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Tafsir Ishraq al-Ma'ani

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1. Al-Fatihah
2. Al-Baqarah
3. Al-Imran
4. Al-Nisa
5. Al-Maidah
6. Al-Anam
7. Al-Araf
8. Al-Anfal
9. Al-Taubah
10. Yunus
11. Hud
12. Yusuf
13. Al-Rad
14. Ibrahim
15. Al-Hijr
16. Al-Nahl
17. Bani Israil
18. Al-Kahf
19. Maryam
20. Ta-Ha
21. Al-Anbiya
22. Al-Hajj
23. Al-Muminun
24. An-Nur
25. Al-Furqan
26. Ash-Shuara
27. An-Naml
28. Al-Qasas
29. Al-Ankabut
30. Ar-Rum
31. Luqman
32. As-Sajdah
33. Al-Ahzab
34. Saba
35. Fatir
36. Yasin
37. As-Saffat
38. Saad
39. Az-Zumar
40. Al-Mumin
41. Ha-Meem-As-Sajdah
42. AShura
43. Az-Zukhruf
44. Ad-Dukhan
45. Al-Jathiyah
46. Al-Ahqaf
47. Muhammad
48. Al-Fath
49. Al-Hujurat
50. Al-Qaf
51. Adh-Dhariyat
52. At-Tur
53. An-Najm
54. Al-Qamar
55. Al-Rahman
56. Al-Waqiah
57. Al-Hadid
58. Al-Mujadalah
59. Al-Hashr
60. Al-Mumtahinah
61. As-Saff
62. Al-Jumuah
63. Al-Munafiqun
64. Al-Taghabun
65. At-Talaq
66. At-Tahrim
67. Al-Mulk
68. Al-Qalam
69. Al-Haqqah
70. Al-Maarij
71. Nuh
72. Al-Jinn
73. Al-Muzzammil
74. Al-Muddhththir
75. Al-Qiyamah
76. Ad-Dahr
77. Al-Mursalat
78. An-Naba
79. An-Naziat
80. Abas
81. At-Takwir
82. Al-Infitar
83. At-Tatfif
84. Al-Inshiqaq
85. Al-Buruj
86. At-Tariq
87. Al-Ala
88. Al-Ghashiyah
89. Al-Fajr
90. Al-Balad
91. Ash-Shams
92. Al-Lail
93. Ad-Duha
94. Al-Inshirah
95. At-Tin
96. Al-Alaq
97. Al-Qadr
98. Al-Bayyinah
99. Az-Zilzal
100. Al-Adiyat
101. Al-Qariah
102. At-Takathur
103. Al-Asr
104. Al-Humazah
105. Al-Fil
106. Al-Quraish
107. Al-Maun
108. Al-Kauthar
109. Al-Kafirun
110. An-Nasr
111. Al-Lahab
112. Al-Ikhlas
113. Al-Falaq
114. An-Nas
Surah 26. Ash-Shu'ara
Verses [Section]: 1-9[1], 10-33 [2], 34-51 [3], 52-68 [4], 69-104 [5], 105-122 [6], 123-140 [7], 141-159 [8], 160-175 [9], 176-191 [10], 192-227 [11]

