Surah Yunus 10:71-82 - Quran Translation Commentary

71. And recite to them the chronicle of Nooh¹⁰⁸ (Noah), when he said to his people: “O my people! If my stay (here) and my reminding you of Allah’s revelations¹⁰⁹ are hard upon you, I have put my trust In Allah, then make your plans and gather your partners, and let not your plan of action be dubious to you. Then have it decreed against me and do not give me respite¹¹⁰.

72. “Then if you turn away (it is your loss). I have demanded no recompense of you. My reward is with Allah only, and I have been commanded to be of those who submit (to Allah)”¹¹¹.

73. But they belied him. So we saved him and those with him in the Ark (boat)¹¹², and made them rulers (on the earth), and we drowned those who belied our revelations¹¹³. See then what was the end of those who were warned.

74. Then after him we sent many messengers to their peoples,¹¹⁴ and they brought for them clear signs, but they were not to believe¹¹⁵ what they had belied before. Thus do We seal the hearts of the transgressors¹¹⁶.

75. Then after them, We sent Moosa and Haroon (Moses and Aron) to Fir’aun (Pharaoh) and his nobles with Our revelations, but they were arrogant and were a guilty people.

76. And when truth came to them from Us, they said: “Verily this is clear magic¹¹⁷.”

77. Moosa said: “Do you say about the truth when it came to you: ‘Is it magic?’ But the magicians do not succeed¹¹⁸.”

78. They said: “Have you come to us to turn us away from that (faith) which we found our fathers following, so that you two may gain greatness in the land?¹¹⁹ We will not believe you too.”

79. And Firaun said: “Bring every skilled magician to my presence.”

80And when the magicians came, Moosa said to them: “Cast down what you want to cast”

81. So when they had thrown down (their staff and ropes), Moosa said: “What you have brought is magic. Assuredly Allah will soon make it vain. Verily Allah will not let the work of mischief- makers succeed.¹²⁰

82. “And Allah vindicates the truth by His words,¹²¹ however much the criminals may dislike it.”

Commentary

108. The full chronicle of Prophet Nooh (Noah) has been related in detail in Surah Nooh and Surah Hood. Here only that aspect of the chronicle is mentioned which throws light on the extraordinary courage of Prophet Nooh and his extreme determination and trust in God in the matter of presenting the message of Truth.

It also shows the adverse consequences which await the rejecters of the message of Truth. For information about the time of Prophet Nooh and other details please refer to Surah A’raf, Note No.95.

109. Refers to those signs which prove the veracity of the Prophet’s message, or which prove what the Prophet says is true.

110. This was the challenge which Prophet Nooh gave to his people when he found them busy in hostile activities. It gives an idea as to how certain and definite a prophet is about the truth of his dawah, and how strong is a prophet’s determination.

“Then if you turn away (it is your loss). I have demanded no recompense of you. My reward is with Allah only, and I have been commanded to be of those who submit (to Allah)”. (Al-Quran)

111. This ayah clearly shows that Prophet Nooh, who was the first Divine messenger to be sent to a human settlement, was a Muslim (surrenderer to Allah), i.e. his religion was Islam and he was an obedient slave of a Single God.

112. In the Ark or boat only those people had taken shelter who had accepted the faith preached by Prophet Nooh.

113. Prophet Nooh’s community or people had been the ruler of the land they were inhabiting, When on account of their disbelief they were drowned by Allah, the group of the people of faith, who were saved by Allah from drowning, took over the rule of the land. This was the first conflict between truth and falsehood on the earth, in which truth came victorious, and the people of faith triumphed against the disbelievers.

114. That is: After Prophet Nooh, Divine messengers were sent to different nations. The mention of these messengers was made in Surah A’raf and their mention was again made in the Surah Hood which followed.

115. This is a psychological weakness of man that when he rejects a thing once, he is not ordinarily prepared to accept it thereafter. To retrace his steps after proceeding in the wrong direction becomes difficult for him.

116. The detail regarding sealing of the hearts has been explained in Note No. 15, Surah Baqarah.

117. The specific purpose of referring to this event is to point out that as the courtiers of Firaun had dubbed Prophet Moosa’s message of truth as magic, similarly the idolaters of Makkah had called the message of truth preached by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as magic.

118. Whenever there is a competition between a prophet’s miracles any sorcery and magical tricks of the magicians, the ‘magicians have to face ignominious defeat. This is their unsavoury fate in this world. As for the success in the Hereafter, the magicians will be absolutely deprived of that, because they have been responsible for misleading the people by their trickery.

119. That is: The reins of kingdom of Egypt may pass into your hands. This allegation against Prophets Moosa and Haroon by Firaun was similar to his other allegation against them about their causing disturbances in the country (Surah A’raf, ayah 127); because they had not yet touched the problem of political power, as it was the stage of presenting the message and not the stage of actively establishing the Islamic system of government. In the dawah of the prophets, the problem of political power is also included among its latent factors, and in practice it is openly expressed when their communities or peoples accept their faith. Prophets Moosa and Haroon were inviting Firaun and his people to embrace their faith. They had not prepared any political plan to remove Firaun from power. Therefore, the allegation regarding their trying to grab power was totally baseless.

120. To hope for good results after an evil act is like hoping for coolness after kindling fire. It is the Divine law that no constructive result can accrue after indulging in destructive work. Then how can profitable results be obtained from magic which is nothing but deceit? What guidance can the magicians provide compared to the guidance given by the prophets.

121. Accordingly by His Command Prophet Moosa’s staff turned into a real python, which devoured the false snakes of the magicians. Thus Prophet Moosa came out victorious in the competition against the magicians, and in this way the fact of his being a prophet was confirmed convincingly. (for further explanation please refer to Notes Nos.167.168 and 169. Surah A’raf).