*1 This is the introduction to the discourse. By this the listener has been forewarned to the effect: °What is being presented before you, is not the word of an ordinary being but of that God Who has infinite power." After this, some of Allah's attributes have been mentioned, one after the other, which bear a deep relevance to the following theme: First, that He is "All-Mighty", i.e. He is Dominant over everything. His every decree concerning anybody is always enforced; none can fight Him and win; none can escape His grasp. Therefore, a person who expects to be successful after turning away from His Command and expects to frustrate His Message after having a dispute with Him is himself foolish. Such notions are only deceptions.
Second, that He is "All-Knowing", i.e. He dces not say anything on mere conjecture, but has the direct knowledge of everything. Therefore, whatever information He gives about the supernatural realities, is lure, and the one who dces not accept it, is following nothing but ignorance. Likewise, He knows in what lies the true success of tnan and what rules and laws and commands are necessary for his well-being. His every teaching is based on wisdom and correct knowledge, which dces not admit of any error. Therefore, if a person does not acecpt His guidance, he only wants to follow the path of his own ruin. Then, nothing from the acts and deeds of man can remain hidden from Him; so much so that He even knows the intentions of man, which arc the real motives of his deeds. Therefore, man can never escape His punishment. The third attribute is that He is "Forgiver of sin and Acceptor of repentance. " This attribute brings hope and causes inducement, which has been mentioned so that the people who have led lives of sin, should not despair but should reform themselves with the hope that if they refrained from their behaviour even now, they could still be redeemed by Allah's mercy. Here, one should understand well that forgiving of sins and accepting of repentance are not necessarily one and the same thing, but in most cases Allah forgives sins even without the repentance. For example, a person commits errors as well as does good, and his good acts become the means of forgiveness for his mistakes, whether or not he had opportunity to show repentance for the errors, but might even have forgotten them. Likewise, all the troubles and hardships and diseases and calamities that afflict man and cause him grief in the world, serve as penance for his mistakes. That is why mention of forgiveness of sins has been made separately from the acceptance of repentance. But one should remember that the concession of forgiveness of errors without repentance only refers to those believers, who are free from defiance and who committed sins due to human weakness and not persistence in pride and sin.
The fourth attribute is that "He is stern in punishment." By this the people have been warned that just as Allah is Merciful for those who adopt the way of His service, so He is stern for those who adopt an attitude of rebellion against Him. When a person (or persons) transgresses the limits where he can still deserve pardon and forgiveness from Allah, then he becomes worthy of His punishment, and His punishment is so dreadful that only a fool would persist in his wrongdoing.
The fifth attribute is that "He is Bountiful", i.e. He is Generous and Beneficent: all creatures are being showered with His blessings and favours every moment: whatever the servants are getting, they are getting only through His bounty and beneficence. After these five attributes, two realities have been stated expressly: (1) That none but Allah is the Deity no matter how many false gods the people might have set up; and (2) that to Him everyone must return: there is no other deity which can call the people to account and reward or punish them. Therefore, if somebody makes another his deity, apart from Him, he will himself face the consequences of his folly.
 

*2 "To dispute" means using crooked arguments in reasoning, raising irrelevant objections, isolating a word or a sentence from its context, subjecting it to hair-splitting and making it the basis of doubts and accusations, misconstruing words from their true sense and intention so that neither should one understand the meaning oneself nor Iet others understand it. Such a way of dispute is adopted only by those whose difference of opinion is based on iII-will and malice. If a well-intentioned opponent disputes a point, he does so for the sake of arriving at the truth, and wants to be satisfied through discussion whether his own point of view is correct. Such a discussion is engaged in quest of truth and not for refutation. Contrary to this, the real purpose of the malicious opponent is not to understand anything nor to help others to understand, but to degrade and humiliate the other man; he joins a discussion only with the intention that he would not Iet the other man carry his point. That is why he never faces the real problems but launches his attacks only on the irrelevant issues.
*3 Here, the word kufr" has been used in two meanings: for ingratitude and for denial of the truth. According to the first meaning, the sentence would mean: As against the Revelations of Allah this sort of behaviour is adopted only by those who have forgotten His bounties and who have even lost the feeling that it is by His bounty that they are flourishing. According to the second, it would mean: "This sort of behaviour is adopted only by those who have turned away from the truth and are determined not to accept it. " From the context it becomes obvious that here the disbeliever does not imply every non-Muslim, for a non-Muslim who disputes a point in good faith for the sake of understanding Islam, and who tries to grasp thoroughly those things which he fends hard to follow, although a nonMuslim technically, yet that which has been condemned in this verse does not apply to him.
*4 There is a gap between the previous sentence and this, which has been left for the listener to fill. From the context and style it becomes evident that those who adopt the attitude of disputation as against the Revelations of Allah Almighty, can never escape the punishment. Therefore, they shall inevitably meet their doom. Now, if one sees that those people, even after adopting such an attitude, arc strutting about, their business is flourishing, their governments functioning in a grand style. and they are enjoying the good things of life, one should not be misled into thinking that they have escaped Allah's punishment, or that war against Allah's Revelations is a sport which can be adopted as a pastime and its evil consequences warded off easily. This, in fact, is a respite which they have been granted by Allah. Those who abuse this respite for doing more mischief arc indeed preparing for an ignominious end.
 