Quran Text of Verse 10-33
وَ اِذْAnd whenنَادٰیyour Lord calledرَبُّكَyour Lord calledمُوْسٰۤیMusaاَنِ[that]ائْتِGoالْقَوْمَ(to) the peopleالظّٰلِمِیْنَۙ(who are) wrongdoers قَوْمَ(The) peopleفِرْعَوْنَ ؕ(of) FiraunاَلَاWill notیَتَّقُوْنَ they fear قَالَHe saidرَبِّMy Lord!اِنِّیْۤIndeed Iاَخَافُ[I] fearاَنْthatیُّكَذِّبُوْنِؕthey will deny me وَ یَضِیْقُAnd straitensصَدْرِیْmy breastوَ لَاand notیَنْطَلِقُexpresses wellلِسَانِیْmy tongueفَاَرْسِلْso sendاِلٰیforهٰرُوْنَ Harun وَ لَهُمْAnd they haveعَلَیَّagainst meذَنْۢبٌa crimeفَاَخَافُso I fearاَنْthatیَّقْتُلُوْنِۚthey will kill me قَالَHe saidكَلَّا ۚNayفَاذْهَبَاgo both of youبِاٰیٰتِنَاۤwith Our SignsاِنَّاIndeed Weمَعَكُمْ(are) with youمُّسْتَمِعُوْنَ listening فَاْتِیَاSo go both of youفِرْعَوْنَ(to) Firaunفَقُوْلَاۤand sayاِنَّاIndeed weرَسُوْلُ(are the) Messengerرَبِّ(of the) Lordالْعٰلَمِیْنَۙ(of) the worlds اَنْ[That]اَرْسِلْsendمَعَنَاwith usبَنِیْۤthe children (of Israel)اِسْرَآءِیْلَؕ(the children) of Israel قَالَHe saidاَلَمْDid notنُرَبِّكَwe bring you upفِیْنَاamong usوَلِیْدًا(as) a childوَّ لَبِثْتَand you remainedفِیْنَاamong usمِنْofعُمُرِكَyour lifeسِنِیْنَۙyears وَ فَعَلْتَAnd you didفَعْلَتَكَyour deedالَّتِیْwhichفَعَلْتَyou didوَ اَنْتَand youمِنَ(were) ofالْكٰفِرِیْنَ the ungrateful 26. Ash-Shu'ara Page 368قَالَHe saidفَعَلْتُهَاۤI did itاِذًاwhenوَّ اَنَاIمِنَ(was) ofالضَّآلِّیْنَؕthose who are astray فَفَرَرْتُSo I fledمِنْكُمْfrom youلَمَّاwhenخِفْتُكُمْI feared youفَوَهَبَBut grantedلِیْto meرَبِّیْmy Lordحُكْمًاjudgmentوَّ جَعَلَنِیْand made meمِنَofالْمُرْسَلِیْنَ the Messengers وَ تِلْكَAnd thisنِعْمَةٌ(is the) favorتَمُنُّهَاwith which you reproachعَلَیَّ[on] meاَنْthatعَبَّدْتَّyou have enslavedبَنِیْۤ(the) Children of Israelاِسْرَآءِیْلَؕ(the) Children of Israel قَالَFiraun saidفِرْعَوْنُFiraun saidوَ مَاAnd whatرَبُّ(is the) Lordالْعٰلَمِیْنَؕ(of) the worlds قَالَHe saidرَبُّLordالسَّمٰوٰتِ(of) the heavensوَ الْاَرْضِand the earthوَ مَاand whateverبَیْنَهُمَا ؕ(is) between themاِنْifكُنْتُمْyou (should) beمُّوْقِنِیْنَ convinced قَالَHe saidلِمَنْto thoseحَوْلَهٗۤaround himاَلَاDo notتَسْتَمِعُوْنَ you hear قَالَHe saidرَبُّكُمْYour Lordوَ رَبُّand (the) Lordاٰبَآىِٕكُمُ(of) your forefathersالْاَوَّلِیْنَ (of) your forefathers قَالَHe saidاِنَّIndeedرَسُوْلَكُمُyour Messengerالَّذِیْۤwhoاُرْسِلَhas been sentاِلَیْكُمْto youلَمَجْنُوْنٌ (is) surely mad قَالَHe saidرَبُّLordالْمَشْرِقِ(of) the eastوَ الْمَغْرِبِand the westوَ مَاand whateverبَیْنَهُمَا ؕ(is) between themاِنْifكُنْتُمْyou wereتَعْقِلُوْنَ (to) reason قَالَHe saidلَىِٕنِIfاتَّخَذْتَyou takeاِلٰهًاa godغَیْرِیْother than meلَاَجْعَلَنَّكَI will surely make youمِنَamongالْمَسْجُوْنِیْنَ those imprisoned قَالَHe saidاَوَ لَوْEven ifجِئْتُكَI bring youبِشَیْءٍsomethingمُّبِیْنٍۚmanifest قَالَHe saidفَاْتِThen bringبِهٖۤitاِنْifكُنْتَyou areمِنَofالصّٰدِقِیْنَ the truthful فَاَلْقٰیSo he threwعَصَاهُhis staffفَاِذَاand behold!هِیَItثُعْبَانٌ(was) a serpentمُّبِیْنٌۚۖmanifest وَّ نَزَعَAnd he drew outیَدَهٗhis handفَاِذَاand behold!هِیَItبَیْضَآءُ(was) whiteلِلنّٰظِرِیْنَ۠for the observers
Translation of Verse 10-33

