Surah Ghafir 40:28-37 - Quran Translation Commentary

28. And a believing man of Firaun’s family, who concealed his faith,⁴⁵ said: “Would you kill a man because he says ‘My Lord is Allah’, and has brought you clear signs from your Lord ‘? If he is lying, his lie is upon him; and if he is truthful, a part at least of what he threatens will smite you.⁴⁶ Verily Allah does not guide one who is a transgressor, a liar. ⁴⁷

29. O my people! Yours is the kingdom today, you being the masters in the land. But who would save us from the wrath of Allah should it reach us?⁴⁸’Firaun said: “I do not show you except what I see, nor do I guide you except to the right path.”⁴⁹

30. And he who believed ⁵⁰ said: “O my people! Verily, I fear for you a fate like that of the factions (of old);

31. “A plight like that of Nooh’s people, and A’d and Thamud, and those after them,⁵¹ and Allah does not intend to wrong His slaves.

32. “And, O my people! Verily, I fear for a Day of Summoning.⁵²

33. “A Day when you will turn to flee, with none to protect you from Allah;⁵³ and he whom Allah leaves in error, for him there is no guide.

34. ”Before this Yusuf had come to you with clear signs, but you never ceased to doubt them; until when he died you said: Allah will not send any messenger after him.’⁵⁴ Thus Allah leaves in error who are transgressors, in-doubt.”

35. Those who dispute Allah’s revelations without any authority that has reached them,⁵⁵ (their conduct) is greatly abhorred ⁵⁶ by Allah and those who believe. Thus Allah seals up the heart of every arrogant tyrunt.⁵⁷

36. And Firaun said: “O Haman! Build for me a tower that I may reach the paths,

37. “The paths of the heavens, and may look upon the God of Moosa,⁵⁸ though verily I think him a liar.” And thus the foul deed of Firaun was made to seem fair to him, and he was debarred from the (right) path.⁵⁹ And the plot of Firaun ended but in ruin.⁶⁰

Commentary

45. There happened to be a man in the family of Firaun who had believed in Prophet Moosa’s faith, having been influenced by his message. He had been concealing his faith. But when people talked of killing Prophet Moosa, his regard for his prophet and faith stirred and he openly sided with Prophet Moosa in the court of Firaun. He also manifestly presented the message of truth. He adopted such a method in presenting his point which should impress Firaun and his courtiers about its reasonableness .

It may be noted that Islam does not permit that one’s faith be concealed. The very first pillar of Islam is to recite the kalima of witness, i.e. to give witness about the unity of Allah and the prophethood of Muhammad, S.A.W. This demands that the acceptance of faith should be expressed and manifested, and the person concerned should be one of the members of the Muslim society. However, if there is danger to life, then it is permitted that a person may hide his faith temporarily.

46. The purpose of what this Muslim said was to prevent Firaun from killing Prophet Moosa. In this connection he said a thing which could be easily understood by them, and it was that Prophet Moosa’s being false in his claim of prophethood has not been proved, so he could not be punished. To kill a person on the basis of mere doubt is a very big and severe step and is improper. If it is presumed that he is lying, then the responsibility of the lie will be on his head, but if he is truthful, then consider what will be the result of their hasty step of killing him. They will be inviting the wrath of Allah and a part of that wrath will overtake them in the form of a very severe punishment, in this very life, about which Prophet Moosa has been warning them.

47. This is a hint at the deniers of Prophet Moosa, that those who dare to cross the natural and moral limits, and persist in their doubts in spite of the Divine Messenger’s manifesting open signs from Allah, such people remain deprived of the blessing and right guidance from Allah. MMMMMM S. 40 Dawatul Quran

“A Day when you will turn to flee, with none to protect you from Allah; and he whom Allah leaves in error, for him there is no guide.(AL-Quran)

48. That is: Do not be proud of power and kingdom. The punishment from Allah can overtake You, before which you will be totally helpless.

49. Firaun intervened and said that his opinion that Moosa be killed is a well thought out opinion and that they should have confidence in him that he was leading them rightly. Firaun intervened because he was afraid that the speech of that Muslim might influence his courtiers in favour of Prophet Moosa.

50. After the intervention of Firaun, the believing man continued his speech and talked further.

51. From this it becomes clear that the Divine punishment which be fell the communities of Nooh, A’d, Thamud, and also the punishment that overtook the communities of Prophet Loot and Shuaib were known to the people of that time as historical events.

52. The Day of Summoning or the Day of Cry means the Day of Resurrection, when on a single shout all the dead will rise from their graves. It is stated in Surah Qaf: “ “And listen, the day when the crier will cry from a near place, the Day when the people will hear the dreadful sound with truth, that day will be the day of emerging (from the graves).” -(Surah Qaf: 41 -42). “Yaum-at-Tanad” means the day when all people will be called to rise and present themselves before Allah for accounting for their acts.

53. Seeing the horrifying scene of the Doomsday the guilty will try to run helter skelter, but they will be caught by the angels and there will be none to save them from the punishment of Allah.

54. In the character and teachings of Prophet Yusuf as the interpretations of dreams by him, there were clear signs of his being a messenger from Allah, but the Pharaohs and their people were in doubt about that, till he departed from this world and they did not realise that they did not appreciate him; and when they did not appreciate him they thought that Allah would not send another messenger for them; but Allah sent Prophet Moosa to give them a chance to reform, therefore, they should appreciate him, but they are thinking of killing him!

55. That is: A proof which might have reached them through any divine revelation, meaning thereby either the teaching of a Prophet or the writing in a divine Book. There is no such argument with them which they can present to rebut revelation or the ayah of the Quran. They are starting discussions on the basis of mere guesses and conjecture.

56. Those who start such discussions and dispute are not only abhorred by Allah but people of faith also hate them. This is the praise-worthy attribute of the people of faith. But there is no dearth of Muslims in the present times who themselves take objection to some teachings of the Quran and start baseless discussions.

57. ‘Mutakabbir’ means he who thinks himself to be greater than Allah, and ‘Jabbar’ means he who forces others to follow his dictates and tyrannizes them. Such people generally lose the natural capacity of accepting the truth, however clear and unambiguous it may appear before them. This happens according to the rule laid down by Allah concerning straying, and this has been termed as sealing the hearts.

58. Thus Firaun ridiculed Prophet Moosa’s message, and insulted his Lord, by which his pride and arrogance were manifested clearly.

It is not correct to think that Firaun had actually ordered Haman to construct a highrise building or tower from where he could have a glimpse of Prophet Moosa’s God. When there were very high mountains, where was the necessity of building any high rise edifices ? Every word of Firaun’s speech smacks or sarcasm and taunt.

59. That is: His evil deed became fair to him on account of his wrong interpretation, Man’s nature does not get ready to act in an evil manner unless man provides the ground for it by false arguments, and then the evil act becomes fair in his eyes.

And then he is deceived by Satan. Then Satan builds such ideological obstructions that it is not possible for him to come to the right path.

60. ‘That is: Those were the shenanigans and tricks of Firaun which he was using against Prophet Moosa, but nothing worked for him and in the end they became the active causes of his destruction.