 

*5 That is, `The torment that seized them in the world was not their final punishment, but Allah has also decreed that they shall go to Hell.' Another meaning can be: "Just as the nations of the past have gone to their doom, so will those people also who arc committing disbelief go to Hell, according to the fixed decree of Allah."
 

*6 This thing has been said for the consolation of the Holy Prophet's Companions, who were feeling greatly discouraged at the impudence and rebellious attitude of the disbelievers of Makkah as against their own helplessness, as if to say: Why do you feel grieved at what these mean and worthless people say? You have the support of the angels who bear the Divine Throne and of those who stand around it; they are interceding with Allah for you." The mention of the angels who bear the Divine Throne and of those who stand around it, has been made, instead of the common angels, to impress the fact that not to speak of the common angels of Divine Kingdom, even the angels who are the pillars of this Kingdom, being nearest in rank and station to Allah, bear deep sympathy and regard for you. Then the words: °They affirm faith in Him and ask forgiveness for the believers", show that the relationship of the faith is the real relationship, which has joined the heavenly creatures and the earthly creatures together, and which has induced sympathy and esteem in the angels stationed around the Throne for the mortal humans inhabiting the earth, who affirm faith in Allah just like them. The angels' affirming the faith in Allah does not mean that they could disbelieve, and they adopted belief instead of disbelief, but it means that they believe in the sovereignty of AIlah, the One, alone there is no other being that may be commanding them and they submit before it in utter obedience. When the same attitude and behaviour was adopted by the human believers, a strong relationship of cherishing a common creed and faith was established between them and the angels in spite of the great disparity in species and remoteness in rank and station.
*7 That is, `The weakness, lapses and errors of Your servants are not hidden from You: You indeed know everything, but like Your knowledge Your Mercy also is infinite; therefore, forgive the poor creatures in spite of knowing their errors." Another meaning can be: "Forgive by Your Mercy all those about whom by Knowledge You know that they have repented sincerely and have, in reality, adopted Your Way."
*8 To forgive and to save from the torment of Hell are although Irrelatives, and there seems to be no need to mention the other when one has been mentioned, this style, in fact, reflects the deep interest the angels have in the believers. It is customary that when a person who is deeply involved in a matter. finds an opportunity to make submissions before a judge, he presents the same petition humbly over and over again, in different ways, and does not rest content with making the petition just once.
*9 "Who ... way": 'Who have given up disobedience and rebellion, adopted obedience and followed the way which You Yourself have shown."
 

*10 Here again there is the same state of solicitude as referred to in E.N. H above. Obviously. forgiving and saving from Hell by itself amounts to admitting to Paradise. And then soliciting Allah for granting the believers the same Paradise which He Himself has promised theta, seems to be unnecessary, but the angels are so earnest in their desire of well-being for the believers that they go on repeating their good wishes for them although they know that Allah will certainly bless them with these favours in the Hereafter.
*11 That is. "Join with them their parents and their wives and children for the comfort of their eyes." This same thing Allah Himself has stated as among the blessings which the believers will be granted in Paradise. For this see Ar-Ra'd: 23 and At-Tur: 21. In the verse of Surah Tur, there is also the explanation that if a person. will deserve a higher rank in Paradise, which his parents will not deserve, he will not be lowered in rank to be joined with them but Allah will raise them to join him in the higher station.
 

