Surah 26. Ash-Shuara

And down fell the sorcerers, prostrating them-selves in adoration,

  - Mohammad Asad

At this, all the magicians prostrated themselves,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And the wizards were flung prostrate,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[and] exclaimed: "We have come to believe in the Sustainer of all the worlds,

  - Mohammad Asad

saying: "We believe in the Rabb of the Worlds,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Crying: We believe in the Lord of the Worlds,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

the Sustainer of Moses and Aaron!"

  - Mohammad Asad

the Rabb of Musa (Moses) and Haroon (Aaron)."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The Lord of Moses and Aaron.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Said [Pharaoh]: "Have you come to believe in him²⁵ ere I have given you permission? Verily, he must be your master who has taught you magic!²⁶ But in time you shall come to know [my revenge]: most certainly shall I cut off your hands and your feet great numbers, because of [your] perverseness, and shall most certainly crucify you in great numbers, all together!"²⁷

  - Mohammad Asad

See note [91] on 7:123 .

I.e., "he is so superior a sorcerer that he could be your teacher".

See notes [44] and [45] on {5: 33}, and note [92] on 7:124 , which explain the repeated stress on "great numbers" in the above sentence.

Fir'on shouted: "How dare you believe in him before I give you permission? He must be your master who taught you the witchcraft. But soon you shall find out. I will cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides and crucify you all."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(Pharaoh) said, Ye put your faith in him before I give you leave. Lo! he doubtless is your chief who taught you magic! But verily ye shall come to know. Verily I will cut off your hands and your feet alternately, and verily I will crucify you everyone.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

They answered: "No harm [canst thou do to us]: verily, unto our Sustainer do we turn!

  - Mohammad Asad

They replied: "We don't care! We are going to return to our Rabb anyway.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

They said: It is no hurt, for lo! unto our Lord we shall return.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Behold, we [but] ardently desire that our Sustainer forgive us our faults in return for our having been foremost among the believers!"

  - Mohammad Asad

We only desire that our Rabb may forgive us our sins, as we are the first to believe."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Lo! we ardently hope that our Lord will forgive us our sins because we are the first of the believers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

AND [there came a time²⁸ when] We inspired Moses thus: "Go forth with My servants by night: for, behold, you will be pursued!"

  - Mohammad Asad

I.e., after the period of plagues with which the Egyptians were visited (cf. 7:130 ff.).

We revealed to Musa (Moses), saying: "Set off with my servants by night and beware that you will be pursued."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And We inspired Moses, saying: Take away My slaves by night, for ye will be pursued.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And Pharaoh sent heralds unto all cities,

  - Mohammad Asad

Fir'on (Pharaoh) sent heralds to all the cities,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then Pharaoh sent into the cities summoners,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

[bidding them to call out his troops and to proclaim:] "Behold, these [children of Israel] are but a contemptible band;²⁹

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "a small band": Zamakhshari, however, suggests that in this context the adjective qalilun is expressive of contempt, and does not necessarily denote "few in numbers".

and to mobilize his people he said: "These Israelites are but a handful of people,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

(Who said): Lo! these indeed are but a little troop,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

but they are indeed filled with hatred of us

  - Mohammad Asad

who have provoked us much;

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And lo! they are offenders against us.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

seeing that we are, verily, a nation united, fully prepared against danger³⁰ -

  - Mohammad Asad

Thus the Qur'an illustrates the psychological truth that, as a rule, a dominant nation is unable really to understand the desire for liberty on the part of the group or groups which it oppresses, and therefore attributes their rebelliousness to no more than unreasonable hatred and blind envy of the strong.

while we have a large army, well prepared."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And lo! we are a ready host.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and so we have [rightly] driven them out of [their] gardens and springs,

  - Mohammad Asad

Thus did We make them leave their gardens and their water springs,

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Thus did We take them away from gardens and water springs,

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

and [deprived them of their erstwhile] station of honour!"³¹

  - Mohammad Asad

This is apparently an allusion to the honourable state and the prosperity which the children of Israel had enjoyed in Egypt for a few generations after the time of Joseph - i.e., before a new Egyptian dynasty dispossessed them of their wealth and reduced them to the bondage from which Moses was to free them. In the above passage, Pharaoh seeks to justify his persecution of the Israelites by emphasizing their dislike (real of alleged) of the Egyptians.

their treasures and sumptuous dwellings.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And treasures and a fair estate.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Thus it was: but [in the course of time] We were to bestow all these [things] as a heritage on the children of Israel.³²

  - Mohammad Asad

This parenthetical sentence echoes the allusion, in 7:137 , to the period of prosperity and honour which the children of Israel were to enjoy in Palestine after their sufferings in Egypt. The reference to "heritage" is, in this and in similar contexts, a metonym for God's bestowal on the oppressed of a life of well-being and dignity.

This is how they were made to lose, while on the other hand We made the Children of Israel inheritors of such things.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Thus (were those things taken from them) and We caused the Children of Israel to inherit them.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And so [the Egyptians] caught up with them at sunrise;

  - Mohammad Asad

At sunrise the Egyptians pursued them.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And they overtook them at sunrise.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall