Surah 20. Ta-Ha

Answered He: "Fear not! Verily, I shall be with you two, hearing and seeing [all].

  - Mohammad Asad

Allah said: "Do not be afraid, I shall be with you both. I hear everything and see everything.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Allah reassured 'them', 'Have no fear! I am with you, hearing and seeing.

  - Mustafa Khattab

He said: Fear not. Lo! I am with you twain, Hearing and Seeing.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He said: "Fear not: for I am with you: I hear and see (everything).

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Go, then, you two unto him and say, 'Behold, we are apostles sent by thy Sustainer: let, then, the children of Israel go with us, and cause them not to suffer [any longer].³⁰ We have now come unto thee with a message from thy Sustainer; and [know that His] peace shall be [only] on those who follow [His] guidance:

  - Mohammad Asad

Cf. 2:49 , 7:141 and 14:6 . For a more detailed description of this Pharaonic oppression of the Israelites, see Exodus i, X-22.

So go to him and say `Surely we both are Rasools of your Rabb. Let the Children of Israel go with us and oppress them no more. We have brought you a Sign from your Rabb; may peace be upon him who follows the guidance.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So go to him and say, 'Indeed we are both messengers from your Lord, so let the Children of Israel go with us, and do not oppress them. We have come to you with a sign from your Lord. And salvation will be for whoever follows the 'right' guidance.

  - Mustafa Khattab

So go ye unto him and say: Lo! we are two messengers of thy Lord. So let the Children of Israel go with us, and torment them not. We bring thee a token from thy Lord And peace will be for him who followeth right guidance.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"So go ye both to him and say `Verily we are apostles sent by thy Lord: send forth therefore the Children of Israel with us and afflict them not: with a Sign indeed have we come from thy Lord! And peace to all who follow guidance! ^{2570 2571}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Children of Israel were subjected to all sorts of oppression and indignities. They were given hard tasks; their leaders were unjustly beaten; they were forced to make bricks without straw; and they "groaned in bondage" (Exod. v. 6-19. vi. 5).

Allah, in His infinite Mercy, always offers Peace to the most hardened sinners, even those who are warring against Him. But, as stated in the next verse, their defiance cannot go on with impunity indefinitely. The punishment must inevitably come for sin, whether the sinner is great or small.

for, behold, it has been revealed to us that [in the life to come] suffering shall befall all who give the lie to the truth and turn away [from it]!'"

  - Mohammad Asad

Indeed it has been revealed to us that the scourge will fall on those who deny this fact and turns away'."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

It has indeed been revealed to us that the punishment will be upon whoever denies 'the truth' and turns away.''

  - Mustafa Khattab

Lo! it hath been revealed unto us that the doom will be for him who denieth and turneth away.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

" `Verily it has been revealed to us that the Penalty (awaits) those who reject and turn away.' "

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

[But when God's message was conveyed unto Pharaoh,] he said: "Who, now, is this Sustainer of you two, O Moses?"

  - Mohammad Asad

When Musa and Haroon went to Fir'on and delivered this message , he said: "Well, who is your Rabb O Musa?"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Pharaoh asked, 'Who then is the Lord of you two, O Moses?'

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Pharaoh) said: Who then is the Lord of you twain, O Moses?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

(When this message was delivered) (Pharaoh) said: "Who then O Moses is the Lord of you two?" ²⁵⁷²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Notice how subtly Pharaoh rejects the implication in Moses's speech, in which Moses had referred to "thy Lord" (verse 47). Pharaoh implicitly repudiates the suggestion that the God who had sent Moses and Aaron could possibly be Pharaoh's Lord. He asks insolently, "Who is this Lord of yours, of Whom ye speak as having sent you?"