*12 The word sayyi'at (evils) is used in three different meanings and all three arc implied here: (I) False beliefs, perverted morals and evil deeds; (2) consequences of deviation and evil deeds; and (3) calamities, disasters and suffering in this world, or in barzakh, or on the Day of Resurrection. The object of the angels' prayer is that they be saved from everything which may be evil for them.
*13 "Evils on the Day of Resurrection" implies the dread and terror of the Day. deprivation of the shade and every other comfort, severity of accountability, the ignominy of exposing every secret of life before all mankind, and other humiliations and hardships which the guilty ones will experience in the Hereafter.
 

*14 That is, "When the disbelievers will see on the Day of Resurrection that they had committed a grave folly by founding their entire life-work on polytheism and atheism, denial of the Hereafter and opposition to the Messenger, and due to the folly they were now doomed to that evil end, they will bite at their fingers and will curse themselves fretfully. At that time the angels will proclaim to them: "Today you are being angry with yourselves, but in the world when the Prophets of Allah and the other good people invited you to the right path to save you from this evil end, you turned down their invitation, Allah's wrath against you then was even greater. "
 

*15 This same thing has already been mentioned in Al-Baqarah: 28 above. It implies this: "How can you disbelieve in AIlah? He granted you life when you were lifeless; then He will give you death. and then will again raise you back to life." The disbelievers do not deny the first three of these conditions, because they are perceptible and therefore un-deniable. But they refuse to accept the occurrence of the fourth condition, for they have not yet experienced it, and only the Prophets have foretold it. On the Day of Resurrection when the fourth condition also will be practically experienced by them, then they will acknowledge that the same which the Prophets had foretold had actually happened.
*16 That is, "We confess that we made a grave mistake when we denied this after-life; our life was filled with sins when we followed falsehood."
*17 That is, "Is there any possibility now that our confession of sins be accepted and we be rescued from this state of torment in which we have been seized?"
 

*18 That is, "The Judgement now rests entirely with that God alone, Whose Godhead you did not acknowledge, and those others whom you persistently regarded as associates and partners in the powers of Godhead, have no share whatever in the judgement. " (For a fuller understanding of this point, please see verse 45 of Az-Zumar and its E.N. 64). This sentence by itself gives the meaning that there would be no possibility of any way out for the disbelievers from the state of torment, for they did not only deny the Hereafter but they had aversion to their Creator and Sustainer, and they were not satisfied until they had associated Others with Him.
 

*19 "Signs" imply those Signs which point to the great truth that the Fashioner, Ruler and Administrator of the Universe is One and only One God.
*20 "Sustenance" here implies the rain, for every kind of the sustenance that man gets in the world, depends ultimately on the rainfall. AIlah presents this one single Sign out of His countless Signs, as if to draw the people's attention to the fact: "If you only consider and ponder over the arrangement of this one thing, you will understand that the concept being presented in the Qur'an of the administration of the Universe, is true. This arrangement could exist only it' the Creator of the earth and its creatures and of water and air and the sun and the heat and cold was only One God, and this arrangement could continue to exist for millions and millions of Years with perfect regularity only if the same Eternal God caused it to exist continually. And the One Who brought this arrangement into existence could only be an all-Wise and All-Merciful Lord, Who along with creating men, animals and vegetables in the earth, also created water precisely according to their needs and requirements, and then made these wonderful arrangements for transporting and spreading that water to different parts of the earth with perfect regularity. Now, who can be more unjust than the one who sees all this and yet denies God, or associates some other beings also with Him in Godhead?"
*21 That is, "A person who has turned away from God and whose intellect has been clouded and corrupted by heedlessness or prejudice, cannot learn any lesson from any Sign. He will see with his animal eyes that the winds Blew, the clouds gathered, the lightning thundered and flashed and the rain fell; but his human eyes will never perceive why all this happened, who caused it, and what rights He has on him. "
 

*22 For the explanation of "making one's religion sincerely Allah's", see E.N. 3 of Az-Zumar.
 

