وَ لَقَدْ And certainly اٰتَیْنَا We had given مُوْسٰی Musa تِسْعَ nine اٰیٰتٍۭ Signs بَیِّنٰتٍ clear فَسْـَٔلْ so ask بَنِیْۤ (the) Children of Israel اِسْرَآءِیْلَ (the) Children of Israel اِذْ when جَآءَهُمْ he came to them فَقَالَ then said لَهٗ to him فِرْعَوْنُ Firaun اِنِّیْ Indeed, I لَاَظُنُّكَ [I] think you یٰمُوْسٰی O Musa مَسْحُوْرًا (you are) bewitched قَالَ He said لَقَدْ Verily عَلِمْتَ you know مَاۤ none اَنْزَلَ has sent down هٰۤؤُلَآءِ these اِلَّا except رَبُّ (the) Lord السَّمٰوٰتِ (of) the heavens وَ الْاَرْضِ and the earth بَصَآىِٕرَ ۚ (as) evidence وَ اِنِّیْ and indeed I لَاَظُنُّكَ [I] surely think you یٰفِرْعَوْنُ O Firaun! مَثْبُوْرًا (you are) destroyed فَاَرَادَ So he intended اَنْ to یَّسْتَفِزَّهُمْ drive them out مِّنَ from الْاَرْضِ the land فَاَغْرَقْنٰهُ but We drowned him وَ مَنْ and who مَّعَهٗ (were) with him جَمِیْعًاۙ all وَّ قُلْنَا And We said مِنْۢ after him بَعْدِهٖ after him لِبَنِیْۤ to the Children of Israel اِسْرَآءِیْلَ to the Children of Israel اسْكُنُوا Dwell الْاَرْضَ (in) the land فَاِذَا then when جَآءَ comes وَعْدُ (the) promise الْاٰخِرَةِ (of) the Hereafter جِئْنَا We will bring بِكُمْ you لَفِیْفًاؕ (as) a mixed crowd
(17:101) We granted Moses nine clear signs.113 Ask the Children of Israel about that: when these signs came forth, Pharaoh said to him: "Moses, I think that you are bewitched."114
(17:102) Moses replied: "You know well that no one but the Lord of the heavens and the earth has sent these as eye-opening proofs.116 I truly think, O Pharaoh, that you are indeed doomed."116
(17:103) At last Pharaoh decided to uproot Moses and the Children of Israel from the land, but We drowned him together with all who were with him;
(17:104) and thereafter We said to the Children of Israel: "Now dwell in the land,117 but when the promised time of the Hereafter comes, We shall bring you all together."
113. This, again, is in response to the unbelievers’ demands to perform miracles and constitutes the third rejoinder on the subject. It will be recalled that the unbelievers contended that their believing in the Prophet (peace be on him) was contingent upon the latter’s performance of certain miracles. In response, they are told that in the past Pharaoh witnessed. no less than nine miracles in succession. But since he was bent upon not believing, he was unable to change his views even after witnessing all those miracles. One should in any case recall Pharaoh’s tragic end, the result of his persistent disbelief.
The nine clear signs of God to which this verse alludes are specifically mentioned in al-A ‘raf (see verses 107-33). They are as follows: (i) the rod of Moses which turned into a serpent; (ii) Moses’ bright hand which shone like the sun; (iii) the defeat, in public, of the magicians’ sorcery; (iv) the countrywide famine; (v) the flood; (vi) the locusts; (vii) the frogs; (viii) the lice; (ix) the rain of blood. All these calamities smote Pharaoh’s people in succession.
114. The Makkan polytheists would often brand the Prophet Muhammad - (peace be on him) as one afflicted by sorcery. This allegation has already been mentioned in verse 47 of the present surah: ‘You are only following one who is _ bewitched.’ Here it is being emphasized how very similar were the people of Pharaoh who had hurled exactly the same charge at Moses (peace be on him).
It is also pertinent to discuss another related issue at this stage. Some of those who reject the Hadith have expressed the view that this Qur’anic verse proves _ that the entire corpus of Hadith is unreliable. They mention the tradition which reports that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) was once afflicted with sorcery. (See al-Bukhari, K. al-Tibb, ‘Bab al-Sihr. —Ed.) Yet the Qur’an, they claim, refutes this contention.
Let us consider the matter more carefully. Here, the Qur’an states clearly that Pharaoh’s allegation that Moses (peace be on him) was affected by sorcery is false. Nevertheless, in Ta Ha, the Qur’an says: “Then suddenly it appeared to Moses, owing to their magic, as if their ropes and staffs were running. So Moses’ heart was filled with fear’ (Ta Ha 20: 66-7). The words of the verses suggest quite categorically that at that particular moment Moses was affected by sorcery. Now, were the rejecters of Hadith to follow the logical implication of their contention, would they not be led to contending that here the Qur’an contradicts itself and corroborates Pharaoh’s allegation? Those who raise such objections are presumably not aware of the sense in which the Makkan unbelievers and Pharaoh branded the Prophet Muhammad and the Prophet Moses (peace be on them) respectively with sorcery. What they imagined was that some enemy had worked magic upon them, causing them to become mad, and it was under the spell of this magic that each of them claimed to be God’s Messenger, and each of them came forth with a strange message. It is this which the Qur’an refutes.
As for the possibility of a Prophet being temporarily affected by sorcery — whether that sorcery affected the whole or just a part of his body — this is not denied by the Qur’an. Such a temporary effect of sorcery is no different from someone being hurt by a piece of rock which has been hurled at him. Now, the opponents of Moses and Muhammad (peace be on them) did not claim that they had fallen victims to sorcery for just a few moments. And since they did not express such an opinion there was no occasion for the Qur’an to deny their contention. For, if a Prophet is temporarily affected by magic, this is not — inconsistent with the station of a Prophet. If a Prophet, like anyone else, can be affected by poison, or can suffer other bodily injuries, so too can he be affected by magic. There is no reason why this should be considered inconsistent with his office of prophethood. What is inconsistent with prophethood is that the mental faculties of a Prophet are so overpowered by magic that he begins both to say strange things and act differently under its spell. The unbelievers claimed that this is precisely what happened to Moses and Muhammad (peace be on them). And again, it is precisely this contention which the Qur’an - emphatically refutes.
115. The Prophet Moses (peace be on him) made this statement to emphasize the fact that the calamities which befell people could only be from God. There was widespread famine across the land. Frogs in large numbers infested a vast area, covering hundreds of thousands of square miles. Food stocks in the barns throughout the land were eaten up by weevils. Calamities such as these could not be the result of some magician’s sorcery, or the _ manifestation of some human being’s extraordinary power.
It is also significant that each calamity which befell the people did so after Moses had warned Pharaoh that such things would happen if he did not give up his obduracy. In such a case, only a lunatic or an incorrigibly obdurate person can entertain the belief that such calamities could have been brought about by anyone other than the Lord of the Universe.
116. The Prophet Moses (peace be on him) had stated quite clearly and | while he was not afflicted with sorcery, that Pharaoh was doubtlessly doomed. This was evident from the latter’s total obduracy, and his firm refusal to accept the truth.
117. This brings out the true moral of the narrative. The Makkan polytheists were intent on uprooting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) and the Muslims from Arabia. They are told that Pharaoh intended to do the same with the Prophet Moses (peace be on him) and the Israelites. However, what really happened was that while Pharaoh and his people were annihilated, Moses (peace be on him) and his followers became firmly established in the land which was earlier under Pharaoh’s sway. Now if the Makkan unbelievers chose to follow in the footsteps of Pharaoh and his people their end would be no different from theirs.