(26:10) And (recall) when your Lord called to Musa (saying), ‘Go to the wrongdoing people.

(26:11) The folks of Fir`awn.’ Will they not fear?

(26:12) He said, ‘My Lord! I strongly fear they will cry me lies.

(26:13) And my breast will be constricted and my tongue will not move (fluently).16 So, make a Messenger of Harun.17

(26:14) Besides, they have a crime against me,18 and so I fear they will kill me (instantly).’19

(26:15) He said, ‘By no means. Proceed, both of you, with Our Signs. Surely We are with you – listening.20

(26:16) So, go to Fir`awn and say, “We are indeed Messenger(s)21 of the Lord of the worlds.22

(26:17) (With the message) that (says), ‘Send forth with us the Children of Israel.’”

(26:18) He (Fir`awn) said, ‘Did we not raise you amongst us as a child,23 and you stayed with us many years of your life?24

(26:19) ‘And you committed a deed of yours that you committed,25 and you are of the ungrateful.’26

(26:20) He replied, ‘I did it then while I was of the unguided.’27

(26:21) So I fled from you when I feared you.28 But (now) Allah has granted me the Judgment,29 and made me of the Messengers.

(26:22) And, (is) this the favor that you taunt me with (as the reason) that you have enslaved the Children of Israel!?’30

(26:23) Fir`awn asked, ‘Alright! What is (this) Lord of the worlds?’31

(26:24) He replied, ‘Lord of the heavens and the earth, and what is between them,32 if you would be convinced.’33

(26:25) He said to those around him, ‘Do you not hear?’34

(26:26) He (Musa) added, ‘(He is) your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers of old.’35

(26:27) He said, ‘Verily, the Messenger who has been sent to you is truly mad.’36

(26:28) He said, ‘The Lord of the east and the west and what is between them,37 if you would think.’38

(26:29) He said, ‘If you took a deity other than me,39 I shall surely place you among the imprisoned (ones).’40

(26:30) He asked, ‘Even if I brought you something clear (and convincing)?’41

(26:31) He said, ‘Produce it then,42 if you are of the truthful.’

(26:32) So he threw his staff, and lo, it was a serpent, manifest.’43

(26:33) And he drew out his hand and lo, it was white to the beholders.44


Commentary

16. That is, if they cry lies to me, my breast would be straitened and my tongue will not move fluently (out of anger) – Razi and others.

However, reminds Qurtubi, we have noted in Surah Taa Haa that Musa had some kind of (eloquence) impairment (20: 22). He could be referring to it (rather than failure to communicate well because of anger).

17. Although literally “Send to Harun,” a more appropriate meaning is, “Raise Harun as a Messenger” (Kashshaf, Razi, Alusi, Thanwi). He sought Harun’s help and was not at all seeking excuse from the responsibility being placed on him (Qurtubi).

The Torah alleges (see Exodus ch.3) that Musa refused altogether to accept the responsibility of Messengership to the extent of evoking God’s anger (Au.).

18. He was referring to the inadvertent killing of a Copt at his hand at the time he was living among the Fir`awn royalties. It is described in detail in Surah Qasas (28: 15-20).

19. That is, even before I have delivered the message (Kashshaf, Alusi and others).

20. That is, Our help and support is at close quarters (Alusi), which will spring to action with the first word of threat pronounced against you (Au.).

