Surah Taha 20:25-54 - Quran Translation Commentary

39. “That is: put him in the box and cast it into the river, then the river should throw it on to the bank and he shall be taken up by an enemy of Mine and his.”³⁶ I lavished My love on you ³⁷ so that you might be reared under My watchful eye.³⁸

40. “When your sister was walking along³⁹ and saying :” ‘May I show you one who will nurse him ? ⁴⁰ Thus We restored you to your mother that her eyes might be cooled (comforted) and she might not grieve.⁴¹ And you killed a man⁴² and We delivered you from distress and tried you with several trials.⁴³ Then you stayed among the folk of Madyan for a number of years⁴⁴. Then you came here at the appropriate time, O Moosa !⁴⁵

41. “And I have chosen you for Myself (for a special task).⁴⁶

42. “Go, you and your brother, with My signs, and be not lax in remembrance of Me.⁴⁷

43. “Go Both of you to Firaun. Verily he has transgressed (the bounds).

44. “And speak to him with gentle words,⁴⁸ it is likely that he may take admonition or may fear.”⁴⁹

45. They said : ⁵⁰ “Our Lord! We fear that he may be excessive with us or transgress (the bounds).”⁵¹

46. He replied: “Fear not. Verily I am with you, I hear all and I see all.

47. “So go both of you to him and say: ‘We are the messengers of your Lord. So let the Bani Israil go with us,⁵² and do not torment them.⁵³ We have come to you with a sign from your Lord, and peace be on him who follows the guidance.⁵⁴

48. “And verily it is revealed to us that the punishment is for him who denies and turns away,”⁵⁵

49. He (Firaun) said: “Who is then the Lord of you two, O Moosa ? ⁵⁶

50. He said: “Our Lord is He who gave to everything existence, then rightly guided it.”⁵⁷

51. He asked: “What is the state of the generations of old ?”

52. He (Moosa) replied: “Its knowledge is with my Lord, recorded in the Book. He does not err, nor does he forget.⁵⁸

53. “Who⁵⁹ has made the earth a bed for you and made in it paths for you and has sent down water from the sky with which He has brought forth various kinds of vegetation.

54. “(Saying) ‘Eat you and feed your cattle. Verily in this there are signs for men of understanding.

Commentary

26. Prophet Moosa felt that the responsibility of a Divine Messenger was a great responsibility, and particularly it called for great courage to convey the message of to a tyrant king like Firaun (Pharaoh). Therefore, he prayed to Allah to grant him courage. Expansion of breast signified getting courage, reassurance and firmness.

27. That is: The task entrusted to me by You may be made easier for me to execute.

28. The knot in the tongue means impediments in the fluency of speech, it does not mean stammering. There is no proof of the presumption that there was a stammer in Prophet Moosa’s speech, and the story narrated in some of the commentaries that during his childhood when he was being brought up in Firaun’s family, Moosa had placed a piece of burning coal in his mouth, resulting in a stammer in his tongue. This story is found in the Israeli narratives and is not acceptable. In fact to make one’s message effective what is required is art of speech making. Prophet Moosa felt that he could not be impressively fluent while talking to Firaun, he prayed to Allah to remove the impediment of lack of fluency in speech.

THE TUWA VALLEY Probably it is the same velley where the Fire was seen by Prophet Moosa, and Allah had called him. It is situated in the Sinai Peninsula about seventy kilometers away from the Faran Oasis. Here is a church supposed to be built by Constantine, known by the name of St. Catherine, and there is a mosque built by Sultan Salim.

29. Minister, that is an assistant who should share his responsibilities and should be able to deputise for him.

30. Prophet Haroon was the elder brother of Prophet Moosa. As he was pious and was also distinguished in speech making and effective sermonising, he was very much suited to shoulder the responsibilities of the dawah work, therefore, he prayed to Allah to make him (Aaron)a prophet.

31. When Prophet Moosa was blessed with prophethood, a lot of deep realities and hidden meanings were made known to him. He realised that in the task of prophethood the thing which was important and which should be kept in view as a great cause (cause caliber) and that is reciting the praises of Allah’s greatness and remembering him more and more. The problem may be character building or dawah and propagation, or guidance or leadership - in all matters this worship should be performed as befits His grandeur and magnificence.

32. When prophethood was bestowed on Moosa, he felt its burden of responsibilities too heavy. His prayer emanating from the depth of his heart was heard by Allah and he was granted whatever he prayed for.

33. After answering his prayer, Allah mentioned the favours that He had bestowed on him before the grant of prophethood, so that it should be clear that he was under the special merciful watch of Allah from the time of his birth, and that He had been helping him at every step thereafter. Why will He not then help him after the grant of prophethood ? It was with a view to reassuring him that Prophet Moosa was informed that while Allah’s miraculous power was manifested while he was being brought up, then how is it that the Divine Might would not be manifested at the time of his undertaking this difficult mission!

