Al-A'raf: 129

Ayah

Word by Word

قَالُوٓاْ

They said

أُوذِينَا

We have been harmed

مِن

from

قَبۡلِ

before

أَن

[that]

تَأۡتِيَنَا

you came to us

وَمِنۢ

from

بَعۡدِ

and after

مَا

[what]

جِئۡتَنَاۚ

you have come to us

قَالَ

He said

عَسَىٰ

Perhaps

رَبُّكُمۡ

your Lord

أَن

[that]

يُهۡلِكَ

will destroy

عَدُوَّكُمۡ

your enemy

وَيَسۡتَخۡلِفَكُمۡ

and make you successors

فِي

ٱلۡأَرۡضِ

the earth

فَيَنظُرَ

then see

كَيۡفَ

how

تَعۡمَلُونَ

you will do

Translation

They said: "We have had (nothing but) trouble, both before and after thou camest to us." He said: "It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you inheritors in the earth; that so He may try you by your deeds."

Tafsir

"Fir`awn vows to kill the Children of Israel, Who complain to Musa; Allah promises Them Victory

Allah mentions the conspiracy of Fir`awn and his people, their ill intentions and their hatred for Musa and his people.

وَقَالَ الۡمَلأ مِن قَوۡمِ فِرۡعَونَ

The chiefs of Fir`awn's people said, (to Fir`awn),

أَتَذَرُ مُوسَى وَقَوۡمَهُ

""Will you leave Musa and his people!""

will you let them be free,

لِيُفۡسِدُواۡ فِي الَارۡضِ

""to spread mischief in the land,""

spreading unrest among your subjects and calling them to worship their Lord instead of you.

Amazingly, these people were worried that Musa and his people would cause mischief! Rather, Fir`awn and his people are the mischief-makers, but they did not realize it. They said,

وَيَذَرَكَ وَالِهَتَكَ

""and to abandon you and your gods.""

`Your gods',

According to Ibn Abbas, as As-Suddi narrated from him,

""Were cows. Whenever they ﷺ a beautiful cow, Fir`awn would command them to worship it. This is why As-Samiri, made the statue of a calf that seemed to moo for the Children of Israel.""

Fir`awn accepted his people's recommendation,

قَالَ سَنُقَتِّلُ أَبۡنَاءهُمۡ وَنَسۡتَحۡيِـي نِسَاءهُمۡ

He said:""We will kill their sons, and let their women live,""

thus reiterating his previous order concerning the Children of Israel.

وَإِنَّا فَوۡقَهُمۡ قَاهِرُونَ

and we have indeed irresistible power over them.""

He had tormented them (killing every newly born male) before Musa was born, so that Musa would not live. However, the opposite of what Fir`awn sought and intended occurred. The same end struck Fir`awn that he intended to subjugate and humiliate the Children of Israel with. Allah gave victory to the Children of Israel, humiliated and disgraced Fir`awn, and caused him to drown along with his soldiers. When Fir`awn insisted on his evil plot against the Children of Israel

قَالَ مُوسَى لِقَوۡمِهِ اسۡتَعِينُوا بِاللّهِ وَاصۡبِرُواۡ

Musa said to his people:""Seek help in Allah and be patient,""

and promised them that the good end will be theirs and that they will prevail, saying,

إِنَّ الَارۡضَ لِلّهِ يُورِثُهَا مَن يَشَاء مِنۡ عِبَادِهِ

وَالۡعَاقِبَةُ لِلۡمُتَّقِينَ

قَالُواۡ أُوذِينَا مِن قَبۡلِ أَن تَأۡتِينَا وَمِن بَعۡدِ مَا جِيۡتَنَا

""Verily, the earth is Allah's. He gives it as a heritage to whom He wills of His servants; and the (blessed) end is for the pious and righteous persons.""

They said:""We suffered troubles before you came to us, and since you have come to us.""

The Children of Israel replied to Musa, `they (Fir`awn and his people) inflicted humiliation and disgrace on us, some you witnessed, both before and after you came to us, O Musa'!

Musa replied, reminding them of their present situation and how it will change in the future,

قَالَ عَسَى رَبُّكُمۡ أَن يُهۡلِكَ عَدُوَّكُمۡ

""It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy. ..""

encouraging them to appreciate Allah when the afflictions are removed and replaced by a bounty.

