Surah 26. Ash-Shuara

the people of Pharaoh. Will they not fear 'Allah'?'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"The people of Pharaoh: will they not fear Allah?"

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

He replied, 'My Lord! I fear that they will reject me.

  - Mustafa Khattab

He said: "O my Lord! I do fear that they will charge me with falsehood:

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And 'so' my heart will be broken and my tongue will be tied. So send Aaron along 'as a messenger'.

  - Mustafa Khattab

"My breast will be straitened and my speech may not go (smoothly): so send unto Aaron. ³¹⁴⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

As we should say in English, "My heart would fail me, and my tongue cleave to my mouth." Moses had an impediment in his speech, and his mission was risky: see next note. But Allah's Plan works in wondrous ways. Aaron was given to assist him in his mission, and Moses's shortcomings were transformed by Allah's grace into power, so that he became the most powerful leader of Israel.

Also, they have a charge against me,¹ so I fear they may kill me.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

 For killing an Egyptian by mistake before prophethood. See 28:15-17.

"And (further) they have a charge of crime against me; and I fear they may slay me." ³¹⁴⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Moses was brought up in the palace of Pharaoh, as narrated in his personal story in xx. 3940 and n. 2563. When he was grown-up he saw an Egyptian smiting an Israelite, and as the Israelites were being generally oppressed by the Egyptians, Moses's anger was roused, and he slew the Egyptian. He then fled to the Midianite country in the Sinai peninsula, where he received the divine commission. But the charge of slaying the Egyptian was hanging against him. He was also apparently quick-tempered. But Allah's grace cured his temper and he became wise; his impediment in speech, for he stood up boldly to speak to Pharaoh; and his fear, for he dared the Egyptians with Allah's Signs, and they were afraid of him.

Allah responded, 'Certainly not! So go, both of you, with Our signs. We will be with you, listening.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Allah said: "By no means! proceed then both of you with Our Signs; We are with you and will listen (to your call).

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Go to Pharaoh and say, 'We are messengers from the Lord of all worlds,

  - Mustafa Khattab

"So go forth both of you to Pharaoh and say: `We have been sent by the Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds;

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

'commanded to say:' 'Let the Children of Israel go with us.'''

  - Mustafa Khattab

" `Send thou with us the Children of Israel.' "

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Pharaoh protested, 'Did we not raise you among us as a child, and you stayed several years of your life in our care?

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Pharaoh) said: "Did we not cherish thee as a child among us and didst thou not stay in our midst many years of thy life? ³¹⁴⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

There is here a little play of wit on the part of Pharaoh. When Moses speaks of the "Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds", Pharaoh says: "Who cherished you? Did we not bring you up as a child? Did you not grow up among us?" By implication Pharaoh suggest that he is the cherisher of Moses, and in any case Pharaoh laid claim to godhead himself.

Then you did what you did,¹ being 'utterly' ungrateful!'

  - Mustafa Khattab

 See previous footnote.

"And thou didst a deed of thine which (thou knowest) thou didst and thou art an ungrateful (wretch)!" ³¹⁴⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Further, Pharaoh reminds Moses of his having slain the Egyptian, and taunts him: "You are not only a murderer: you are an ungrateful wretch" (using kafir again in a double sense) "to have killed one of the race that brought you up!"

Moses replied, 'I did it then, lacking guidance.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Moses: "I did it then when I was in error. ³¹⁴⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

What is Moses's reply? He is no longer afraid. He tells the whole truth, extenuating nothing in his own favour. "Yes I did it: but I did it under an error." There are three implications in this: "(1) I was wrong in doing it in a temper and in being hasty; (2) I was wrong in taking the law into my own hands, but I repented and asked for Allah's pardon (xxviii. 15-16); (3) that was at a time when I was under your influence, but since then I am a changed man, as Allah has called me."

So I fled from you when I feared you. Then my Lord granted me wisdom and made me one of the messengers.

  - Mustafa Khattab

"So I fled from you (all) when I feared you; but my Lord has (since) invested me with judgment (and wisdom) and appointed me as one of the apostles. ³¹⁵⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

He accounts for all his movements, much more than Pharaoh had asked for. He has nothing to hide. At that time he was under the influence of fear, and he had fled from him. Now he is serving Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. He has no fear: he is a messenger.

How can that be a 'favour,' of which you remind me, when 'it was only because' you 'have' enslaved the Children of Israel?'

  - Mustafa Khattab

"And this is the favor with which thou dost reproach me that thou hast enslaved the Children of Israel" ³¹⁵¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Pharaoh had called Moses ungrateful and reproached him with all the favours which Moses had received from the Egyptians. "What favours?" he says; "Do you count it also as a favour to me that you have enslaved my brethren the Children of Israel?" Moses was now speaking as a Prophet of Allah, not as an individual. Any individual favours he may have received were blotted out by the oppression of his people.

Pharaoh asked, 'And what is 'the Lord of all worlds'?'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Pharaoh said: "And what is the `Lord and Cherisher of the Worlds?' " ³¹⁵²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Moses having eliminated all personalities, the argument now comes up to the highest plane of all,-the attributes of Allah and His mercies. Moses had put forward this before, as implied in verse 16 above, but Pharaoh had twisted it into personalities. Now we come back to the real issue. It may have been in the same sitting, or it may have been in a later sitting.

Moses replied, ''He is' the Lord of the heavens and the earth and everything in between, if only you had sure faith.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Moses) said: "The Lord and Cherisher of the heavens and the earth and all between if ye want to be quite sure."

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Pharaoh said to those around him, 'Did you hear 'what he said'?'

  - Mustafa Khattab

(Pharaoh) said to those around: "Do ye not listen (to what he says)?" ³¹⁵³

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Moses had stirred up the wrath of Pharaoh both by putting forward the name of the One True God as against Pharaoh's pretended godhead, and by suggesting that any man of judgment would understand Allah's majesty. While Pharaoh turns to his people in indignation, Moses drives the nail in further: "He is the God of the heavens and the earth and all between: therefore He is also your God, and the God of your fathers from the beginning. Any other pretensions are false!"