34. This revelation was not in the form of merely sending an idea in her mind, for in Surah Qasas it is stated that Moosa’s mother was even informed that the infant would be returned to her, and that he was to be blessed with the prophethood. It is obvious that all this would have been communicated to her in the form of words, as such the revelation would have come to her in the form of a voice from the Unseen. Allah knows the secrets of His words.

Here the fact is worth noting that such a communication of divine words (revelation) is found in extremely rare and exceptional cases. The matter of communicating revelation to the mother of Prophet Moosa and Maryam (Mary) was a temporary and limited one, and it was an exceptional case. Furthermore, this revelation pertained to the birth of the prophets, Moosa and Eesa, and subsequently these revelations were confirmed by these prophets. Therefore, in these cases of revelation, there is no room for argument for the false claimant to prophethood.

35. That is: O Moosa, the thing which were revealed to your mother are being revealed to you and further on the things revealed are mentioned.

36. This chronicle had been narrated in Surah Qasas in detail. Here we will relate the background of this chronicle in brief. Bani Israil had shifted to Egypt from Palestine in the time of Prophet Yusuf. In a few centuries their population in Egypt increased manifold, and when Firaun came into power he sensed the danger of their population growing uncontrollably. Since Bani Israil were followers of Islam and the native Egyptians followed the polytheistic religion, Firaun and the ruling class were very much prejudiced against the Bani Israil and used to discriminate against them.

It went to such an extent that ultimately Firaun ordered the killing of the male issues of the Bani Israil immediately on their birth. When Prophet Moosa was born, his mother hid him. But how long could this fact be hidden. If the King’s men came to know of it, they would have definitely killed the child. Therefore, Allah arranged for his protection by His special grace in an extraordinary way. Moosa’s mother was asked, through a revelation, to place the child in a box and the box in the river, and the river was commanded to carry the box to the bank. Accordingly she acted on these directions, and the box reached the bank at a place where Firaun was present with his wife. He ordered the box to be brought to him. Thus he reached the man who was God’s enemy as well as his enemy. This was a manifestation of Allah’s miraculous might. After this the other miracles which came to be manifested are narrated further on.

37. That is: The child was blessed with a beautiful and lovely face, so that any beholder might be attracted towards it and be merciful. This arrangement was so effective that Firaun inspite of his stone-heartedness could not bring himself to kill this child. Who can destroy him whom God protects! In the Bible also this event is narrated thus :

“The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that was a goodly child, she hid him three months.” (Exodus 2: 2)

38. That is : In such dangerous conditions Allah arranged for Moosa being brought up safely.

39. When Moosa was placed in the box and the box was thrown into the river, his sister silently followed it to see what would befall the helpless child.

40. The box was picked up by some one from Firaun’s household, and taken to Firaun and his wife. Probably Firaun’s palace was on the bank of the river Nile and it is likely that some one from his household might have been near the bank. The Bible says that Firaun’s daughter was present there and she had taken the box -(Exodus 2 : 5).

When the child was taken to Firaun’s house, his wife was delighted to see him and she persuaded Firaun to keep the child for being nursed in the house. But the child could not be nursed by any other woman, which made her anxious: Moosa’s sister who was watching from a distance came near. When she saw that nursing women were being called, she suggested that the child could be nursed at a particular house. This was the house of her own mother, but she did not disclose this fact to Firaun’s household.

41. The suggestion of Moosa’s sister was accepted, and the child was entrusted to the nursing mother suggested by Moosa’s sister. Thus the child was restored to Moosa’s mother for nursing, and Allah’s promise that He would restore the child to her was fulfilled as a miracle.

42. This event has also been narrated in Surah Qasas. It took place when Moosa grew up. He saw two men fighting, and went to the help of the oppressed, who was an Israelite and the oppressor was a Copt. As Moosa intervened and gave a blow to the Copt, he at once fell and passed out. Moosa did not want to kill him, but the fault was committed by him unwittingly, for which he was sorry. When Firaun came to know of this, he ordered , Moosa to be arrested with a view to punishing him. When Moosa learnt this he left Egypt and went to Madyan. Thus Allah arranged for his deliverance.

43. The whole life of Prophet Moosa had been a life of trials and tribulations, and when he came out successful, Allah granted him a very high and exalted position. It is thus elicited that a man gets good training in his tests and trials, and passing through them he becomes capable of shouldering higher responsibilities.

44. Prophet Moosa left Egypt and went to the nearby country Madyan, where he spent a number of years. The details are given in Surah Qasas.

