.’ The subtlety and eloquence of the construction of the verse is plain to see.
فَقَالُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا رَبَّنَا لَا تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِلْقَوْمِ الظَّالِمِينَ ٨٥ وَنَجِّنَا بِرَحْمَتِكَ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ ٨٦
(10:85-86) Whereat they said, ‘In Allah we have put our trust.’ ‘Our Lord! Do not make us a test for the wrongdoing lot, and deliver us by Your mercy from the faithless lot.’
They placed their trust in God to save them from Pharaoh and his elite. In their supplication, when they say, ‘Our Lord! Do not make us a test for the wrongdoing lot’, this is a request that results from their trust in God, asking Him to remove the garments of weakness and humiliation from them and to save them from the disbelieving people.
As for the first point, they alluded to it by saying, ‘Our Lord! Do not make us a test for the wrongdoing lot.’ This is because the thing that tempts the strong oppressors to oppress the weak is the weakness they perceive in the latter, which leads them to commit persecution and injustice. The weak person, due to their weakness, is a trial for the strong oppressor, just as wealth and children, with their allure and attractiveness, are a trial for humans. God says, Rather your possessions and children are a trial, and Allah (). The world is a trial for those who pursue it. Their request to their Lord not to make them a trial for the wrongdoing people is a request to remove their weakness and humiliation by eliminating the source of the temptation for the wrongdoers to mistreat them, which means to remove the thing by removing its cause.
As for the second point, salvation is mentioned in the following verse: ‘… and deliver us by Your mercy from the faithless lot.’
وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ مُوسَىٰ وَأَخِيهِ أَنْ تَبَوَّآ لِقَوْمِكُمَا بِمِصْرَ بُيُوتًا وَاجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ قِبْلَةً وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ٨٧
(10:87) We revealed to Moses and his brother, ‘Settle (tabawwaʾā) your people in the city (miṣr), and let your houses face each other (qibla), and maintain the prayer, and give good news to the faithful.’
Tabwiya (from whence the verb tabawwaʾā is derived) means to take up somewhere as a residence or dwelling. Miṣr here refers to the land of Pharaoh. Qibla denotes the construction or arrangement of things so that they are facing one another. The meaning here is to make their houses face one another and be in the same direction. The purpose was for them to make it easy for them to convey the message to each other and to be able to establish the congregational prayer together, as indicated by the phrase, and maintain the prayer, that comes immediately after this instruction.
As for His saying, and give good news to the faithful, the context indicates that the ‘good news’ is the fulfilment of what they asked in their supplication: Our Lord! Do not make us a test for the wrongdoing lot…
Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘We revealed to Moses and his brother to take for your people dwellings in the houses of Egypt…’—as if they had not been living there until that time, except as a nomadic group living in tents or a similar lifestyle—‘…and make you and your people’s houses face one another and in one direction, so that you are connected with each other, and it becomes easy to convey the message, consult with one another, and gather for congregational prayers. And maintain the prayer, and give good tidings, O Moses, to the faithful, that God will save them from Pharaoh and his people.’
وَقَالَ مُوسَىٰ رَبَّنَا إِنَّكَ آتَيْتَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَأَهُ زِينَةً وَأَمْوَالًا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا رَبَّنَا لِيُضِلُّوا عَنْ سَبِيلِكَ ۖ رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَىٰ أَمْوَالِهِمْ وَاشْدُدْ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ فَلَا يُؤْمِنُوا حَتَّىٰ يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الْأَلِيمَ ٨٨
(10:88) Moses said, ‘Our Lord! You have given Pharaoh and his elite glamour (zīna) and wealth in the life of this world, our Lord, so that they lead astray from Your way! Our Lord! Blot out their wealth and harden their hearts so that they do not believe until they sight the painful punishment.’
Adornment (zīna) refers to the outward appearance of a thing that attracts the soul to it. The relationship between adornment and wealth is general in nature; some adornment is not wealth for which a price is paid, such as a beautiful face or a well-proportioned stature. Some wealth is not adornment, like livestock and land, and some wealth is adornment, like jewelry. The mutual relationship between adornment and wealth indicates that the intended meaning of ‘adornment’ is the aspect of adornment without considering monetary value, like jewelry, attire, furniture, luxurious buildings, and other such things.
Moses said, ‘our Lord, so that they lead astray (li-yuḍillū) from Your way.’ Some have argued that the lām in li-yuḍillū signifies consequence (ʿāqiba), meaning that the outcome of the affair is that they lead people astray from God’s path. It is not possible to read this lām as purposive, as we already know on the basis of clear evidences, that God does not send His messengers to bid people to error, nor does He want people to go astray. Therefore, He cannot have given them wealth ‘in order that’ they lead others astray.