وَيَسۡتَخۡلِفَكُمۡ فِي الَارۡضِ

فَيَنظُرَ كَيۡفَ تَعۡمَلُونَ

and make you successors on the earth, so that He may see how you act!""

Fir`awn and His People suffer Years of Drought

Allah said,

وَلَقَدۡ أَخَذۡنَا الَ فِرۡعَونَ

And indeed We punished the people of Fir`awn,

We tested and tried them,

بِالسِّنِينَ

with years of drought,

of famine due to little produce,

وَنَقۡصٍ مِّن الثَّمَرَاتِ

and lack of fruits,

According to Mujahid,

which is less severe.

Abu Ishaq narrated that Raja' bin Haywah said,

""The date tree used to produce only one date!""

لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَذَّكَّرُونَ

فَإِذَا جَاءتۡهُمُ الۡحَسَنَةُ

That they might remember (take heed). But whenever good came to them,

such as a fertile season and provisions,

قَالُواۡ لَنَا هَـذِهِ

they said, ""This is for us.""

because we deserve it,

وَإِن تُصِبۡهُمۡ سَيِّيَةٌ

and if evil afflicted them,

drought and famine,

يَطَّيَّرُواۡ بِمُوسَى وَمَن مَّعَهُ

they considered it an omen about Musa and those with him.

saying that this hardship is because of them and what they have done.

Verily, their omens are with Allah.

أَلا إِنَّمَا طَايِرُهُمۡ عِندَ اللّهُ

Verily, their omens are with Allah,

Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn Abbas commented,

""Allah says that their afflictions are with and from Him,

وَلَـكِنَّ أَكۡثَرَهُمۡ لَا يَعۡلَمُونَ

but most of them know not.

Allah punishes the People of Fir`awn because of Their Rebellion

Allah describes the rebellion, tyranny, defiance of the truth and insistence on falsehood of the people of Fir`awn,

وَقَالُواۡ مَهۡمَا تَأۡتِنَا بِهِ مِن ايَةٍ لِّتَسۡحَرَنَا بِهَا فَمَا نَحۡنُ لَكَ بِمُوۡمِنِينَ

They said (to Musa):""Whatever Ayat you may bring to us, to work therewith your sorcery on us, we shall never believe in you.""

They said, `whatever miracle, proof and evidence you bring us, we will neither accept it from you nor believe in you or what you came with.

Allah said,

فَأَرۡسَلۡنَا عَلَيۡهِمُ الطُّوفَانَ وَالۡجَرَادَ وَالۡقُمَّلَ وَالضَّفَادِعَ وَالدَّمَ ايَاتٍ مُّفَصَّلَتٍ

فَاسۡتَكۡبَرُواۡ وَكَانُواۡ قَوۡمًا مُّجۡرِمِينَ

So We sent on them:the Tuwfan, the locusts, the Qummal, the frogs, and the blood (as a succession of) manifest signs, yet they remained arrogant, and they were of those people who were criminals.

فَأَرۡسَلۡنَا عَلَيۡهِمُ الطُّوفَانَ

(So We sent on them the Tufan), Ibn Abbas commented;

""It was a heavy rain that ruined the produce and fruits.""

He is also reported to have said that;

Tuwfan refers to mass death.

Mujahid said,

it is water that carries the plague every where. As for the locust, it is the well-known insect, which is permissible to eat.

It is recorded in the Two Sahihs, that Abu Yafur said that he asked Abdullah bin Abi Awfa about locust. He said,

""We participated in seven battles with the Messenger of Allah , and we used to eat locusts.""

Ash-Shafi`i, Ahmad bin Hanbal and Ibn Majah recorded from `]Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam that his father narrated from Ibn `]Umar that the Prophet said,

أُحِلَّتۡ لَنَا مَيۡتَتَانِ وَدَمَانِ

الۡحُوتُ وَالۡجَرَادُ

وَالۡكَبِدُ وَالطِّحَال

We were allowed two dead animals and two (kinds of) blood:

fish and locust, and

kidney and spleen

Ibn Abi Najih narrated from Mujahid about Allah's statement,

فَأَرۡسَلۡنَا عَلَيۡهِمُ الطُّوفَانَ وَالۡجَرَادَ

(So We sent on them:the flood, the locusts),

""Eating the nails on their doors and leaving the wood.""