*23 That is, "He is exalted far above all the creations of the world. Anything that exists in the Universe, whether an angel or a prophet or a saint, or Borne other creation, may be very exalted and superior to other creations, but it cannot be imagined to have a station anywhere near the highest rank and position of Allah, not to speak of its being an associate in His attributes and powers and authority. "
*24 That is, He is King and Ruler of the whole Universe, and Master of the Throne of the Kingdom of the Universe. (For explanation, see AI-A'raf: 54 and E.N. 41 thereof; Yunus: 3, Ar-Ra'd: 2, Ta Ha: 5 and the E.N.'s thereof).
*25 "The Spirit" implies Revelation and Prophethood. (For explanation, see An-Nahl 2, BanI Isra'il: 85 and the E.N.'s thereof). And the words: 'Allah sends down the Spirit by His Command upon whomsoever of His servants He pleases" mean this: "Nobody has a monopoly over the bounties of Allah. Just as no one has a right to object as to why was so and so given beauty, and so-and-so extraordinary powers of memory or intelligence, so also no one has the right to abject as to why so-and-so only was chosen to be a prophet and why a person of some one's own choice was not made a prophet. "
*26 The Day of Meeting": the Day when all mankind, jinn and satans will be gathered together before their Lord simultaneously and the witnesses of their acts and deeds also will be present to bear the witness.
 

*27 That is, "Thougth in the world many vain and self-conceited people publicly proclaimed to be the kings and sovereigns, whose, in fact, is the Kingdom today? Who is the Owner of the powers and authority and Whose is the Command?" If a person hears these words in his right senses, he will be filled with terror, no matter how mighty a king or dictator he might be posing himself to be, and will immediately come to his senses. Here the mention of an historical event will not be out of place. When the Samanid ruler, Nasr bin Ahmad (301-331 A.H.), entered Nishapur, he held a court and after ascending the throne desired that the proceedings be started with recitation from the Holy Qur'an. At this an elderly pious man came forward and recited this very section of this Surah. When he came to this verse, Nasr was struck with awe; he descended the throne trembling, took off the crown and fell down in prostration, saying: "O my Lord, Kingdom is Thine, not mine!"
 

*28 That is, "None shall be wronged in any way whatever today." It should be noted that in respect of recompense, injustice can have several forms; ( 1) A person may deserve a reward but he is not given it; (2) he is given a lesser reward than what was due to him; (3) he is given a punishment although he is not liable to any punishment; (4) the one who is liable to punishment is not given any punishment; (5) the one who is liable to a lesser punishment is given a greater punishment; (6) the oppressor goes Scot-free; and (7) one is seized for the sin committed by another. What Allah means to say is that none of these different kinds of injustices will be allowed to take place in His Court.
*29 It means: "It will take Allah no time to do the reckoning. Just as He is providing for every creature of the miverse simultaneously and He is not so occupied in providing for one that He may have no time to provide for others, and just as He is seeing everything in the universe simultaneously, and hearing everything simultaneously, is managing every small and big affair simultaneously, and nothing absorbs His attention so completely that He may be unable to give . attention to others, at the same time, so He will subject to reckoning every single individual simultaneously and the hearing of one case will not make Him so occupied as to render Him unable to hear other countless cases at the same time. Then in His Court no delay also will be allowed to take place due to any difficulty in the investigation of the facts of the case and the availability of the witnesses. The Judge of the Court will Himself be aware of all the facts directly. Each party in every case will stand completely exposed before Him, and clear. undeniable evidence of the events and deeds, with each minor detail, will come forward without any delay. Therefore, each case will be settled and decided instantaneously.
 

*30 In the Qur'an the people have been made to realize again and again that Resurrection is not far off but has approached near at hand, and can take place any moment. In An-Nahl: 1, it has been said: "Allah's Judgement has come, so do not clamour for hastening it;" in Al-Anbiya':1: "The time of the reckoning of the people has drawn near, and yet they arc turning away in heedlessness;" in AI-Qamar: 1: "The Hour of Resurrection has drawn near and the moon has split asunder; " and in An-Najm: 57: "That which is coming is near at hand: none but Allah can avert it." All this is meant to warn the people to the effect that they should not become fearless of Resurrection thinking it to be yet far away, but should mend their ways and reform themselves at once.
*31 The word hamim as used in the original implies such a friend of a person as is aroused to action when he sees hire being beaten, and rushes forward to protect and save Him.
*32 This thing has been said to refute the concept of intercession held by the disbelievers. As a matter of fact, the wicked people will have no intercessor at all, for permission to intercede, if at all granted, can be granted only to the righteous servants of Allah, and Allah's righteous servants can never make friends with the disbelievers, polytheists and sinners so that they should even think of intruding on their behalf to save them. But as the disbelievers have generally held, and still hold, the belief that the saints, whose disciples they are, will not allow that they go to Hell, but will see that they are forgiven. Therefore, it has been said: There will be no such intercessor there. who may have to be listened to, and whose recommendation Allah may have to accept necessarily."
 