What they have said is true, but only in the case of primary misguidance, which something that God Almighty would never do. However, as for misguidance in the sense of being punished through misguidance or repaying evil with evil, there is no evidence to suggest that this is something God would not do. On the contrary, there are many instances in the Qurʾan that confirm that this is something He does. Pharaoh and his elite were arrogant and corrupt, and they persisted obstinately in their wrongdoing, so there is no reason why God should not give them adornment and wealth to lead them astray from His path as a recompense for what they earned through their misdeeds.
Others have said that the lām in so that they lead astray (li-yuḍillū) signifies a supplication. Still others have suggested that it should actually be understood as having an implicit negation, meaning: so that they do not lead astray from Your path. However, the context of the verse does not support either of these explanations.
It is said that ‘blot out’ means to cause to decline or deteriorate. So, when Moses asks God to blot out their wealth, this means to make it evanescent and fleeting. As for the phrase, ‘harden their hearts’ (washud ʿalā qulūbihim): The imperative ushdud is derived from shadd (to tighten), which is the opposite of ḥall (to loosen). Therefore Moses is asking God to bind their hearts and seal them so that they will never be open to the truth and they will never believe until they see the painful punishment that is in store for them. Some commentators have said that the meaning of ushdud is to keep them steadfast in their position in Egypt after the obliteration of their wealth, so that it would be more severe and painful for them. Similarly, others say that it is an allusion to their death and destruction. However, these are rather far-fetched explanations of the passage.
Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘After Moses despaired of Pharaoh and his elite ever believing and was certain that they would persist in misguidance and leading others astray, as indicated by the context of his speech, he said: “Our Lord! Indeed You have given Pharaoh and his elite, as a recompense for their disbelief and arrogance, adornment and wealth in this worldly life. Our Lord! It is Your will for them to lead those who follow them astray from Your path, and Your will is not to be thwarted, and Your purpose is not to be foiled. Our Lord! So extend Your wrath over them, obliterate their wealth and change it from a source of blessing to a source of punishment, and make their hearts tight and sealed so that they will not believe until they experience a situation in which faith will not benefit them, which is the time when they will sight the divine punishment.”’
This supplication by Moses, peace be upon him, against Pharaoh and his elite was only after he completely despaired of their faith and knew that in their life they would only mislead and misguide others, just like Noah’s supplication against his people, as God relates elsewhere: And Noah said, ‘My Lord! ‘Do not leave on the earth any inhabitant from among the faithless. If You leave them, they will lead astray Your servants and will not beget except vicious ingrates (). It would not befit the prophets to speak out of conjecture or speculation when they are in the presence of the Lord of the Worlds, whose majesty is exalted and whose rank is honored. Therefore, it is clear that they had complete certainty that their peoples would not be guided.
قَالَ قَدْ أُجِيبَتْ دَعْوَتُكُمَا فَاسْتَقِيمَا وَلَا تَتَّبِعَانِّ سَبِيلَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ ٨٩
(10:89) Said He, ‘Your supplication has already been granted. So be steadfast, and do not follow the way of those who do not know.
As the context indicates, this verse is addressed to Moses and Aaron, even though the supplication in the previous verse was only from Moses. This supports what some commentators have mentioned, namely that Moses used to supplicate, and Aaron would to affirm his supplication and say ‘Amen.’ This means that they would supplicate together, even though the words of the supplication themselves were only uttered by Moses alone.
Steadfastness (istiqāma) means to be firm in a matter. In this context, it means that Moses and Aaron should remain steadfast in calling others to God and reviving the word of truth. What is meant by the phrase, those who do not know, is the ignorant amongst the Children of Israel. Moses has previously described them in such terms, saying: You are indeed an ignorant lot ().
Therefore, the meaning of the verse is, Said He—God, speaking to Moses and Aaron—‘Your supplication has already been granted—calling down a painful punishment on Pharaoh and his elite, the obliteration of their wealth, and the hardening of their hearts—so be steadfast—and do not waver in what you have been commanded to do, which is to call to God and revive the word of truth—and do not follow—ever—the way of those who do not know’—by responding to what they demand of you out of their own desires and the calls of their lusts. This implies that they will ask for things that involve reviving their tribal traditions and their pre-Islamic way of life.
Overall, the verse mentions the answer to their supplication, which includes the punishment of Pharaoh and his elite and their being denied the success of faith, and promises them both this, which is why, in the following verse, His fulfilment of this promise is described in more specific terms.
There was nothing in their supplication that indicated a request either for immediate action or delay in their punishment. This is also true of the verse indicating that God accepted their supplication and delivered what they asked for and of the verse informing them how the promise was fulfilled. It is reported in Majmaʿ al-bayān, from Ibn Jurayj, that Pharaoh lived another forty years after this supplication.
