Surah 28. Al-Qasas

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Verses [Section]: 1-13[1], 14-21 [2], 22-28 [3], 29-42 [4], 43-50 [5], 51-60 [6], 61-75 [7], 76-82 [8], 83-88 [9]

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Quran Text of Verse 1-1328. Al-Qasasبِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِطٰسٓمّٓ Ta Seem Meem تِلْكَTheseاٰیٰتُ(are the) Versesالْكِتٰبِ(of) the Bookالْمُبِیْنِ the clear نَتْلُوْاWe reciteعَلَیْكَto youمِنْfromنَّبَاِ(the) newsمُوْسٰی(of) Musaوَ فِرْعَوْنَand Firaunبِالْحَقِّin truthلِقَوْمٍfor a peopleیُّؤْمِنُوْنَ who believe اِنَّIndeedفِرْعَوْنَFiraunعَلَاexalted himselfفِیinالْاَرْضِthe landوَ جَعَلَand madeاَهْلَهَاits peopleشِیَعًا(into) sectsیَّسْتَضْعِفُoppressingطَآىِٕفَةًa groupمِّنْهُمْamong themیُذَبِّحُslaughteringاَبْنَآءَهُمْtheir sonsوَ یَسْتَحْیٖand letting liveنِسَآءَهُمْ ؕtheir womenاِنَّهٗIndeed heكَانَwasمِنَofالْمُفْسِدِیْنَ the corrupters وَ نُرِیْدُAnd We wantedاَنْtoنَّمُنَّbestow a favorعَلَیuponالَّذِیْنَthose whoاسْتُضْعِفُوْاwere oppressedفِیinالْاَرْضِthe landوَ نَجْعَلَهُمْand make themاَىِٕمَّةًleadersوَّ نَجْعَلَهُمُand make themالْوٰرِثِیْنَۙthe inheritors 28. Al-Qasas Page 386وَ نُمَكِّنَAnd [We] establishلَهُمْthemفِیinالْاَرْضِthe landوَ نُرِیَand showفِرْعَوْنَFiraunوَ هَامٰنَand Hamanوَ جُنُوْدَهُمَاand their hostsمِنْهُمْthrough themمَّاwhatكَانُوْاthey wereیَحْذَرُوْنَ fearing وَ اَوْحَیْنَاۤAnd We inspiredاِلٰۤی[to]اُمِّ(the) motherمُوْسٰۤی(of) Musaاَنْthatاَرْضِعِیْهِ ۚSuckle himفَاِذَاbut whenخِفْتِyou fearعَلَیْهِfor himفَاَلْقِیْهِthen cast himفِیin(to)الْیَمِّthe riverوَ لَاand (do) notتَخَافِیْfearوَ لَاand (do) notتَحْزَنِیْ ۚgrieveاِنَّاIndeed Weرَآدُّوْهُ(will) restore himاِلَیْكِto youوَ جَاعِلُوْهُand (will) make himمِنَofالْمُرْسَلِیْنَ the Messengers فَالْتَقَطَهٗۤThen picked him upاٰلُ(the) familyفِرْعَوْنَ(of) Firaunلِیَكُوْنَso that he might becomeلَهُمْto themعَدُوًّاan enemyوَّ حَزَنًا ؕand a griefاِنَّIndeedفِرْعَوْنَFiraunوَ هَامٰنَand Hamanوَ جُنُوْدَهُمَاand their hostsكَانُوْاwereخٰطِـِٕیْنَ sinners وَ قَالَتِAnd saidامْرَاَتُ(the) wifeفِرْعَوْنَ(of) FiraunقُرَّتُA comfortعَیْنٍ(of the) eyeلِّیْfor meوَ لَكَ ؕand for youلَا(Do) notتَقْتُلُوْهُ ۖۗkill himعَسٰۤیperhapsاَنْ(that)یَّنْفَعَنَاۤhe may benefit usاَوْorنَتَّخِذَهٗwe may take himوَلَدًا(as) a sonوَّ هُمْAnd theyلَا(did) notیَشْعُرُوْنَ perceive وَ اَصْبَحَAnd becameفُؤَادُ(the) heartاُمِّ(of the) motherمُوْسٰی(of) Musaفٰرِغًا ؕemptyاِنْThatكَادَتْshe was nearلَتُبْدِیْ(to) disclosingبِهٖabout himلَوْ لَاۤif notاَنْthatرَّبَطْنَاWe strengthenedعَلٰی[over]قَلْبِهَاher heartلِتَكُوْنَso that she would beمِنَofالْمُؤْمِنِیْنَ the believers وَ قَالَتْAnd she saidلِاُخْتِهٖto his sisterقُصِّیْهِ ؗFollow himفَبَصُرَتْSo she watchedبِهٖhimعَنْfromجُنُبٍa distanceوَّ هُمْwhile theyلَا(did) notیَشْعُرُوْنَۙperceive وَ حَرَّمْنَاAnd We had forbiddenعَلَیْهِfor himالْمَرَاضِعَthe wet nursesمِنْbeforeقَبْلُbeforeفَقَالَتْso she saidهَلْShall Iاَدُلُّكُمْdirect youعَلٰۤیtoاَهْلِ(the) peopleبَیْتٍ(of) a houseیَّكْفُلُوْنَهٗwho will rear himلَكُمْfor youوَ هُمْwhile theyلَهٗto himنٰصِحُوْنَ (will be) sincere فَرَدَدْنٰهُSo We restored himاِلٰۤیtoاُمِّهٖhis motherكَیْthatتَقَرَّmight be comfortedعَیْنُهَاher eyeوَ لَاand notتَحْزَنَshe may grieveوَ لِتَعْلَمَand that she would knowاَنَّthatوَعْدَthe Promise of Allahاللّٰهِthe Promise of Allahحَقٌّ(is) trueوَّ لٰكِنَّButاَكْثَرَهُمْmost of themلَا(do) notیَعْلَمُوْنَ۠know

