Ruku 317 ع

20:25; 79:17-18.

Commentary:

The account of the seven great Prophets mentioned in the Surah begins with the story of Moses, the greatest of all the Israelite Prophets and the like of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. As many as fifty eight verses have been devoted to him.

20:46; 28:35.

20:28.

20:31.

Important Words:

لا ینطلق is derived from طلق. They say طلقت الناقة i.e. the she-camel was or broke loosed from her bond. طلقت المرأة زوجھا means the woman was or became divorced or separated from her husband. انطلق لسانه means, his tongue was or became eloquent or chaste in speech or was or became free from impediment and hence eloquent or chaste in speech (Lane & Aqrab).

Commentary:

The verse suggests that Moses did not seem to feel that he was quite equal to the great task with which he was being entrusted. The responsibilities of prophethood are indeed very heavy. At the time of the first revelation the Holy Prophet himself felt overwhelmed with anxiety.

28:34.

Important Words:

For ذنب see 3:17. According to Imam Raghib any error or fault which produces a harmful result and for which one is liable to account is ذنب. It may be deliberate or committed through inadvertence.

Commentary:

The words "they have a charge against me" show that the people of Pharaoh had charged Moses with the murder of an Egyptian, not that Moses was actually guilty of a deliberate murder.

The incident referred to here is mentioned in Exod. 2:11-15. In the Quran it is referred to in 28:16-21, where it is stated that it was not intentional murder. Moses was defending an Israelite whom an Egyptian was beating and in the scuffle the latter happened to be killed. The words "I fear that they may kill me", should not be understood to mean that Moses was afraid of death. He was afraid lest the Egyptians should kill him on the charge of his having killed an Egyptian, before he should have delivered his message and have fulfilled his mission which was dearer to him than life itself.

28:36.

Important Words:

کلا means, no; by no means; on the contrary; by all means; at any rate; truly. The particle is also used to remonstrate with a person and to tell him that what he says is not correct, or it is used for rejecting the request of a person (Aqrab & Baqa).

Commentary:

In the preceding two verses Moses had made one request to God and one statement of fact. The request was that because he was not eloquent in speech the great task of conveying the Divine Message to Pharaoh might be entrusted to his brother, Aaron. And he had reinforced this request by the statement that the people of Pharaoh had a charge of murder against him and on that plea they might kill him. The particle کلا (by no means) may apply either to the request or to the statement of Moses. As applying to Moses’ request it may signify that his request for the transfer of the great mission to Aaron could not be granted and as applying to the statement it may signify that the people of Pharaoh would not be able to lay hands on him. Or the particle may signify both things at the same time, viz. that Moses himself would have to carry the great mission though his brother would also be appointed as his assistant and that he should not fear being killed by the people of Pharaoh because they would not be able to lay hands on him.

Commentary:

The word رسول here is in the singular while the subject انا and the verbs used are in the dual number. In Arabic it is permissible sometimes to use singular predicate for a subject in the dual or plural number, as they say ھذان رسولی، وکیلی i.e. those two are my messengers and my agents, the words رسول and وکیل being in the singular. The Arabs also say ھؤلاء رسولی i.e. those are my messengers (Bayan). Elsewhere in the Quran (26:78) a similar construction has been used as فانھم عدو لی i.e. they are my enemies, the word عدو being in the singular but giving the sense of a plural.

20:41; 28:16.

Commentary:

The reference in the verse seems to be to an Egyptian having been killed by Moses. Pharaoh regards himself and his people, the Egyptians, as the great benefactors of the Israelites and accuses Moses of gross ingratitude in having killed an Egyptian, his own and that of his people’s benefactor. It seems impudent on Pharaoh’s part to have called himself a benefactor of the Israelites whom he had kept in bondage and had treated them worse than animals, exacting from them the hardest and most humiliating labour. It is to this impudence of Pharaoh that Moses drew his attention in the verse under comment.

Important Words:

ضالین (the erring) is the plural of ضال which is the active participle from ضل which means, he erred; he did not find the way; he was perplexed and did not know what to do; he was confounded or perplexed and unable to see his right course; he was lost; he was lost in love (Aqrab, Lane & Lisan).

Commentary:

The verse signifies that when the Israelite called Moses for help against the Egyptian, he did not know what to do, and being anxious to help the Israelite (28:16-21) gave the Egyptian a blow with his closed fist which caused his death. The death was accidental and not deliberate because ordinarily a blow with the fist does not cause the death of a person.