وَجَاوَزْنَا بِبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ الْبَحْرَ فَأَتْبَعَهُمْ فِرْعَوْنُ وَجُنُودُهُ بَغْيًا وَعَدْوًا ۖ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا أَدْرَكَهُ الْغَرَقُ قَالَ آمَنْتُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا الَّذِي آمَنَتْ بِهِ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ وَأَنَا مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ ٩٠
(10:90) We carried the Children of Israel across the sea, whereat Pharaoh and his troops pursued them (atbaʿa-hum) out of defiance and aggression (baghyan wa ʿaduwwan). When overtaken (adraka-hu) by drowning, he called out, ‘I believe that there is no god except Him in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am one of those who submit.’
Baghyan wa ʿaduwwan (‘out of defiance and aggression’) means wrongly and tyrannically.
Idrāk (‘to overtake’, from whence the verb adraka is derived), means to catch something and gain power over it. Likewise, itbāʿ (‘to pursue’, from whence atbaʿa is derived) means to try and catch it.
I believe that there is no god except Him in whom the Children of Israel believe: Meaning, ‘I believe that He is One.’
Pharaoh describes God ‘Him in whom the Children of Israel’ so that he could achieve what they had achieved through their faith, namely crossing the Red Sea and being kept safe from drowning. That is why he mentions both faith and submission to remove the consequences of his persistent disobedience, which was associating partners with God and showing arrogance towards Him. The rest of the verse’s meaning is obvious.
آلْآنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ قَبْلُ وَكُنْتَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ ٩١
(10:91) ‘What! Now? (Āl-ān) When you have been disobedient heretofore and were among the agents of corruption?!
Note that the verse begins with āl-ān, with a long vowel at the beginning. This is because it is a contraction of a al-ān (where a is an interrogative particle, signifying a question). In other words, ‘What? Do you believe in God now, at a time when the punishment has already overtaken you, and faith and repentance are of no avail when you are shrouded by punishment and death comes from every direction. You have been disobedient before this and were one of those who spread corruption in the earth. You squandered your days in disobedience to God and did not repent in time. So, what benefit does faith bring you now that it is too late?’ This is what Moses and Aaron had asked their Lord for, to take him with a painful punishment and to block his path to faith until the punishment overtakes him, so faith will not benefit him, nor will repentance avail him anything.
فَالْيَوْمَ نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ لِتَكُونَ لِمَنْ خَلْفَكَ آيَةً ۚ وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنَ النَّاسِ عَنْ آيَاتِنَا لَغَافِلُونَ ٩٢
(10:92) So today We shall deliver (nunajjī-ka) your body so that you may be a sign for those who come after you.’ Indeed many of the people are oblivious to Our signs.
Tanjiya and injāʾ (deliverance) are derived from the word najāt (salvation), just like talkhīṣ (refinement) and ikhlāṣ (devotion) are derived from khalāṣ (rescue).
When God tells Pharaoh that He will deliver his body, this implies that there is something that exists beyond the body which Pharaoh lost when his body was overtaken by God’s punishment, meaning the soul (nafs), which is also called the spirit (rūḥ). It is this soul that is taken away and received by God at the time of a person’s death, as we read in the verses: Allah takes the souls at the time of their death (); You will be taken away by the angel of death, who has been charged with your souls (). The soul is what a person refers to when they say ‘I.’ It is the part that makes a human being a human being. It is what allows us to perceive, to intend, and to act through the body and its physical abilities and limbs. Therefore, the body is an instrument through which the soul interacts with the physical world.
The unity that exists between the soul and the body is why the body is referred to by the same name as the soul. Otherwise, the names of individual persons actually belong to their souls, not their bodies. As it is the soul, not the body, that is the core of the person’s being. This is in addition to the continuous change that the body undergoes throughout life, and the natural replacement of cells that occurs from time to time until perhaps the body, with all its parts, is replaced by other parts forming a different body. If the identity of Zayd was bound up with the body that his mother delivered the day she gave birth to him, and the name ‘Zayd’ was assigned to this body, he would be a different person when he is seventy or eighty, and the name Zayd would belong to somebody else. Equally, a man could not be rewarded or punished for what he did when he was a youth because the acts obedience and disobedience he performed at that time belonged to somebody else.
These and similar examples are clear evidence that the humanity of a person resides in the soul and not the body, and that peoples’ names really belong to their souls rather than their bodies. A person can perceive and understand this in general, even though they might deny it when it comes to detail.
In summary, the verse, so today We shall deliver you through your body … is explicit or close to explicit in indicating that souls exist beyond physical bodies, and that people’s names are really for their souls and not their bodies, except for what is attributed to bodies due to the unity between them.
Therefore, so today We shall deliver you through your body means: ‘We will remove your body from suffering and save it. This is a kind of deliverance for you…’—given the unity between the soul and the body, which results in any action that affects one of them similarly affecting the other—’…so that it may be a sign for those who come after you.’ This is akin to His saying, From it did We create you, into it shall We return you (). The thing that returns to the earth is a person’s body, not the complete person, so the attribute of returning is related to the person only due to the unity between their soul and body.