He replied: "Our Sustainer is He who gives unto every thing [that exists] its true nature and form, and thereupon guides it [towards its fulfilment]."³¹

  - Mohammad Asad

In the original, this sentence appears in the past tense ("has given" and "has guided"); but as it obviously relates to the continuous process of God's creation, it is independent of the concept of time and denotes, as in so many other places in the Qur'an, an unceasing present. The term khalq signifies in this context not merely the inner nature of a created thing or being but also the outward form in which this nature manifests itself; hence my composite rendering of khalqahu as "its true nature and form". The idea underlying the above sentence is expressed for the first time in {87:2-3}, i.e., in a surah which belongs to the earliest period of Qur'anic revelation.

Musa replied: "Our Rabb is He Who has given a distinctive form to all creatures and then rightly guided them."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He answered, 'Our Lord is the One Who has given everything its 'distinctive' form, then guided 'it'.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

He said: Our Lord is He Who gave unto evening its nature, then guided it aright.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He said: "Our Lord is He Who gave to each (created) thing its form and nature and further gave (it) guidance." ²⁵⁷³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The answer of Moses is straightforward, dignified, and illuminating. He will not dispute about "my Lord" or "your Lord," the God of Israel, or the God of Egypt. He and his brother were proud to serve "our Lord," but He was the universal Lord and Cherisher, the One and Only God, Who had created all beings and all things. It was from Him that each created thing derived its form and nature, including such free-will and power as man had got. He, Pharaoh, was subject to the same condition. In order that the free-will should be rightly exercised, Allah had given guidance through His Messengers, and His Signs. Moses and Aaron stood as such Messengers, with such Signs. Will Pharaoh now understand and do right?

Said [Pharaoh]: "And what of all the past generations?"³²

  - Mohammad Asad

Sc., "who used to worship a plurality of deities: are they, in thy view, irretrievably doomed?"

Fir'on asked: "What do you say about the condition of previous generations?"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Pharaoh asked, 'And what about previous peoples?'

  - Mustafa Khattab

He said : What then is the state of the generations of old?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

(Pharaoh) said: "What then is the condition of previous generations?" ²⁵⁷⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

But Pharaoh was not the man to accept teaching from the despised Israelite-one, too, who in his eyes was a renegade from the higher Egyptian civilisation. "If," he says in effect, "there is only one God, to Whom all things are referred, this is a new religion. What of the religion of our ancestors? Were they wrong in worshipping the Egyptian gods? And if they were wrong, are they in misery now? He wanted to trap Moses into a scathing denunciation of his ancestors, which would at once have deprived him of the sympathy or the hearing of the Egyptian crowd.

[Moses] answered: "Knowledge thereof rests with my Sustainer [alone, and is laid down] in His decree;³³ my Sustainer does not err, and neither does He forget."³⁴

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., He alone decrees their destiny in the life to come, for He alone knows their motives and understands the cause of their errors, and He alone can appreciate their spiritual merits and demerits.

According to Razi, the dialogue between Moses and Pharaoh ends here for the time being, with verses {53-55} representing a direct Qur'anic discourse addressed to man in general.

Musa replied: "That knowledge is with my Rabb, duly recorded in a Book. He neither makes a mistake nor does He forget."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He replied, 'That knowledge is with my Lord in a Record. My Lord neither falters nor forgets 'anything'.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

He said: The knowledge thereof is with my Lord in a Record. My Lord neither erreth nor forgetteth,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He replied: "The knowledge of that is with my Lord duly recorded: my Lord never errs nor forgets ²⁵⁷⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Moses did not fall into the trap. He remembered the injunction given to him to speak mildly (xx. 44). He speaks mildly, but does not in any way whittle down the truth. He said in effect: 'Allah's knowledge is perfect, as if, with men, it were a record. For men may make mistakes or may not remember, but Allah never mistakes and never forgets. But Allah is not only All-Knowing: He is also All-Good. Look around you: the whole earth is spread out like a carpet. Men go to and fro in it freely. He sends abundance of water from the skies, which comes down in Nile floods and fertilises the whole soil of Egypt, and feeds men and animals.'