If ضالین be taken in the sense of 'being lost in love', the verse would depict Moses as saying that it was on account of his great love for his oppressed people that he came to the help of the Israelite and gave a blow to the Egyptian, which resulted in his death.

28:22.

Commentary:

By the words, "made me one of the Messengers," Moses means that the very fact that God has made him a Prophet is a proof that what he had done was not an intentional wrong but an unwitting act done on the spur of the moment.

Commentary:

When Moses presented to Pharaoh the Divine Message and called upon him to accept it, Pharaoh began to recount the supposed evil deeds of Moses and accused him of ingratitude for the manifold favours which, he said, he had done to his people. The present verse constitutes a crushing reply from Moses’ mouth to Pharaoh’s impudent remark. Moses is described as saying to Pharaoh that he should be ashamed of referring to any good that he thinks he had done to his people as he (Pharaoh) had kept them for generations under the most debasing and degrading form of bondage which had killed in them all sense of dignity, initiative and ambition to rise to their full stature.

20:50.

Commentary:

Moses’ reply to Pharaoh as mentioned in the preceding verse seemed utterly to have confounded him and he (Pharaoh) at once changed the subject, seeking to involve Moses in a metaphysical discussion about the existence and Person of the Divine Being and the nature of His attributes.

44:8.

Commentary:

The words 'Lord of the heavens and the earth' refer to the vastness of God’s dominion in respect of space.

Commentary:

The verse depicts Pharaoh as trying to incite his people against Moses by hinting that he was insulting their gods by ascribing the kingdom of the heavens and earth to Allah as it were their own gods who held sway over all the universe.

Commentary:

Without heeding Pharaoh’s interruption mentioned in the previous verse Moses continues his argument. In the preceding verse he had referred to the vastness of God’s dominion and control in respect of space. In this verse he refers to God’s dominion in respect of time.

44:15.

Commentary:

The verse may mean that seeing that Moses, without paying any attention to his interruption and warning, had continued his arguments, Pharaoh thought that he was not in full possession of his senses; or he thought that like a madman Moses would listen to nobody but would go on harping on his own theme; and he said this in so many words.

2:116; 55:18.

Commentary:

With the words, 'Lord of the East and the West,' Moses completes his argument about the undisputed lordship of God over the entire universe. These words refer to the vastness of God’s kingdom in respect of directions and sides. They may also contain an effective hint to the falseness of the polytheistic beliefs of the Egyptians who worshipped the sun and therefore looked upon the East and the West as belonging to their own gods.

28:39.

Commentary:

Pharaohs question contained in v. 24 above, viz. "And what is the Lord of the worlds?" was so ably and effectively answered by Moses that he did not know how to contradict him. At first he had recourse to interruptions in order to silence Moses. When these tactics failed in their purpose, he sought to divert the attention of the audience by playing upon their feelings of patriotism and by making disparaging remarks concerning Moses. When this stratagem also failed, he resorted to giving open threats to Moses. Such invariably are the tactics used by those who feel that their case is weak. In fact, such tactics imply a confession of defeat on the part of the person who uses them.

The Egyptians were a nation of idol-worshippers. They worshipped wood and stones, the sun and stars. They had their animal gods and human gods. Fire, water and other natural elements were also worshipped by them. Their gods were legion. It was, therefore, nothing strange on the part of Pharaoh also to lay claim to Divinity.

Commentary:

Moses remains undaunted by threats of violence on the part of Pharaoh and seems prepared to advance more arguments in support of his claims if Pharaoh would only listen to him.

7:107.

7:108.

Commentary:

The miracles referred to in this and the following verse have been fully discussed in 7:107-108, and 20:21-23. Briefly, it may be stated here that the rod of Moses did not actually turn into a serpent. It appeared to the audience as if it were a serpent. In fact, it was a vision of Moses in which the whole assembly were made to join. Now a rod in a vision symbolizes a community and the serpent an enemy. Thus by the miraculous happening Moses was made to understand that if he cast away his people from him, they would become veritable serpents but if he kept them under his fostering care they would grow into a strong and well-knit community and would not only become men of light and learning themselves but would also impart these things to others.

Moses’ white hand seemed also to signify that the great spiritual movement he had founded would one day enlighten the world with divine light and that his teaching would radiate and his people would undergo a complete transformation, and would become a community of highly righteous men. In fact, noble and righteous servants of God to whom He entrusts the task of bringing about a great change in the lives of his people become invested with a divine light which sometimes takes a material form and is seen by other people also.

7:109; 20:23.