 

*33 That is, "He is not a blind and deaf god like your deities that He may be unaware of the misdeeds of a person about whom He is passing judgement. "
 

 

*34 Bayyinat means three things: (1) The clear signs which pointed to the Messengers' being appointed by Allah; (2) the convincing arguments which were a clear proof of their teachings being based on the Truth; and (3) the clear guidance and instructions about the problems and affairs of life which could enable every reasonable person to see that such pure teachings could not be given by an impostor.
 

*35 For the other details of the story of the Prophet Moses, see AIBaqarah: 49-61; An-Nisa: 164; AI-Ma'idah: 20-26; AI-A'raf: 103-162; Yunus: 7,5-92: Hud 17, 96-97, 110; Introduction to Surah Yusuf; Ibrahim: 5-8; Bani Isra'il: 101-104; AI-Kahf: 60-82; Maryam: 51-53; Ta Ha: 9-98; AI-Mu'minun: 45-49; Ash Shu'ara': 10-68; An-Naml: 7-14; Introduction to Surah AI-Qasas and AI-Qasas: 3-44; AI Ahzab; 69; As-Saff: 114-122 and the E.N.'s thereof.
*36 For a reply to the critics' objections about Haman, see E.N. 8 of AlQasas above.
*37 "A clear authority of appointment": With such clear Signs as left no doubt that he had been sent by Allah, and he had Allah. Lord of the worlds' power at his back. Front a careful study of the details of the Prophet Moses' story, as given in the Qur'an, it becomes obvious as to what were those Signs which are being described here as 'a clear authority of his appointment" as a Prophet by .Allah. In the first place, even this was strange that a person who, a few years earlier, had fled the country after killing a tnan of Pharaoh's nation and whose warrants of arrest had been issued, should make a sudden appearance directly in the fill-packed coup of Pharaoh, with a staff in hand, and should boldly and fearlessly address the king and his nobles and demand that they should acknowledge him as the representative of Allah, Lord of the worlds, and should act according to what he says, and none dares to lay iris hands on him. whereas the nation to which Moses belonged, had been so suppressed under slavery that if he had been apprehended inunediately on the charge of murder, no one would have voiced even a protest, not to speak of rising in rebellion. This shows that Pharaoh and his courtiers had been awe-inspired just at the appearance of the Prophet Moses, even before they witnessed the miracles of the staff and the shining hand, and they had realized in the very beginning that he had some greater power behind him, Then each of the wonderful miracles that he performed, one after the other, was enough to bring about the conviction that it was not a manifestation of magic but of Divine Power. After all, what power of magic could cause a staff to change into a serpent? or cause a whole country to suffer from famine? or cause different sorts of disasters to strike vast areas of the land on a sudden notice by Moses and be removed on a notice by him? That is why. according to the Qur'an, Pharaoh and all the responsible people of his kingdom had been convinced in their hearts, whether they might be refusing to profess with the tongue, that Moses had indeed been appointed a Prophet by AIlah. (For details, see Al-A'raf: 106-117; Ta Ha: 56 78; Ash-Shu'ara': 30-51; An-Naml: 10-13 ).
 

*38 The truth": the miracles and signs by which the Prophet Moses proved that he was a Messenger sent by Allah and the strong arguments by which he showed that he was wholly in the right.
 

*39 As already mentioned in AI-A'raf: 127 above, Pharaoh's courtiers had said to him: `Will you leave Moses and his people free to spread disorder in the land?" And he himself had said: `I will have their sons slain and let their daughters live." This verse states that this order was at last issued from Pharaoh's court. It was, in fact, meant to so terrify the Prophet Moses himself and his supporters and followers that they should abandon him out of fear.
*40 Another meaning of this sentence can be: "Whatever the disbelievers had plotted, was aimed at deviation, tyranny and antagonism to the truth. That is, even after being convinced of the truth in their heaps, they continued to show stubbornness and did not hesitate to adopt any mean device whatever in order to defeat and frustrate the Truth.
 

