Tafheem ul Quran
Surah 7 Al-A'raf, Ayat 130-133
وَلَقَدۡ اَخَذۡنَاۤ اٰلَ فِرۡعَوۡنَ بِالسِّنِيۡنَ وَنَقۡصٍ مِّنَ الثَّمَرٰتِ لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَذَّكَّرُوۡنَ
﴿7:130﴾
فَاِذَا جَآءَتۡهُمُ الۡحَسَنَةُ قَالُوۡا لَـنَا هٰذِهٖ ۚ وَاِنۡ تُصِبۡهُمۡ سَيِّئَةٌ يَّطَّيَّرُوۡا بِمُوۡسٰى وَمَنۡ مَّعَهٗ ؕ اَلَاۤ اِنَّمَا طٰٓـئِرُهُمۡ عِنۡدَ اللّٰهِ وَلٰـكِنَّ اَكۡثَرَهُمۡ لَا يَعۡلَمُوۡنَ
﴿7:131﴾
وَقَالُوۡا مَهۡمَا تَاۡتِنَا بِهٖ مِنۡ اٰيَةٍ لِّـتَسۡحَرَنَا بِهَا ۙ فَمَا نَحۡنُ لَكَ بِمُؤۡمِنِيۡنَ
﴿7:132﴾
فَاَرۡسَلۡنَا عَلَيۡهِمُ الطُّوۡفَانَ وَالۡجَـرَادَ وَالۡقُمَّلَ وَالضَّفَادِعَ وَالدَّمَ اٰيٰتٍ مُّفَصَّلٰتٍ فَاسۡتَكۡبَرُوۡا وَكَانُوۡا قَوۡمًا مُّجۡرِمِيۡنَ
﴿7:133﴾
(7:130) We afflicted the people of Pharaoh with hard times and with poor
harvest that they may heed. (7:131) But whenever prosperity came their way, they said: 'This is our due.'
And whatever hardship befell them, they attributed it to the misfortune of Moses
and those who followed him. Surely, their misfortune had been decreed by Allah
- but most of them do not know that. (7:132) And they said to Moses: 'Whatever sign you might produce before us
in order to enchant us, we are not going to believe you.'94 (7:133) Then We afflicted them with a great flood 95 and locusts,
and the lice96 , and the frogs, and the blood. All these were distinct
signs and yet they remained haughty. They were a wicked people.
Notes
94. Pharaoh's courtiers obstinately persisted in branding Moses' signs as
sorcery although they knew well that sorcery had nothing in common with the
miraculous signs granted to Moses. Even a fool would not he ready to believe
that the country-wide famine and the consistent decrease in agricultural output
could have been caused by magic. It is for this reason that the Qur'an says:
But when Our signs, which should have opened their eyes, came to them they said:
'This is clear sorcery! And they rejected those signs out of iniquity and arrogance
even though they were inwardly convinced of it'
(al-Naml 27: 13-14).
95. This probably refers to the torrential rain accompanied by hailstorm.
While we do not totally exclude the possibility of other kinds of storms, we
are inclined to the view, that it probably signifies hailstorm since the Bible
specifically mentions that. (See Exodus 9: 23-4 - Ed.)
96. The word used in the text - qummal - denotes lice, fleas, small locusts,
mosquitoes, and weevil. This rather general term has been used in the Qur'an
probably to suggest that while men were afflicted with lice and fleas, weevil
destroyed the barns. (Cf. Exodus 7-12. See also Tafhim al-ur'an,
(al-Zukhruf
43, n. 43.)