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Translation of Verse 1-13In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

(28:1) Ta'. Sin. Mim

(28:2) These are the verses of the Clear Book.

(28:3) We recount to you with truth some parts of the story of Moses and Pharaoh¹ for the benefit of those who believe.²

(28:4) Indeed Pharaoh transgressed in the land³ and divided its people into sections.⁴ One group of them he humiliated, and slew their sons and spared their daughters.⁵ Truly he was among the mischief-makers.

(28:5) We wanted to bestow favour on those who were oppressed in the land. We wanted to make them leaders and heirs⁶

(28:6) and to grant them power in the land,⁷ and make Pharaoh and Haman⁸ and their hosts see what they had feared.

(28:7) We⁹ suggested to the mother of Moses: "Suckle your child, but when you fear for his life cast him into the river and be not fearful nor grieve, for We shall restore him to you and make him one of the Messengers."¹⁰

(28:8) Then Pharaoh's household picked him up (from the river) that he may be their adversary and be a cause of sorrow to them.¹¹ Surely Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts erred (in their scheming).

(28:9) The wife of Pharaoh said: "Here is a delight of the eye to me and to you. Do not kill him. Maybe he will prove useful for us, or we may adopt him as a son."¹² They were unaware of the end of it all.

(28:10) On the other hand, the heart of Moses' mother was sorely distressed. Had We not strengthened her heart that she might have full faith (in Our promise), she would have disclosed the secret.

(28:11) She told the sister of Moses: "Follow him." So she kept watch over him unperceived (by the enemies).¹³

(28:12) And We had already forbidden the breasts of the nurses for the child.¹⁴ (So seeing the girl) said: "Shall I direct you to the people of a household that will rear him with utter sincerity?"¹⁵

(28:13) Thus did We restore Moses¹⁶ to his mother that her eyes might be comforted and she might not grieve, and realise that the promise of Allah was true.¹⁷ But most people are unaware of this.

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Commentary

1. For comparison, see al-Baqarah 2:47-59; al-A‘raf 7:100~41; Yunus 10:75-92; Hid 11:96-109; Bani Isra’il 17:101—11; Maryam 19:51-3; Ta Ha 20:1-89; al-Mu'minun 23:45-9; al-Shu‘ara’ 26:10-68; al-Naml 27:7-14: al- ‘Ankabut 29:39-40; al-Mu'min 40:23-50; al-Zukhruf 43:46-56; al-Dukhan 44:17-33; al-Dhariyat 51:38—40, and al-Nazi ‘at 79:15—26.