*41 The event which is being related here is a very important event of the Israelite history, which the Israelites themselves have totally forgotten. Both the Bible and the Talmud are without it, and no mention of it is found in the other Israelite traditions either. Only through the Qur'an has the world come to know that during the conflict between Pharaoh and the Prophet Moses this event had taken place at some time. Anybody who reads this story, provided that he has not been blinded by prejudice against Islam and the Qur'an, cannot but realize that from the viewpoint of the invitation to the Truth this story is very valuable, and this thing by itself also is in no way against reason that a person from among the nobles of the kingdom of Pharaoh himself might have quietly believed in his heart, having been influenced by the personality of the Prophet Moses, his preaching and the wonderful miracles shown by him, and might not have been able to restrain himself when he saw that Pharaoh was planning to kill him. But the way the Western orientalists, in spite of their tall claims to knowledge ard research, try to repudiate the self-evident truths of the Qur'an, on account of prejudice, can be judged from this that the author of the article "Musa" in the Encyclopaedia of Islam writes in respect of this story:
"The Kuranic story of a believer at the court of Pharaoh who wants to save Musa is not quite clear (xl, 28). Ought we to compare Jethro in the Haggada who advises clemency at Pharaoh's court?"
In other words, these so-called researchers have one thing settled with them: they must find fault with everything that the Qur'an presents. Now, if they do not find any ground for criticising a statement of it, they should at least say this much out of mischief that the story is not entirely clear, and also should incidentally create this doubt in the reader's mind that the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace) might have heard from somewhere the story of Jethro mentioned in the Haggada taking place even before the birth of Prophet Moses, and inserted it here in this form. This is the type of literary research" which these people have adopted with regard to Islam and the Qur'an and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace).
*42 In this sentence Pharaoh tries to give the impression as if some people were restraining him .from killing the Prophet Moses. Had they not stood in his way. he would have killed him long ago, whereas in fact there was no external power to restrain him; it was the fear of his own heart which was preventing him from laying his hands on the Messenger of Allah.
*43 That is, "I fear a revolution from him, and even if he is unable to bring it about, there is at least the danger that he will cause mischief to appear in the country by his activities. Therefore, even if he doesn't commit a crime punishable with death, he should be put to death only for the sake of the maintenance of public order. As for this whether there is a real danger to the public order from him, the king's satisfaction in this regard is enough. If his majesty is convinced that he is dangerous, it should be declared that he is really dangerous and punishable with death."
Here, the meaning of "changing the religion" also should be understood well. on account of which Pharaoh wanted to put the Prophet Moses to death. Din here implies the system of government, and what Pharaoh meant to say was this: "I fear that he will change your king." (Ruh al-Ma'ani, vol. XXIV, p. 56). In other words, the din of the land was the religious, political, cultural and economic system that was prevalent in Egypt on the basis of Pharaoh's and his family's sovereignty, and Pharaoh was afraid that Moses' message would change that very din. But like the cunning and deceitful rulers of every age he also did not say that he feared being deposed from his position of authority and, therefore, he wanted to kill Moses, but he presented the case like this: "O people, the danger is for you, not for me; for if Moses' movement succeeded your din would change. I am not worried for myself: I am worried for your sake as to what would become of you when you have been deprived of the protection of my authority. Therefore, the wicked man who poses such a danger should be put to death, for he is an enemy of the state. "
 

*44 Here, there are two equal probabilities and there is no ground for preferring one to the other. The first probability is that the Prophet Moses might himself be present in the court at the time and Pharaoh might have expressed his intention to kill him in his presence, and the Prophet might have given this direct answer there and then, addressing him and his courtiers. The other probability is that Pharaoh might have expressed this intention in the absence of Moses in a meeting with the responsible people of his government and a report of this conversation might have been conveyed to the Prophet by some of the believers, whereupon he might have said these words in some gathering of his followers. Whatever be the case, it is apparent from the words that the threat of Pharaoh could not cause any state of fear in Moses' heart and with trust in Allah he flung his threat back at Pharaoh. The context in which this event has been related in the Qur'an by itself shows that the same also was the reply from the Holy Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace) to those wicked people who, being fearless of the Day of Reckoning, were devising plots to kill him.
 