HE IT IS who has made the earth a cradle for you, and has traced out for you ways [of livelihood] thereon,³⁵ and [who] sends down waters from the sky: and by this means We bring forth various kinds³⁶ of plants.

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., "has provided you with ways and means - both material and intellectual - to gain your livelihood on earth and from it".

Lit., "pairs" (azwaj), a term which in this context apparently denotes "kinds"; but see also 13:3 and the corresponding note [7].

He is the One Who has made the earth a cradle for you, traced the roads on it for you to walk on; and sends down water from the sky with which We produce pairs of various kinds of vegetation

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

'He is the One' Who has laid out the earth for 'all of' you, and set in it pathways for you, and sends down rain from the sky, causing various types of plants to grow,

  - Mustafa Khattab

Who hath appointed the earth as a bed and hath threaded roads for you therein and hath sent down water from the sky and thereby We have brought forth divers kinds of vegetation,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"He Who has made for you the earth like a carpet spread out; has enabled you to go about therein by roads (and channels); and has sent down water from the sky." With it have We produced divers pairs of plants each separate from the others. ^{2576 2577 2578}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Sabil means not only a road, but would include water-roads or channels, and in modern conditions, airways-in fact all means of communication.

This seems to be outside the speech of Moses, and connects itself with the following verses 54-56, as part of the Word of Allah, expanding the speech of Moses and explaining the working of Allah's Providence in nature.

Azwaj: we might translate here (as in xv. 88) by "classes" instead of "pairs"; but as sex in plants seems to be referred to elsewhere (see xiii. 3, and n. 1804), I translate "pairs".

Eat, [then, of this produce of the soil,] and pasture your cattle [thereon]. In all this, behold, there are messages indeed for those who are endowed with reason:

  - Mohammad Asad

- eat from these yourselves and pasture your cattle. Surely there are Signs in it for those who use their brains.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

'so' eat and graze your cattle. Surely in this are signs for people of sound judgment.

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Saying): Eat ye and feed your cattle. Lo! herein verily are portents for men of thought.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Eat (for yourselves) and pasture your cattle: verily in this are Signs for men endued with understanding.

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

out of this [earth] have We created you, and into it shall We return you, and out of it shall We bring you forth once again.³⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

Regarding the creation of man's body "out of the earth", see the second half of note [47] on {3: 59}, as well as note [24] on 15:26 ; its "return into it" signifies the dissolution of this body, after death, into the elementary organic and inorganic substances of which it was composed; and all these facts- creation, subsistence and dissolution -contain the message of God's almightiness, of the ephemeral nature of man's life on earth, and of his future resurrection.

We have created you from the earth, into it We shall return you and from it We shall bring you back to life once again.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

From the earth We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will bring you back again.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Thereof We created you, and thereunto we return you and thence We bring you forth a second time.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

From the (earth) did We create you and into it shall We return you and from it shall We bring you out once again. ²⁵⁷⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The verse ought really to go into the last Section.

AND, INDEED, We made Pharaoh aware of³⁸ all Our messages - but he gave them the lie and refused [to heed them].³⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., We showed him" (araynahu), i.e., Pharaoh. According to Zamakhshari, Razi and Baydawi, this verb has here the meaning of "We made him acquainted with" or "aware of".

The messages alluded to here are both those entrusted directly to Moses and the intangible "messages" forthcoming from God's creation and referred to in the preceding passage.

We showed Fir'on all kinds of Our Signs, but he denied them and gave no heed.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We certainly showed Pharaoh all of Our signs,¹ but he denied them and refused 'to believe'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

 See footnote for 17:101.

And We verily did show him all Our tokens, but he denied them and refused.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And We showed Pharaoh all Our Signs but he did reject and refuse. ²⁵⁸⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is a sort of general introduction to the confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh. The Signs are not only the countering of the fraudulent magic of Egypt with real miracles, but the subsequent Plagues (not mentioned here) and the Crossing of the Red Sea by Israel.