21. Although the word rasool is singular, (because it has been used here as a masdar: Alusi), it covers the two: Musa and Harun (Au.). Alternatively, the expression could be translated as, “Each of us is a Messenger” (Alusi).

22. Fir`awn knew them as Musa and Harun; so they introduced themselves as Messengers of Allah, placing their personalities in the background (Au.).

23. In these words Fir`awn mixed taunt with derision (Qurtubi).

Yusuf Ali adds: “There is a little play of wit on the part of Pharaoh. When Moses speaks of the (Lord of the worlds), Pharaoh says: “Who cherished you? Did we not bring you up as a child?” (That is, who was your Lord then, if not we?)

24. It is said that Musa left Egypt when he was thirty, and was given Messengership when forty (Alusi).

25. The allusion was of course to the accidental killing of a Copt: a taunt Musa had well anticipated. Yusuf Ali adds: “Pharaoh .. taunts him, ‘You are not only a murderer: you are an ungrateful wretch .. to have killed one of the race that brought you up.’”

26. Min al-kafirin: Most commentators have explained that Fir`awn had no idea of what kufr is. He meant ‘you were ungrateful that although we brought you up in our royal quarters, you killed one of our men.’

Nonetheless, some commentators have thought that it could mean, ‘you aided one of your men, murdering one of ours – because,’ as Hasan has said, writes Alusi: ‘all along you had remained an unbeliever in our religion.’

27. The translation tries to closely represent the text. But Ibn Mas`ud, Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah and others have said that it means, “I was of the ignorant” (Ibn Jarir, Ibn Kathir). Another meaning forwarded is, “I had forgotten” which is another connotation of the word “dalla.”

28. That is, ‘I was apprehensive that you’d punish me for the man’s death while I did not deserve such a retaliation since I had never intended to kill him nor does anybody die of a single punch’ (Razi).

Shabbir has another point. Musa intended to say, “Look! At one point I was so fearful that I fled. But now, here I am, right before you without any fear. Why? It is because now I am a Messenger.”

29. With the backing of Suddi, Ibn Jarir believes that hukm is equivalent of nubuwwah (Prophethood).

What Musa meant is, ‘While you were planning to kill me, my Lord was so kind as to appoint me His envoy’ (Razi).

30. That is, ‘Do you enslave a whole nation, tyrannizing them, and taunt me that you brought me up – a mere individual? To what purpose? And, how can you taunt me when it was your tyrannical system of killing the Israeli male children that brought me to your palace (Kashshaf, Alusi, Thanwi – with the backing of Qatadah).

Shabbir has the same point in slightly different words. Musa was trying to tell him, “It is true that you brought me up. But what kind of taunting is it? Wasn’t such upbringing a result of your persecution of the Israelites? If you hadn’t persecuted them, my mother wouldn’t have been forced to sail me across in a basket to be picked up by your women!”

31. Unable to get any result out of the loose talk, a habit of all ignorant people, Fir`awn finally gets serious. They said they were “Messengers of the Lord of the Worlds.” So he asked, “Whoever is this your Lord of the worlds?” (Au.).

Ibn Kathir has a meaning in mind that other commentators do not seem to subscribe: Fir`awn was not asking about the reality of the Supreme Deity, as to what He is made up of. But rather, when Musa said that he was sent by the Lord of the worlds, Fir`awn said, in effect, ‘A deity other than me is not recognized in this part of the world, so what other God is it that you are talking of?’ (Paraphrased).

Razi, Alusi and Thanwi however believe he was asking about the reality of the Supreme Deity; and Musa answered him that whenever He is described, it will be with the help of His Attributes and Works of creation.

32. Thus Musa answered him two questions. Who is the Lord? It is the Owner and Sustainer of all that there is. Next, what are these “worlds?” The answer is: all and everything that falls within the heavens and the earth (Au.).

33. The textual address is in plural, because, although Musa was talking to Fir`awn, he had his courtiers and attendants in mind (Au.).

