Tafsir of Surah Yunus - Verse 78

The Story of Musa and Fira`wn

Allah said:

ثُمَّ بَعَثْنَا

(Then after them We sent ) meaning ofter these Messengers,

مُّوسَى وَهَـرُونَ إِلَى فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَئِهِ

(Musa and Harun to Fir`awn and his chiefs,) meaning his people

بِـَايَـتِنَآ

(with Our Ayat.) meaning; `Our proofs and evidences.'

فَاسْتَكْبَرُواْ وَكَانُواْ قَوْماً مُّجْرِمِينَ

(But they behaved arrogantly, and were a people who were criminals.) meaning they were too arrogant to follow the truth and submit to it, and they were criminals.

فَلَمَّا جَآءَهُمُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ عِندِنَا قَالُواْ إِنَّ هَـذَا لَسِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ

(So, when came to them the truth from us, they said: "This is indeed clear magic.") They were as if they gave an oath that what they had said was the truth. But they knew that what they were saying was a mere lie. As Allah said:

وَجَحَدُواْ بِهَا وَاسْتَيْقَنَتْهَآ أَنفُسُهُمْ ظُلْماً وَعُلُوّاً

(And they belied them wrongfully and arrogantly, though they themselves were convinced thereof. )(27:14) Musa criticized them saying:

أَتقُولُونَ لِلْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَآءَكُمْ أَسِحْرٌ هَـذَا وَلاَ يُفْلِحُ السَّـحِرُونَقَالُواْ أَجِئْتَنَا لِتَلْفِتَنَا

("Say you (this) about the truth when it has come to you Is this magic But the magicians will never be successful." They said: "Have you come to us to turn us away...)

عَمَّا وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهِ ءابَاءَنَا

(from that we found our fathers following) their religion.

وَتَكُونَ لَكُمَا

(and that you two may have...)

الْكِبْرِيَآءُ

(greatness) means grandeur and leadership

فِى الاٌّرْضِ وَمَا نَحْنُ لَكُمَا بِمُؤْمِنِينَ

(...in the land, We are not going to believe you two!")

It was said in the last verse (64) that, for the friends of Allah, there is the good news in the worldly life and in the Hereafter. As for the good news of the Hereafter, it will come at the time of death when the spirit of the deceased will be taken to Allah. At that time, he will hear the good news of Paradise being for him. Then, on the day of Qiyamah, when he rises from his grave, he will receive the good news of being welcome to Paradise. This is similar to what al-Tabarani has reported from Sayyidna Ibn ` Umar ؓ narrates that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: ` People who recite: لا إلہ إلا اللہ (la ilaha illallah: There is no god but Allah) will not experience any fright at the time of death, nor inside the grave, nor at the time they rise from it. This is as if my eyes are seeing the scenario of that time when these people will, shaking the dust off, rise from their graves, saying: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّـهِ الَّذِي أَذْهَبَ عَنَّا الْحَزَنَ (Praised is Allah who has removed from us [ all ] grief - 35:34) '

As for the good news in this world, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, `(they are) the true dreams one sees himself or are seen by someone else with him in it and, in which, there is good news for them. (Reported by al-Bukhri from Sayyidna Abu Hurairah ؓ .

Another basharah (good news) of this world unfolds in the form that Muslims at large love someone and take him to be good without any personal motive or interest. About it, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: تِلکَ عَاجِلُ بشرَی المؤمِن that is, ` being taken as good and praiseworthy is, for a true Muslim, good news in ready cash.' (Muslim and al-Baghawi)

When the language of reasoning was not understood by Pharaoh, he (Moses) drew his hand out of his armpit and it shone brightly. Pharaoh had no answer for this. So, he tried to hide his defeat at the hands of Moses by giving the false impression that what Moses said and did was not the Truth but a form of magic. It is true that there is some outward similarity between magic and miracles. But very soon it becomes clear that magic is simply a feat, a trick. On the contrary, a miracle is real. Magic finally proves to be magic and a miracle finally establishes itself as a miracle. On this occasion Pharaoh made two more statements calculated to divert his people from the call of Moses—one being that Moses wanted them to turn away from the religion of their ancestors. Pharaoh should have tried to understand the Message of Moses in terms of Truth and untruth. But he tested it by the ancestral and non-ancestral standard, so that he should not have to admit his wrong approach. By keeping to ancestral and non-ancestral matters, he had some justification for continuing to act as he did. The second point that Pharaoh made was that Moses and Aaron wanted to establish their supremacy in their country. This was only a political stunt to deceive the public, because in the very first instance Moses had made it clear to Pharaoh that his sole purpose was to deliver the message of God to him and thereafter to leave Egypt for the Sinai desert along with the Israelites. This being so, the allegation that Moses was planning to usurp the rule of Egypt was obviously untrue.