As for the Qummal,

Ibn Abbas said that it is the grain bug, or, according to another view; small locusts that do not have wings.

Similar was reported from Mujahid, Ikrimah and Qatadah.

Al-Hasan and Sa`id bin Jubayr said that;

`Qummal' are small black insects.

Abu Jafar bin Jarir recorded that Sa`id bin Jubayr said,

""When Musa came to Fir`awn, he demanded, `Release the Children of Israel to me.' But, Fir`awn did not comply; and Allah sent the Tuwfan, and that is a rain which continued until they feared that it was a form of torment.

They said to Musa, `Invoke your Lord to release us from this rain, and we will believe in you and send the Children of Israel with you.'

Musa invoked his Lord and He removed the affliction from them. However, they did not believe, nor did they send the Children of Israel with him.

In that year, Allah allowed (the earth) to grow various types of produce, fruits and grass for them as never before. They said, `This is what we hoped for.' So Allah sent the locusts, and the locusts started to feed on the grass. When they ﷺ the effect the locusts had on the grass, they knew that no vegetation would be saved from devastation. They said, `O Musa! Invoke your Lord so that He will remove the locusts from us, and we will believe in you and release the Children of Israel to you.'

Musa invoked his Lord, and He removed the locusts. Still, they did not believe and did not send the Children of Israel with him.

They collected grains and kept them in their homes. They said, `We saved our crops.' However, Allah sent the Qummal, grain bugs, and one of them would take ten bags of grains to the mill, but only reap three small bags of grain.

They said, `O Musa! Ask your Lord to remove the Qummal (weevil) from us and we will believe in you and send the Children of Israel with you.'

Musa invoked his Lord, and Allah removed the Qummal from them. However, they did not send the Children of Israel with him.

Once, when he was with Fir`awn, Musa heard the sound of a frog and said to Fir`awn, `What will you and your people suffer from this (the frogs)!'

Fir`awn said, `What can frogs do!'

Yet, by the time that night arrived a person would be sitting in a crowd of frogs that reached up to his chin and could not open his mouth to speak without a frog jumping in it. They said to Musa, `Invoke your Lord to remove these frogs from us, and we will believe in you and send the Children of Israel with you.'

Musa invoked his Lord, but they did not believe.

Allah then sent blood that filled the rivers, wells and the water containers they had. They complained to Fir`awn, saying, `We are inflicted with blood and do not have anything to drink.' He said, `Musa has bewitched you.'

They said, `How could he do that when whenever we look for water in our containers we found that it has turned into blood!'

They came to Musa and said, `Invoke your Lord to save us from this blood, and we will believe in you and send the Children of Israel with you.'

Musa invoked his Lord and the blood stopped, but they did not believe nor send the Children of Israel with him.""

A similar account was attributed to Ibn Abbas, As-Suddi, Qatadah and several others among the Salaf.

Muhammad bin Ishaq bin Yasar said,

""The enemy of Allah, Fir`awn, went back defeated and humiliated, after the sorcerers believed (in Musa). He insisted on remaining in disbelief and persisted in wickedness. Allah sent down the signs to him, and he (and his people) were first inflicted by famine. Allah then sent the flood, the locusts, the Qummal, the frogs then blood, as consecutive signs. When Allah sent the flood, it filled the surface of the earth with water. But the water level receded, and they could not make use of it to till the land or do anything else

وَلَمَّا وَقَعَ عَلَيۡهِمُ الرِّجۡزُ

And when the punishment struck them,

They became hungry. This is when,

قَالُواۡ يَا مُوسَى ادۡعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ بِمَا عَهِدَ عِندَكَ

لَيِن كَشَفۡتَ عَنَّا الرِّجۡزَ لَنُوۡمِنَنَّ لَكَ وَلَنُرۡسِلَنَّ مَعَكَ بَنِي إِسۡرَايِيلَ

They said:""O Musa! Invoke your Lord for us because of His promise to you. If you remove the punishment from us, we indeed shall believe in you, and we shall let the Children of Israel go with you.""

Musa invoked his Lord and He removed the affliction from them, but they did not keep their promises. So Allah sent locusts that ate the trees and consumed the nails on their doors, until the doors fell from their homes and residences.