34. That is, does not (this outlandish) talk amaze you? (Ibn Kathir)?

35. Thus, when Fir`awn made another attempt at digression by saying, “Do you not hear him?” – Musa tried to drag him back to the main point by saying, “(He is) your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers of old.”

It is our appreciation at the sub-conscious level of the intellectual wrestling between the two that makes this short conversation enjoyable (Au.).

36. Fir`awn used the word “Messenger” out of utter derision and to press his point that Musa seems to be unable to talk intelligently in that, ‘I say one thing, and he says another’ (Alusi).

This was yet another attempt to divert the minds and change the topic. Anyone who has ever had the opportunity to talk to a little Fir`awn will realize how the conversation here mirrors that which is experienced with this class of people (Au.).

37. So Musa holds on to his own point. He will not be side-tracked. He tells him that Allah’s kingdom extends beyond his little kingdom (Au.).

Thus Musa implied that even if Egypt belonged to Fir`awn where he could implement his command, and so, in a way he owned it, to whom belonged the East and the West where, and between which, appeared great many creations, in the earth and the heavens? (Ibn Kathir).

38. That is, why can’t you use the brains you are so proud of? A question one might ask every atheist of every age (Au.).

Aren’t you closer to being mad yourselves? (Alusi).

39. Majid offers us results of his vast readings: “Moses and Aaron ‘had to present themselves before a king, who, by the long-established usage of the country, was looked upon as “a good god,” and “the great god,” and who inherited from his father the idea that he was actually on a par with the greatest of the recognized divinities.’(Rawlinson, Moses: His Life and Times, p. 88). ‘Egypt is remarkable for the extraordinary realistic way in which it depicted the dogma that the Pharaoh was the visible-god, begotten by the god, and the divine begetter of his wife’s children.’(UHW.I.p. 646). ‘As the great Pharaonic State arose, the impressive figure of the sovereign profoundly influenced religion; the forms of the State passed over into human conceptions of the gods, and the Sun-gods, the greatest of them all, was received as a Pharaoh ruling other divinities.’ (EBr. XII, p. 77). ‘The Pharaoh was a god upon earth. Like the Incas of Pras, he belonged to the solar race, and the blood which flowed in his vein was the ichor of the gods .. The supreme sovereign, the Pharaoh .. was veritable god on earth. To his subjects he was the source, not only of material benefits but of spiritual blessings as well. He was “the good god,” the beneficent dispenser of all good things. The power of life and death was in his hands, and rebellion against him was rebellion against the gods.’ (Sayce, pp. 42,44).”

40. When challenged to use reason, unwittingly Fir`awn threw away his gauntlet. At heart he knew that if he carried on, his shallow intellectual reasoning – at bottom mere non-sense - would not stand its ground. Furthermore, his threat was not only directed at Musa, but at his courtiers too, whose faces must have been reflecting the change of minds (Au.).

Defeated on the intellectual platform, Fir`awn, like tyrants of all times, threatened to use force (Qurtubi, Ibn Kathir, Alusi).

Thus, at the intellectual level Musa won out. That is only possible if a caller stays cool and intellectually alert. It might also be noticed that the whole conversation is conducted by Musa alone, without a word from Harun, in fulfillment of Allah’s promise when He said, “By no means” (verse 15) in reply to Musa’s apprehensions that his anger might get the better of him and he would not be able to express himself powerfully if Fir`awn rejected the call (Au.).

41. Musa’s magnanimity and kindness will not allow him lose hope. He will try with his miracles (with a point from Qurtubi).

42. Fir`awn has found a straw: “Produce it,” he says (with a point from Alusi).

43. That is, it was not a make-believe kind of thing - like those produced later by the magicians - but a very real serpent for anyone to be in any doubt thereof (with a point from Alusi).

44. That is, the onlookers were not repelled by the white spot on the palm. It did not resemble a leprous hand, but rather, something that caught the eyes of the beholders – like the face of the moon (Kashshaf and Alusi rephrased).