2. This Book will be of benefit to those who are inclined to consider the call to the Truth with an open mind. For it would be futile to recite such verses to those who are unwilling to accept the Truth, to those who, by their sheer obduracy, have closed their minds to considering it with earnestness.

3. The words ‘ala fi al-ard mean that Pharaoh became vain and headstrong and began to transgress. (Ibn Manzur, Lisan al-‘Arab, q.v. ‘LA — Ed.) Not satisfied with his true position as a human being the position of a servant of God — he became haughty, virtually planting himself on God’s throne, opposing people and ruling over them with tyranny.

4. Pharaoh did not rule over his subjects with an even hand, giving equal rights to all; instead, he divided his subjects into various groups. He gave more rights and powers to some and enslaved, crushed and exploited others.

‘An objection can be raised at this point, viz. that even an Islamic state differentiates between Muslims and dhimmis, and does not grant both equal rights.

This, however, is an invalid objection because in the case of an Islamic state the distinction between the two groups is not on the basis of race, color, language or social status, but on the basis of worldview and principles. In the Islamic’ system of governance, there is no difference between Muslims and dhimmis as far as legal rights are concerned. The differences that there are pertain to political rights. The basic reason for this is that in an ideological state, leadership can only come from those who believe in the ideology of the state. All those who believe in that ideology qualify for vital leadership positions and those who do not accept that ideology are not part of the group that provides leadership.

There is no similarity, therefore, between that which obtains in the Islamic state and that which prevailed in Pharaoh’s system. In the latter system, no member of the enslaved groups could ever aspire to join the ruling classes. Instead, human beings were permanently divided into the rulers and the ruled; a system in which some were not granted even basic human, let alone political and legal, rights. In fact, some were even denied the right to live! In that system there were no guarantees for the enslaved: all benefits and privileges, all material favors, all ranks were set apart for the ruling class, not because of any merit but simply on grounds of their birth.

5. The Bible explains this as follows: Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war befalls us, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to inflict them with heavy burdens; and they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raam’ses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they made the people of Israel serve with rigor, and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field; in all their work they made them serve with rigor.

Then the king pf Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiph’ rah and the other Pu’ah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birth stool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. (Exodus 1:8-17.) This shows that after the time of the Prophet Joseph (peace be on him) a nationalist revolution took place in Egypt and the Copts regained power and their government had recourse to all possible means to suppress the Israelites.

They did not limit their tyranny to assigning humiliating tasks to the Israelites and subjecting them to a state of ignominy and disgrace, but also devised a scheme to reduce their population by killing their male children while sparing their females. In the course of time, these female children would be married to Copts and the children born out of such marriages would thereby be Copts. According to the Talmud, this revolution took place a little over a century after Joseph’s death.

The Talmud narrates, in detail, how the new government deprived the Israelites of their fertile lands, their dwellings and other properties and how it removed them from all government positions. But the tyranny of the Coptic rulers did not end there. Whenever they felt that the Israelites and their co-religionist Egyptians were gaining strength, they would humiliate them, employ them in hard labor on minimum wages, and sometimes even make them work without any wages. This is the explanation of the Qur’anic statement about Pharaoh's policy towards the people of Egypt’ “One group of them he humiliated ...” (verse 4).

As for the attitude of the Pharaonites to the Israelites, the Qur'an tells us the following: “[they] afflicted you with dreadful suffering, slaying your males and sparing your females ...” (al-Baqarah 2:49). But neither the Bible nor the Qur’an mentions that Pharaoh had been told by some astrologer that a boy would be born among the Israelites who would overthrow him and, hence, why he killed the male infants born to the Israelites. There is also no mention of Pharaoh’s dream which was interpreted with exactly the same import. Qur’anic commentators have, however, taken over this legend from Talmudic and other Israelite traditions. (See The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, p. 47. See also The Talmud Selections, pp. 123-4 — Ed.)

