Tafsir of Surah Al-A'raf - Verse 104

وَقَالَ مُوسَى يَفِرْعَوْنُ إِنَّى رَسُولٌ مِّن رَّبِّ الْعَـلَمِينَ

(And Musa said: "O Fir`awn! Verily, I am a Messenger from the Lord of all that exists".) meaning Musa said, `the one Who sent me is the Creator, Lord and King of all things,'

حَقِيقٌ عَلَى أَن لاَ أَقُولَ عَلَى اللَّهِ إِلاَّ الْحَقَّ

("Proper it is for me that I say nothing concerning Allah but the truth. ") `It is incumbent and a duty for me to convey only the Truth from Him, because of what I know of His might and power.'

قَدْ جِئْتُكُمْ بِبَيِّنَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ

("Indeed I have come unto you from your Lord with a clear proof.") `I brought unequivocal evidence that Allah gave me to prove that I am conveying the truth to you,'

فَأَرْسِلْ مَعِىَ بَنِى إِسْرَءِيلَ

("So let the Children of Israel depart along with me.") means, release them from your slavery and subjugation. Let them worship your Lord and their Lord. They are from the offspring of an honorable Prophet, Isra'il, who is Ya`qub son of Ishaq son of Ibrahim, the Khalil (intimate friend) of Allah.

قَالَ إِن كُنتَ جِئْتَ بِـَايَةٍ فَأْتِ بِهَآ إِن كُنتَ مِنَ الصَّـدِقِينَ

(Fir`awn said: "If you have come with a sign, show it forth, if you are one of those who tell the truth.") Fir`awn said, `I will not believe in what you have said nor entertain your request'. Therefore, he said, `if you have proof, then produce it for us to see, so that we know if your claim is true.'

The verse is a clear declaration of the prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) before Pharaoh that he was a messenger of Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, and that his status of prophethood does not allow him to ascribe anything but truth to Allah because the message given to the prophets by Allah is a sacred trust and it is a great sin to tamper with it. All the prophets of Allah are free of all sins and cannot do so. The prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) tried to convince them that they should believe him because his truthfulness was beyond question and that he had never uttered a word of lie. In addition to this, his miracles are a clear proof to support his claim to prophethood.

A prophet’s discourse is initially addressed to the leaders of the day; to those who enjoy leadership of thought in their environment. Such people, thanks to their superior intellect, are in a better position to understand the message of Truth in all its profundity. But, history shows that they have invariably always been antagonistic to the prophet’s call, i.e. they utilize their mental talents to assign a wrong meaning to the message of Truth. For example, they declare a sign which had appeared on the strength of God’s intervention to have appeared by the force of magic, or, in order to disparage the prophetic movement, give it a political colour and say that such preachers are simply seeking power. As the general public are unable to analyse matters, such talk leads them into becoming suspicious of the Truth. But to raise such frivolous points against the messenger of Truth is a great crime. In this way, the leading lights of the day may be able to preserve their leadership, but it will be at the cost of the Hereafter. God is the Truth. So it is not proper for one who comes forward in the name of God to speak of anything other than truth and justice. If he does otherwise, he will lose the right to represent God and will be liable to be punished rather than rewarded by God. Moses was sent (by God) to both the Children of Israel and to the Pharaoh and his Copt community. At that time the Children of Israel suffered from many weaknesses. However, they basically supported Moses. Unlike them, Pharaoh and his community, (with the exception of a few) rejected him. Finally, after 40 years of attempting to propagate God’s command, Moses was commanded to migrate from Egypt along with the Children of Israel. He asked Pharaoh to allow the Children of Israel to leave the country, so that they might be able to pray to the one and only God in the open atmosphere of the desert (Exodus-16). Moses was the representative of Truth, but Pharaoh considered him to be merely practising magic and decided to overcome him through his own magicians.