He said: "Hast thou come to drive us out of our land⁴⁰ by thy sorcery, O Moses?

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., "deprive us of our rule" (cf. 7:110 ).

He said: "Have you come to drive us out of our land with your magic O Musa?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

He said, 'Have you come to drive us out of our land with your magic, O Moses?

  - Mustafa Khattab

He said: Hast come to drive us out from our land by thy magic, O Moses?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

He said: "Hast thou come to drive us out of our land with thy magic O Moses? ²⁵⁸¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Egyptians accused Moses of a design to deprive them of their land, and of exercising black magic. Both charges were palpably false. What Moses wanted to do was to free his people from bondage. The Egyptians had all the power in their possession. As to magic, the Egyptians judged Moses by themselves. They accused the Prophet of Allah of doing the same, though both his outlook and the source of his strength were altogether different.

In that case, we shall most certainly produce before thee the like thereof! Appoint, then, a tryst between us and thee - which we shall not fail to keep, nor [mayest] thou - at a suitable place!"

  - Mohammad Asad

Well, we will confront you with magic to match yours! Let us fix a day when both of us should meet, neither we nor you shall fail to keep it, in a place where both shall have even chances."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We can surely meet you with similar magic. So set for us an appointment that neither of us will fail to keep, in a central place.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

But we surely can produce magic the like thereof; so appoint a tryst between us and you, which neither we nor thou shall fail to keep, at a place convenient (to us both).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"But we can surely produce magic to match thine! So make a tryst between us and thee which we shall not fail to keep neither we nor thou in a place where both shall have even chances." ²⁵⁸²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Suwan: literally, 'equal, even'. It has been construed to mean: (1) a place equally distant for both sides, a central place, or (2) equally convenient to both sides, or (3) an open level plain, where the people can collect with ease. All these are possible meanings, but the one I have adopted is more comprehensive, and includes the others, viz.: (4) a place where both sides shall have even chances. "a fair place," as Palmer loconically translates it.

Answered [Moses]: "Your tryst shall be the day of the Festival;⁴¹ and let the people assemble when the sun is risen high."

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "the day of adornment" - possibly the Egyptian New Year's Day. The expression "your tryst" has the connotation of "the tryst proposed by you".

Musa replied: "Let it be the Day of Festival and let the people be assembled before noon".

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Moses said, 'Your appointment is on the Day of the Festival, and let the people be gathered mid-morning.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Moses) said: Your tryst shall be the day of the feast, and let the people assemble when the sun hath risen high.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Moses said: "Your tryst is the Day of the Festival and let the people be assembled when the sun is well up." ²⁵⁸³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

A great day of a Temple Festival, when the temples and streets were decorated, and people were on holiday, free from work. Moses makes this appointment in order to collect as large a number as possible, for his first duty is to preach the Truth. And he apparently did it with some effect with some Egyptians (xx. 70, 72-76), though the Pharaoh and his high and mighty officers rejected the Truth and afterwards paid the Penality.

Thereupon Pharaoh withdrew [with his counsellors] and decided upon the scheme which he would pursue;⁴² and then he came [to the tryst].

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "he decided upon his artful scheme" (Jama'a kaydahu): evidently an allusion to his summoning all the greatest sorcerers of Egypt (cf. {7:111-114}).

Fir'on then withdrew, concerted his plan and came back.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Pharaoh then withdrew, orchestrated his scheme, then returned.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Then Pharaoh went and gathered his strength, then came (to the appointed tryst).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

So Pharaoh withdrew: he concerted his plan and then came (back). ²⁵⁸⁴

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Pharaoh was apparently taken aback at Moses appointing a solemn day of public Festival, when there would be a large concourse and there would be sure to be some people not in the Court clique, who might be critical of Pharaoh's own sorcerers. But probably there was something more in their dark counsels, something unfair and wicked, to which Moses refers in his speech in the next verse.