26. Surah Al Shu'ara'
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَإِذْ
نَادَى رَبُّكَ
مُوسَى ...
26: 10. Behold, thy Lord called Moses:
C3144. The part of the story of Moses told here is how Moses felt diffident about undertaking his commission;
- how Allah reassured him;
- how he went to Pharaoh with "the Signs";
- how Pharaoh and his people rejected him;
- how their blasphemy recoiled on themselves, but the cause of Allah triumphed;
in other words the point here is the reaction of a wicked people to the light that was held up to them, considered in its relation to the mind of Allah's Messenger.
... أَنِ ائْتِ الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ ﴿١٠﴾
"Go to the people of iniquity --
قَوْمَ
فِرْعَوْنَ...
26: 11. "The people of Pharaoh:
...أَلَا يَتَّقُونَ ﴿١١﴾
will they not fear Allah?"
قَالَ
رَبِّ إِنِّي
أَخَافُ أَن
يُكَذِّبُونِ
﴿١٢﴾
26: 12. He said:
"O my Lord! I do fear that they will charge me with falsehood:
وَيَضِيقُ
صَدْرِي وَلَا
يَنطَلِقُ
لِسَانِي فَأَرْسِلْ
إِلَى هَارُونَ
﴿١٣﴾
26: 13. "My breast will be straitened, and my speech may not go (smoothly):
so send unto Aaron.
C3145. As we should say in English, "My heart would fail me, and my tongue cleave to my mouth."
Moses had an impediment in his speech, and his mission was risky:
see next note.
But Allah's Plan works in wondrous ways. Aaron was given to assist him in his mission, and Moses' shortcomings were transformed by Allah's grace into power, so that he became the most powerful leader of Israel.
وَلَهُمْ
عَلَيَّ ذَنبٌ
فَأَخَافُ أَن
يَقْتُلُونِ
﴿١٤﴾
26: 14. "And (further), they have a charge of crime against me; and I fear they may slay me."
C3146. Moses was brought up in the palace of Pharaoh, as narrated in his personal story in 20:39-40 and n. 2563.
When he was grown-up he saw an Egyptian smiling an Israelite, and as the Israelites were being generally oppressed by the Egyptians, Moses' anger was roused, and he slew the Egyptian.
He then fled to the Midianite country in the Sinai peninsula, where he received the divine commission. But the charge of slaying the Egyptian was hanging against him.
He was also apparently quick-tempered. But Allah's grace cured his temper and he became wise; his impediment in speech, for he stood up boldly to speak to Pharaoh; and his fear, for he dared the Egyptians with Allah's Signs, and they were afraid of him.
قَالَ
كَلَّا...
26: 15. Allah said:
"By no means!
...فَاذْهَبَا بِآيَاتِنَا ...
proceed then, both of you, with Our Signs;
... إِنَّا مَعَكُم مُّسْتَمِعُونَ ﴿١٥﴾
We are with you, and will listen (to your call).
فَأْتِيَا
فِرْعَوْنَ
فَقُولَا ...
26: 16. "So go forth, both of you, to Pharaoh, and say:
... إِنَّا رَسُولُ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ﴿١٦﴾
'We have been sent by the Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds;
أَنْ
أَرْسِلْ مَعَنَا
بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ
﴿١٧﴾
26: 17. "'Send thou with us the Children of Israel.'"
قَالَ
أَلَمْ نُرَبِّكَ
فِينَا وَلِيدًا
وَلَبِثْتَ
فِينَا مِنْ
عُمُرِكَ سِنِينَ
﴿١٨﴾
26: 18. (Pharaoh) said:
"Did we not cherish thee as a child among us, and didst thou not stay in our midst many years of thy life?
C3147. There is here a little play of wit on the part of Pharaoh. When Moses speaks of the "Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds", Pharaoh says:
"Who cherished you?
Did we not bring you up as a child?
Did you not grow up among us?"
By implication Pharaoh suggest that he is the cherisher of Moses, and in any case Pharaoh laid claim to godhead himself.
وَفَعَلْتَ
فَعْلَتَكَ
الَّتِي فَعَلْتَ
وَأَنتَ مِنَ
الْكَافِرِينَ
﴿١٩﴾
26: 19. "And thou didst a deed of thine which (thou knowest) thou didst, and thou art an ungrateful (wretch)!"
C3148. Further, Pharaoh reminds Moses of his having slain the Egyptian, and taunts him:
"You are not only a murderer: you are an ungrateful wretch" (using kafir again in a double sense) "to have killed one of the race that brought you up!"
قَالَ
فَعَلْتُهَا
إِذًا وَأَنَا
مِنَ الضَّالِّينَ
﴿٢٠﴾
26: 20. Moses said:
"I did it then, when I was in error.