6. That is, God would endow them with the position of world leadership.

7. That is, God would bestow upon them inheritance of the land and make them rulers.

8. Western Orientalists have heaped a mountain of criticism ‘on this verse.

They emphatically state that Ham4n was a courtier of the Persian King Xerxes. * (For an account of Haman by Western Orientalists, see S.D. Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and Institutions, pp. 17-18. It should also be borne in mind that

* The name as mentioned in the Bible is King Ahasue’rus. also known as Xerxes, who lived in.

the 5th century B.C. - Ed.

all the criticism on this verse is based on “The Book of Esther”, the 17th book of the Old Testament. For an account of the historical worth of the story of this book see art. “Purim” The Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. James Hastings, Vol. 10, pp. 505-7). It is known that Xerxes ruled over Persia several centuries after Moses, between 486 and 465 B.C. They insist on this despite the fact that the Qur’an makes him Pharaoh’s vizier. Now, if these Orientalists were not blinded with prejudice, they would have realized that their contention implied that before the said courtier of Xerxes no person by the name of Haman ever existed in the world! Do they have any historical evidence to support such a contention? If any Orientalist has found any authentic list detailing the ministers, nobles and courtiers of the Pharaoh who is so mentioned here, why, then, is such a list not published? If they have such information, it would surely help establish the point they are trying to make and could be used quite potently against the Qur’an, but clearly it is not something which they possess.

9. It is not explicitly stated here that under these circumstances, a son was born to an Israeli who was to be known by the name of Moses. According to the Bible and the Talmud, the family concerned descended from Levi, son of the Prophet Jacob (peace be on him), and that the name of Moses’ (peace be on him) father, according to both was Amram, called ‘Imran in the Qur’an. The family already had two children before Moses’s, birth: a daughter named Miriam (who is mentioned in the following Qur’anic verses), and a son called Aaron (Harun).

(See H. Polano, The Talmud Selections, pp. 122-5 — Ed.) Aaron was probably born before the decree to kill all the male infants of Israel had come into effect and so he survived. The third child was born after the promulgation of this draconian decree.

10. It was not God's command that the child be cast into the river immediately after birth. Instead, until there was a real threat to the child’s life, he was to be suckled by his mother. Only when she feared that Moses’ birth was known to. the enemy, either by his crying or through some Israeli informer, was she to put the child into a chest and cast it into the river, and thereafter, to have no fear or worry. According to the Bible, Moses’ mother kept the birth of her baby secret for three months. (See Exodus 2:2 — Ed.) The Talmud adds that Pharaoh’s government employed female spies who visited Israelite homes with their own small offspring. Once in the house, they would make their own babies cry so that any baby in the house would follow suit.

Moses’ mother was afraid that this new means of spying would lead to the disclosure of her secret and, therefore, she cast Moses into the river three months after his birth. Up to this point, the Biblical and Talmudic narrations are similar to the Qur’anic account. The mention of the way the child was cast into the river is also identical in all three sources: “Put him into a chest and then throw him in the river” (Ta Ha 20:39), According to the Bible and the Talmud, Moses’ mother made a chest of reeds and covered it with mud and pitch to make it waterproof.

She laid the child in the chest and cast it into the Nile. (See Exodus 2:3. See also H. Polano, The Talmud Selections, p. 126.) But the most important detail mentioned in the Qur’an is absent from Israelite traditions: that Moses’ mother did this at the behest of God, for she had been assured that by doing so she would not expose the baby to any danger, that God would restore her baby to her and that he would later become a Prophet.

11. This, obviously, was not what they aimed at; it was their fate. They were simply picking up a baby without knowing that he was destined to be their undoing.

12. It becomes clear from this statement that the chest was carried by the river to the area where Pharaoh’s palaces were located, Pharaoh’s servants, therefore, picked up the chest and took it to Pharaoh and his wife. It is possible, however, that the King and Queen were themselves strolling along the river ‘and that they, themselves, spotted the chest and ordered that it be pulled from the river. The chest was travelling along the river from the direction of the Israelite quarters so it was easy for them to conclude that the child was an Israelite whose male infants were then being put to the sword. So it stood to reason that an Israelite had secretly brought up their baby and hoping that it would survive had then cast it into the river.

