Tafsir of Surah Ta-Ha - Verse 49

The Conversation between Musa and Fir`awn

Allah, the Exalted, informs about Fir`awn that he said to Musa, in his rejection of the existence of a Supreme Maker and Creator, Who is the God of everything and his own Lord and Owner:

فَمَن رَّبُّكُمَا يمُوسَى

(Who then, O Musa, is the Lord of you two) meaning "Who is the one who called you forth and sent you For verily, I do not know him and I have not given you any god other than myself."

قَالَ رَبُّنَا الَّذِى أَعْطَى كُلَّ شَىءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى

((Musa) said: "Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.") `Ali bin Abi Talhah related that Ibn `Abbas said, "He is saying that He created a mate for everything." Ad-Dahhak said that Ibn `Abbas said, "He made the man a man, and the donkey a donkey and the sheep a sheep." Layth bin Abi Sulaym reported from Mujahid that he said, "He gave everything its form." Ibn Abi Najih said that Mujahid said, "He fashioned the creation of every moving creature." Sa`id bin Jubayr said concerning His statement,

أَعْطَى كُلَّ شَىءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى

((Who) gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.) "He gave each of His creatures what is suitable for its creation." Therefore, He did not give man the form of a wild beast, nor did He give wild beasts the form of the dog. Likewise, the dog's form is not like the sheep's. He also gave creature a suitable spouse, and He influenced everything towards that mate. There is no species of creation that is exactly like another species. They are different in their actions, their forms, their sustenance and their mating. Some of the scholars of Tafsir have said that this statement, "He gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright," is similar to Allah's statement,

وَالَّذِى قَدَّرَ فَهَدَى

(And Who has measured; and then guided.) 87:3 This means He measured out an ordained amount (of sustenance, actions, etc.) and then guided His creatures to it. He wrote the deeds, the appointed times of death and the provisions. Then, the creatures traverse upon that and they are not able to avoid it, nor are they able to abandon it. In this Ayah Musa is saying that our Lord is the One Who created the creation, measured out its ordainment and compelled the creatures to that which He wanted.

قَالَ فَمَا بَالُ الْقُرُونِ الاٍّولَى

((Fir`awn) said: "What about the generations of old") The most correct opinion concerning the meaning of this, is that when Musa informed Fir`awn that his Lord Who sent him is the One Who creates, sustains, ordains and guides, Fir`awn began to argue, using the previous generations as a proof. He was referring to those people of old who did not worship Allah. In other words, "If the matter is as you say, then what happened to those people They did not worship your Lord. Instead they worshipped other gods besides Him." Musa said to him, in response to this, that if they did not worship Allah, then Allah knows precisely what happened to them and He will give them just recompense for their deeds, as is written in Allah's Book (of decrees). This Book is called Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz (The Preserved Tablet) and it is the Book of Deeds.

لاَّ يَضِلُّ رَبِّى وَلاَ يَنسَى

(My Lord neither errs nor forgets.) This means that nothing eludes Him and He does not miss anything, whether it is small or great. He does not forget anything and His Most Exalted knowledge is described as encompassing everything. Blessed be He, the Exalted, the Most Holy and free of any imperfections. The knowledge that creatures have has two deficiencies. The first is that it does not completely encompass anything, and the second is that the creature is prone to forget after knowing. Therefore, Allah has declared Himself above such deficiencies.

Allah said,إِنَّنِي مَعَكُمَا أَسْمَعُ وَأَرَ‌ىٰ "I am surely with you both. I hear and I see." - 20:46) Here the word "with you" is used in the sense of divine help and support which human senses cannot perceive.

Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) called upon the Pharaoh to embrace the True Faith and also to deliver the Bani Isra'il from bondage

This shows that the prophets have the duty of guiding mankind towards their salvation as well as to liberate their people from worldly and economic bondages. Therefore, in this verse Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) is reminded of both these duties.

God created everything; and everything is performing the functions assigned to it by Him

This point calls for some elucidation which is given in the following lines. The guidance which Allah gives to the prophets and which is in the nature of a duty imposed upon them is a special kind of guidance which is addressed only to human beings and Jinns who are gifted with intellect. There is also another kind of guidance known as guidance of Takwin (creation) which every created thing possesses. Allah has given to fire, water, earth and air, and their compounds a special kind of feeling and perception which are not of the same nature as given to human beings and Jinns. This is the reason why the laws governing things which are permissible and those which are forbidden do not apply to them. Through this feeling and perception Allah has assigned duties to all created things and in obedience to this command of Takwin and guidance, the earth, the sky and every other created thing is busy performing its allotted tasks. Air, water, fire and earth are all fulfilling the purpose for which they were created. They do not deviate from their destined course except by the command of Allah. And when He so commands the fire turns into a bed of flowers (as for Sayyidna Ibrahim علیہ السلام), and water acts as fire as for the people of Sayyidna Nuh أُغْرِ‌قُوا فَأُدْخِلُوا نَارً‌ا - 71:25). Who has taught a newly born baby to draw milk from its mother's breast or to cry when hungry or in pain? It is this same Divine guidance which every created thing receives without any formal training.

In brief, every created thing has been programmed, by Allah, with a guidance of Takwin (creation) which it is genetically bound to follow and deviating from the same is beyond its power. The other kind of guidance which is given to the human beings and to Jinns is not inherent in the nature and thus, is not compulsory but optional. It is this freedom of choice which renders them liable to reward for good deeds and to punishment for their sins. The verse

Pharaoh’s question, ‘Who is your Lord?’ did not mean that he was not aware of any god besides himself, or that he quite finally denied the existence of a superior god. All it showed, in fact, was contempt for Moses’ utterance, rather than being a straight denial. In Egypt, Joseph had preached the oneness of God. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of Israelites were still living there and they professed faith in the one God. In this way, belief in one superior God existed in Egypt, but the power, pomp and glory were Pharaoh’s. According to the belief of the Egyptians, Pharaoh was the worldly manifestation of their greatest god, the sun. He was Egypt’s god-king and idols and statues of him had become objects of worship throughout Egypt. Moses, in stark contrast to this, belonged to the Israelite community—a community held in low esteem because of its slave-labour status. Against this background, his faith could have no public significance in Egypt. In this world there are innumerable things, each one of which has its peculiar structure and its own method of working. Everything functions according to immutable laws. Even an arrogant king like Pharaoh was not exempt from this system—which clearly proves the existence of a Superior Creator. When Moses made this statement, Pharaoh felt that he had no direct reply to it; so he gave the matter a new turn. Finding himself weak in the field of reasoning and arguments, he wanted to incite prejudicial feelings and thus maintain his own superiority among his people. Therefore, he asked Moses—if whatever he said was true—what had happened to the great ones of the past, who, according to Moses, had died while in a misguided condition. Moses did not answer this question directly. Instead he said, ‘You had better leave this matter to God and think about yourself.’