45. That is: The time set by Allah for granting him prophethood-Prophet Moosa reached the place at that very time.

46. Means the task of prophethood. So go both of you to him and say: ‘We are the messengers of your Lord. So let the Bani Israil go with us, and do not torment them. We have come to you with a sign from your Lord, and peace be on him who follows the guidance. (Al-Quran)

47. That is : Remember me from your heart, and recite my praises with your mouth many times and speak about me among the people. Do not show any laxity in the performance of this duty.

48. Pharaoh (Firaun) was a very vain and aggressive person, but the divine direction to the divine messengers was to speak to him gently, so that the divine message might appear to him in an appealing form, and he may be induced to give a thought to the message. It is therefore learnt that the da’ee (missionary) should take care of the psychology of his addressees and adjust his manner of communication and speech accordingly.

49. Allah knew that Firaun would not accept the message, yet Prophet Moosa was directed not to overlook the possibility of his accepting it. That is : as a missionary he should perform his duty hoping that his addressee would possibly accept his advice and embrace the religion of Truth. If this point is not kept in mind, then the missionary cannot fulfill his responsibilities as it should be fulfilled, nor the person to whom the message is being given can be said to have received it convincingly.

It should also be realised that it is a basic and foremost point that the very thought of Allah’s greatness is likely to create fear and fright in one’s heart, and when this happens the heart becomes ready to accept the need for divine remembrance, admonition etc. (tazkirah). And in such a condition everything that is true appeals to him at once. Accordingly in Surah A’la it is stated: “The admonition (advice) will be accepted by one who fears (the Lord)” Therefore, when prophet Moosa is told about Firaun that he would either accept admonition or might fear, what was meant was that he should speak to Firaun gently hoping that he would accept admonition, and that even if this purpose is not achieved fully at once, then possibly fear of God might be created in his heart. In other words his viewpoint will be changed, and thereafter a change of heart and mind can also be expected.

50. Here Prophet Moosa was directed to go to Firaun, there Prophet Haroon (Aaron) was also directed by revelation to go to Firaun, on this occasion both expressed their fear about Firaun. Here the directions for both the prophets have been combined at one place.

51. Knowing Firaun’s character, it looks obvious that he would unleash tyranny on hearing of monotheism or he would transgress all bounds.

52. This ayah is explicitly clear in this matter that when Prophet Moosa was directed to present dawah to Firaun, he was also to ask him to allow the Bani Israil to go with him from Egypt. Since this demand was based on religious necessities, therefore, it was required to be made in the beginning. Detailed remarks on this issue have been given in Note No. 161 Surah A’raf. It should be kept in view.

53. It is learnt that if any’ taghuti’ (rebellious) government oppresses Muslims and subjects them to undue pressure, religion demands that it should be asked to desist from such acts, and it is not right to consider it against the interests of Dawah. The da’ee(missionary) must support the oppressed in all circumstances, whether others may form a good opinion about him or a bad.

54. This was a direction for following the divine guidance, and also an intimation of the fact that whoever follows right guidance, and lands his life in the light of that guidance, his end would be blissful.

55. This message could have been given to Firaun in the words that a Firaun, if you deny our message, you will be subjected to divine punishment. But Prophet Moosa is told to inform him: “It is revealed to us that the punishment is for him who denies and turns away.” This was a very wise style in which the end of every denier has been stated with generality, so that Firaun might not think it to be a personal attack on himself, but that he might consider it as a principle and try to reflect on it. At the same time it should also be made clear to him that this warning of punishment is the revelation from Allah and under His guidance.

56. That is: When Prophets Moosa and Haroon went to Firaun and conveyed to him the divine message, he asked these questions.

57. Firaun (Pharaoh) himself was the claimant that he was the exalted lord, but Prophet Moosa candidly told him that he believed that his Lord was the Creator of the universe. Secondly the creator after creating everything, he opened up for them the path of action to be followed that is suitable for them. Animals eat grass. They do not eat stones. Who has guided them in this respect ? The bee collects the nectar from the flowers at distant places and deposits the honey in the beehive. Under whose guidance does it perform this task ? It is obvious that this is an inborn characteristic which its Creator has given it. In this way the members of the vegetable and mineral worlds also perform their duties. Trees get their food from the earth and bear fruit”, and the river flows down the slope. By whose bidding all these things are happening? When everything follows the path of action laid down for it at the bidding of its Creator, then in reality the guide and the director of mankind is the same Creator, and His guidance only is the real guidance for the human life.

58. This question of Firaun as to what they have to say about the nation that had lived previously, whether all of them were misguided ? was merely to entangle them in irrelevant discussion. But Prophet Moosa tried to bring back the discussion to the central point of his message, monotheism, by stating a point of principle. He said that whatever might have been the condition of the past generations or nations, his Lord knew it, and He has recorded everyone’s acts, He does not commit any errors, that one’s acts would be written in another’s record, nor does He forget what certain people had done.