They again said what they said to Musa before, and he called on his Lord and He removed the affliction. Still, they did not keep their promises, and Allah sent the Qummal.

Musa, peace be upon him, was commanded to go to a mound and strike it with his staff. So Musa went to a huge mound, struck it with his staff and the Qummal fell out of it in tremendous numbers, until they overwhelmed the houses and food reserves, ultimately depriving them of sleep and rest. When they suffered under this affliction, they said similar to what they said before, and Musa invoked his Lord and He removed the affliction.

They did not keep their promise and Allah sent the frogs to them, and they filled the houses, foods and pots. One of them would not pick up a piece of clothing, or uncover some food, without finding frogs in it. When this affliction became hard on them, they made similar promises as before, Musa supplicated to his Lord and Allah removed the affliction.

They did not keep any of the promises they made, and Allah sent the blood, and the waters of the people of Fir`awn turned to blood. Any water they collected from a well, a river, or a container, turned to blood.""

فَلَمَّا كَشَفۡنَا عَنۡهُمُ الرِّجۡزَ إِلَى أَجَلٍ هُم بَالِغُوهُ إِذَا هُمۡ يَنكُثُونَ

But when We removed the punishment from them for a fixed term, which they had to reach, behold! They broke their word

The People of Fir`awn drown in the Sea; the Children of Israel inherit the Holy Land

Allah tells;

فَانتَقَمۡنَا مِنۡهُمۡ

فَأَغۡرَقۡنَاهُمۡ فِي الۡيَمِّ بِأَنَّهُمۡ كَذَّبُواۡ بِأيَاتِنَا وَكَانُواۡ عَنۡهَا غَافِلِينَ

وَأَوۡرَثۡنَا الۡقَوۡمَ الَّذِينَ كَانُواۡ يُسۡتَضۡعَفُونَ

So We took retribution from them. We drowned them in the sea, because they belied Our Ayat and were heedless with them. And We made the people who were considered weak to inherit...

Allah states that when the people of Fir`awn rebelled and transgressed, even though He inflicted them with consecutive signs, one after another, He took retribution from them by drowning them in the sea that Musa parted by Allah's power, and he and the Children of Israel passed through. In their pursuit, Fir`awn and his soldiers went in the sea chasing Musa and his people. When they all had gone inside the water, the sea closed in on them and they all drowned, because they belied the Ayat of Allah and were heedless of them. Allah said that He has granted the people who were considered weak, the Children of Israel, to inherit the eastern and western parts of the land.

مَشَارِقَ الَارۡضِ وَمَغَارِبَهَا الَّتِي بَارَكۡنَا فِيهَا

the eastern parts of the land and the western parts thereof which We have blessed.

Al-Hasan Al-Basri and Qatadah commented that Allah's statement,

refers to the Sham area (Greater Syria).

وَتَمَّتۡ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ الۡحُسۡنَى عَلَى بَنِي إِسۡرَايِيلَ بِمَا صَبَرُواۡ

And the fair Word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel, because of their endurance.

Mujahid and Ibn Jarir said that Allah's statement, is explained by Allah's other statement,

وَنُرِيدُ أَن نَّمُنَّ عَلَى الَّذِينَ اسۡتُضۡعِفُواۡ فِى الاٌّرۡضِ وَنَجۡعَلَهُمۡ أَيِمَّةً وَنَجۡعَلَهُمُ الۡوَارِثِينَ

وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمۡ فِى الاٌّرۡضِ وَنُرِىَ فِرۡعَوۡنَ وَهَـمَـنَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنۡهُمۡ مَّا كَانُواۡ يَحۡذَرونَ

And We wished to do a favor to those who were weak (and oppressed) in the land, and to make them rulers and to make them the inheritors. And to establish them in the land, and We let Fir`awn and Haman and their hosts receive from them that which they feared. (28:5-6)

Further, Allah's statement,

وَدَمَّرۡنَا مَا كَانَ يَصۡنَعُ فِرۡعَوۡنُ وَقَوۡمُهُ

And We destroyed what Fir`awn and his people produced,

meaning, We destroyed what Fir`awn and his people produced, such as agriculture and buildings.

وَمَا كَانُواۡ يَعۡرِشُونَ

and what they erected.

Ibn Abbas and Mujahid said that

يَعۡرِشُونَ

(they erected),

means, they builtز"