*45 That is, "He has shown such manifest Signs to you as have made it absolutely clear that he is a Messenger sent by your Lord." The Believer, from among the people of Pharaoh, was obviously referring to the Signs the details of which have already been given in AI-A'raf: 107-117,130-133; Bani Isra'il: 101-102; Ta Ha: 56-73; Ash-Shu'ara': 30-51; An-Naml :10-13).
*46 That is, "If in spite of such manifest Signs as he has shown you, you regard him as a liar, you should leave him alone, for the alternative probability, and a very strong probability too, is that he is truthful, and therefore you may involve yourselves in God's torment by laying your hands on him. Therefore, even if you think that he is a liar, you should leave him to himself. For if he is lying, in the name of Allah, Allah Himself will take him to task." Similar words had the Prophet Moses himself said to Pharaoh before this: "If you do not believe in me, do not harm me." (Ad-Dukhan: 21)
Here one should keep in mind that the Believer of the people of Pharaoh had not openly disclosed in the beginning that he had affirmed faith in the Prophet Moses, but he spoke as if he also belonged to Pharaoh's side, and was only wishing his people well. But when Pharaoh and his courtiers did not seem to see reason and continued to behave stubbornly, he at last disclosed the secret of his faith, as becomes obvious from his speech in vv. 38-44.
*47 This sentence can have two meanings and probably the Believer had intentionally employed it, because he did not yet want to express his belief openly. Its one meaning is: "One and the same person cannot combine righteousness and lying and falsehood. You can clearly see that Moses is a man of very sublime and pure character. Therefore, how can you believe that, on the one hand, he should be such a liar as to lay a baseless claim to prophethood in the name of Allah, and on the other, Allah should bless him with such high morals?" The other meaning is: "If you arc bent upon taking the life of Moses (peace be upon him) by transgressing alI limits and will execute your evil designs by bringing false accusations against him, you should remember that Allah will never show you the way to success."
 

*48 That is, "Why are you being ungrateful to Allah for His blessing of granting you domination in the land and are inviting His scourge to visit you?"
*49 From this answer of Pharaoh it appears that he had not yet found out that thenoble of his court had become a Believer in his heart. That is why he did not show any displeasure at what he said, but made clear that he was not inclined to change his opinion even after hearing what he had to say.
 

 

*50 That is, "AIlah has no enmity with His servants that He should destroy them without any reason: He sends calamities upon them only when they have transgressed all limits, and sending the torment then is the very demand of justice. "
 

 

 

*51 That is, "Your deviation, and then your stubbornness, is such that before Moses (peace be upon him) there came in your land the Prophet Joseph about whom you yourselves admit that he was a man of the highest morals, and you also admit that by giving the right interpretation of the king's dream he saved you from the dreadful effects of the seven-year-long famine, which had struck Egypt in his time; and your entire nation also acknowledges that Egypt has never witnessed a period of greater justice and prosperity than the period of his rule. But in spite of knowing and recognizing all his merits and high qualities you did not believe in him during his life time, and when he died, you said: "Never will the like of him came again!" That is, you recognized his excellences only for an excuse to deny every prophet who came after him. This means that you would not accept guidance in any case."
 

*52 It so appears that the ncxt few sentences are an addition by Allah and an explanation of the words of the Believer of the people of Pharaoh.
*53 That is, "Allah allows only those people to go astray who possess the following three qualities: (1) They transgress all limits in their evildoing. and then develop such a taste for it that they do not feel inclined to accept any invitation to reform their morals (2) their permanent attitude in respect of the Prophets is characterised by doubt and suspicion. The Prophets of God may bring any clear Signs before them, yet they doubt their Prophethood as well as view with suspicion those truths which they present with regard to Tauhid and the Hereafter; and 131 they try to resist the Revelations of the Book of Allah with crooked arguments instead of considering them rationally, and these objections are neither based on any sound reason nor on the authority of a revealed Book, but from the beginning to the end their only basis is obstinacy and stubbornness. When a group of the people develops these three evils, Allah hurls it into the deep pit of Hell-fire wherefrom no power can then rescue them.
*54 That is, 'The seal is not set on the heart of anybody without a reason. This seal of curse is set only on the heart of the one who is filled with arrogance and spirit of violence and tyranny."
 

 

*55 Pharaoh addresses these words to Hamim, his minister, interposing in the speech of the Believer in a way as though he has no regard for what he was saying. Therefore, he turns away from him arrogantly and says to Haman, "Build me a high tower so that I may climb it to see where the God of whom this Moses speaks, lives." (For explanation, see AI-Qasas: 38 and E.N.'s thereof).