C3149. What is Moses' reply?
He is no longer afraid. He tells the whole truth, extenuating nothing in his own favour.
"Yes I did it: but I did it under an error."
There are three implications in this:
1. “I was wrong in doing it in a temper and in being hasty;
2. was wrong in taking the law into my own hands, but I repented and asked for Allah's pardon (xxviii. 15-16);
3. that was at a time when I was under your influence, but since then I am a changed man, as Allah has called me."
فَفَرَرْتُ
مِنكُمْ لَمَّا
خِفْتُكُمْ...
26: 21. "So I fled from you (all) when I feared you;
C3150. He accounts for all his movements, much more than Pharaoh had asked for. He has nothing to hide. At that time he was under the influence of fear, and he had fled from him.
Now he is serving Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. He has no fear: he is a messenger.
...فَوَهَبَ لِي رَبِّي حُكْمًا وَجَعَلَنِي مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ ﴿٢١﴾
but my Lord has (since) invested me with judgment (and wisdom) and appointed me as one of the messengers.
وَتِلْكَ
نِعْمَةٌ تَمُنُّهَا
عَلَيَّ أَنْ
عَبَّدتَّ بَنِي
إِسْرَائِيلَ
﴿٢٢﴾
26: 22. "And this is the favor with which thou dost reproach me -- that thou hast enslaved the Children of Israel"
C3151. Pharaoh had called Moses ungrateful and reproached him with all the favours which Moses had received from the Egyptians.
"What favours?" he says; "Do you count it also as a favour to me that you have enslaved my brethren the Children of Israel?"
Moses was now speaking as a Prophet of Allah, not as an individual. Any individual favours he may have received were blotted out by the oppression of his people. (R).
Asad’s Version:
26:10 [Asad]
HENCE, [remember how it was] when thy Sustainer summoned Moses: "Go unto those
evildoing people,
]
(26:11) the people of Pharaoh, who refuse to be conscious of Me!" 7
(26:12) He answered: "O my Sustainer! Behold, I fear that they will give me the lie,
(26:13) and then my breast will be straitened and my tongue will not be free: send, then, [this Thy command) to Aaron. 8
(26: 14) Moreover, they keep a grave charge [pending] against me, and I fear that they
will slay me.'"
26:15 Said He: "Not so, indeed! Go forth, then, both of you, with Our messages: verily,
(26: 16) And go, both of you, unto Pharaoh and say, 'Behold, we bear a message from the Sustainer of all the worlds:
(26: 17) Let the children of Israel go with us!'
(26:18) [But when Moses had delivered his message, Pharaoh] said: "Did we not bring thee up among us when thou wert a child? And didst thou not spend among us years of thy [later] life?
(26: 19) And yet thou didst commit that [heinous] deed of thine, 10 and [hast thus
shown that] thou art one of the ingrate! "
26:20 Replied [Moses]: "I committed it while I was still going astray;
(26:21) and I fled from you because I feared you. But [since] then my Sustainer has endowed me with the ability to judge [between right and wrong], 11 and has made me one of [His] message-bearers.
(26:22) And [as for] that favour of which thou so tauntingly remindest me - [was it not) due to thy having enslaved the children of Israel?" 12
[[ Asad’s notes
6 The above two verses appear eight times in this surah. Apart from the present instance, they conclude, like a refrain, each of the subsequent seven stories of earlier prophets, which - by means of their, in places, almost identical phrasing - are meant to stress the essential identity of the ethical teachings of all the prophets, as well as to illustrate the statement, in verse 5, that a rejection of God's messages is a recurrent phenomenon in the history of mankind despite the fact that His existence is clearly manifested in all living creation.
7 Lit., "Will they not be [or "become"] conscious [of me]?" Zamakhshari and Razi understand this rhetorical question in the sense apparent in my rendering, namely, as a statement of fact.
8 Cf 20:25-34 and the corresponding notes. In the present context, stress is laid on the deep humility of Moses, who considered himself incapable of fulfilling the task for which he had been chosen, and asked God to entrust it to Aaron instead.
9 Sc, "and thus frustrate my mission". This is a reference to Moses' killing of the Egyptian, which was the cause of his subsequent flight from his native land (cf. 28:15 ff)
10 Lit., "thou didst commit thy deed which thou hast committed" - a construction meant to express the speaker's utter condemnation of the deed referred to: hence, my interpolation of the word "heinous". As regards the above aJlusions to Moses' childhood and youth at Pharaoh's court, the manslaughter committed by him, and his flight from Egypt, see 28:4-22.
1 1 As is shown in 28:15-16, after having killed the Egyptian, Moses suddenly realized that he had committed a grievous sin (see also note 1 5 on the last two sentences of 28: 1 5).
12 See 28:4-5. ]]