Presumably for these reasons, some of Pharaoh's slaves, who were possibly more royal than he, asked Pharaoh to kill the baby in order that he might not prove to be the young of a serpent who, after growing up, would bite the very hand that had fed it. But to Pharaoh’s wife who probably had no children of her own, the baby was extraordinarily attractive, as God Himself tells Moses: “And I spread My love over you in order that you might be reared in My sight” (Ta Ha 20:39). That is, God had made him so charming that whoever saw him was filled with love for him. Therefore, Pharaoh’s wife could not resist asking the King that-he adopt him. She thought that once he had been made their son, he would never know that he was an Israelite; he would consider himself to belong to the Pharaonic nation, and that his abilities would then be devoted to strengthening the Pharaonites rather than the Israelites. According to the Bible and the Talmud, the woman who said this was Pharaoh’s daughter. (See Exodus 2:5—-10. See also H. Polano, The Talmud Selections, p. 126.) The Qur’an, however, calls her Imra’atu Fir‘awn (Pharaoh’s wife) in unambiguous terms. It is obvious that God’s own words are far more authentic than the traditions which were recorded hundreds of years after the event. Thus, there is no justification to translate Imra’atu Fir‘awn as “a woman of Pharaoh’s family” merely in order to bring the Qur’anic statement into conformity with the Israelite traditions in disregard of Arabic idiom and linguistic usage.

13. The girl kept an eye on the chest. She did so while walking along ‘the river bank, always keeping it in view without giving any hint that her walk along the bank had anything to do with the chest that was floating on the river.

According to Israelite traditions, Moses’ sister was about ten or twelve years of age at that time. Her high level of intelligence, however, can be gauged from the ' fact that she successfully traced her brother’s arrival to Pharaoh’s palace.

14. The baby would not take milk from any nurse called by the Queen to suckle him.

15. This shows that after her brother entered the palace, his sister did not go home but remained close by. Moreover, as soon as she found out that the baby was not suckling from anyone, and the Queen was in search of a nurse with whom the baby would feel at ease, she went straight to the palace and told then) that she knew a nurse who would bring up the child with care and compassion.

It should be remembered that in ancient times the nobles did not raise their children themselves but gave them over to nurses who would take them to their own homes and raise them. In the accounts of the Prophet’s life, mention is made from time to time of women who would come to Makka from outside in order to have suitable children from noble families that they would nurse. This was a service which brought them very handsome compensation. The Prophet (peace be on him), himself, was raised by Halimah Sa ‘diyah outside the city, in the open expanses of the desert. The same custom prevailed in Egypt at the time of Moses. Hence why Moses’ sister did not say that she would bring a good nurse but simply said that she could direct them to a competent nurse who would do a good job of looking after the child, bringing him up with care and compassion.

16. According to the Bible and the Talmud,'the boy was given the name of Moses in Pharaoh's house. It is not a Hebrew but rather a Coptic word and means: “I drew him out of water”. In ancient Egyptian, mo means “water” and oshe means the one who has been rescued. (See A Bible Commentary for Today, General Editor, G.C.D. Howley, p.!78. See also The Life and Works of Flavius Josephus, tr, William Winston, Philadelphia, The John C. Winston Co., n.d. — Ed.)

17. The result of God’s wholesome scheme was that Moses did not become a Pharaonic prince in the true sense of the expression. Rather, he was brought up by his own parents, in his own house, among his own kith and kin. He, therefore, gained the consciousness of his own identity, family and lineage. This upbringing made him grow into an Israelite rather than as a member of the Pharaonic nation.

According to a tradition: “Whoever works to earn his livelihood and is mindful of God’s pleasure in his work, is like Moses’ mother who fed her own child and was paid for it.” Although such a person works to feed himself and his children, he becomes eligible for God’s reward. This, provided he is mindful of God’s pleasure, is honest in his dealings, and considers the raising of his children and providing for them as an act of God’s worship. (See Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, ‘comments on Surah al-Qasas 28:13. See also Abu al-Hasan al- ‘Iraqi, Tanzih al- Shari‘ah al-Marfu‘ah ‘an al-Ahadith al-Shani‘ah al-Mawdu ‘ah, Vol. 2, p. 174. See also ‘Ala’ al-Din al-Hindi, Kanz al-‘Ummal fi Sunan al-Aqwal, Vol. 5, p. 124, hadith no. 12335 — Ed.)*