Some commentators have mentioned that understanding the word deliver as being derived from tanjiya or injāʾ, which signify the safety and salvation of the one being rescued, would mean that Pharaoh emerged from suffering alive, whereas we already know that God brought him out of it dead. Hence, it is necessary to take His saying, deliver in this verse as being derived from the alternate root najwa, meaning ‘high land.’ Therefore, the meaning is: ‘today we will bring your body out of the punishment to a high piece of land.’
Some might argue that the word badan here actually refers to Pharaoh’s armor rather than his body. This is because Pharaoh wore a suit of golden armor, so God brought this armor out of the water to be a sign and a lesson for those who came after him. Others have suggested that the use of the word deliver is actually being used in a form of derision. However, the truth is that all of these explanations are unnecessary. God does not say, ‘We shall deliver you’, rather He says, ‘We shall deliver you through your body’ (nunajjī-ka bi-badanik), meaning save your body. The Arabic preposition bi in this phrase denotes the body as either a cause or an instrument, which points to the union that exists between the soul and the body.
Moreover, interpreting the phrase, We shall deliver you through your body, to mean that Pharaoh will be placed on an elevated piece of ground does not resolve the issue at the core of this passage. The body that was placed on this piece of high ground, according to this reading, was the body of Pharaoh, which is not identical with Pharaoh himself, otherwise he would have survived. Therefore, the best way to explain this phrase is through the apparent union between a person and their body. If this apparent unity makes it valid to apply a person’s name to the body without the soul, then it could also validate saying that a person was delivered from danger because his body was delivered, especially with the presence of an indication that this deliverance applies specifically to the body and not the person as a whole, in other words not aiming to preserve his life and health in both body and soul. This is what is indicated by His saying, through your body.
وَلَقَدْ بَوَّأْنَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ مُبَوَّأَ صِدْقٍ وَرَزَقْنَاهُمْ مِنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ فَمَا اخْتَلَفُوا حَتَّىٰ جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يَقْضِي بَيْنَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فِيمَا كَانُوا فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ ٩٣
(10:93) Certainly We settled the Children of Israel in a true settlement (mubawwaʾ sidqin) and We provided them with all the good things, and they did not differ until the knowledge had come to them. Your Lord will indeed judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that about which they used to differ.
In other words, we made them inhabit a true abode. When a thing is attributed to the truth, such as a true promise, a true speech, a true entrance, or a true exit, this is to show that its full meaning and all of its implications are genuinely found in it, without any falsehood in the outcomes that its meaning promises to the one seeking it. Therefore, ‘a true promise’, for instance, means that the one giving this promise will fulfil it in full and is pleased to do so. Therefore, the one being given this promise is his right to hope for it. If this is not the case, it is not a true promise (waʿd ṣidq) but a false one (waʿd kadhb), as if its meaning and all that it implies are false.
Therefore, when God says ‘a true settlement’, this means that God settled them in a dwelling place in which are found all the things a human seeks from a residence, like good water and air, the blessings of the earth, abundance of its bounties, stability in it, and so on. This ‘true settlement’ is, of course, the land of Jerusalem and the Levant, where God settled the Children of Israel and called it the Holy Land, and the Qurʾan has recounted the story of how they came to enter it.
Some scholars have argued that this dwelling place refers to Egypt, which the Children of Israel entered and in which they made homes. However, this is not something mentioned in the Qurʾan. Even if we grant that they entered it a second time, they did not settle in it permanently. Therefore, naming this situation a ‘a true settlement’ is not supported by the meaning of this phrase.
The passage, that is, Certainly We settled the Children of Israel… with all the good things has the tone of a complaint and a reproach. This is illustrated by the fact it concludes with the phrase, and they did not differ until the knowledge had come to them and the following phrase, Your Lord will indeed judge between them on the Day of Resurrection. This clarifies the consequence of their disagreement after knowledge came to them and serves as the conclusion to the story.
Therefore, the meaning of the verse is: ‘We completed our blessings upon the Children of Israel, settled them in a true abode, and provided them with good things after a long period of deprivation in which they suffered under the yoke of Egyptian oppression. We unified their nation and gathered them together, but they were ungrateful for Our blessings, divided their unity, and disagreed on the truth. Their disagreement was not due to their ignorance but actually following their knowledge, and indeed, your Lord will judge among them in what they used to differ.’
As narrated from Abū ʿAbd Allāh (al-Ṣādiq) and it was reported from him in al-Iḥtijāj, and similarly in al-Kāfī and Tafsīr al-ʿAyyāshī, from Hishām b. Sālim from the Imām and in Tafsīr al-Qummī, from his father from al-Nawfalī from al-Sakūnī from him. (Auth.) ↩︎