Surah 10. Yunus

78Though literally (Zur-riyyah) means offspring, it has been translated into youths because the Qur'an has used this word here to point out a specific aspect of the matter. It is this: during that fearful period of persecution only a few young men and women showed the moral courage of acknowledging the Messenger of the Truth as their leader and becoming his standard bearers. On the contrary, their fathers, mothers and elders had not the courage to follow him and endanger their worldly interests and even their lives. They not only followed the way of ease and expediency, but also discouraged their youth, saying, "Don't go near Moses: for you will thus invite trouble both for yourselves and your elders."

The Qur'an has mentioned this particular aspect of the matter because the same was the case of the response to the Mission of Prophet Muhammad (Allah's peace be upon him). In its initial stage, those who came forward were not the elders and the old people but some courageous youth. These first Muslims who were boldly facing persecution and enduring hardships for the sake of Islam were the young people. For instance, `Ali-ibn-Abi Talib, Ja`afar Tayyar, Zubair, Talhah, Sa`ad bin Abi Waqqas, Mus`ab bin `Umair, `Abdullah bin Mas'ud, etc., were under twenty years when they embraced Islam. `Abdur-Rahman bin `Auf, Bilal, Suhail were under thirty years, and Abu `Ubaidah-bin-al-Jarrah, Zaid bin Harithah, `Uthman bin `Affan and `Umar Faruq were under thirty-five years. Abu Bakr was no more than 38 when he embraced Islam. Among the early Muslims, there is only one instance of a Companion, `Ammar bin Yasir, who was of the same age as the Holy Prophet and another of `Ubaidah bin Harith Muttalabi, who was older than the Holy Prophet.

79Some people have misinterpreted the Arabic words say that. all the people of Israel were unbelievers and at first only a few of them believed in the Message. But when (iman) is followed by the letter (lam), it generally means obeying and following. Thus the original words of the text will mean (as translated) "----a few youth from his own people obeyed and followed Moses," that is, "Only a few young people from the whole tribe of the Israelites had the courage to accept and acknowledge Prophet Moses as their leader and guide and stand by him in his struggle with Pharaoh and his chiefs." The words that follow make it quite clear that the Israelites refrained from this not because they did not believe in Prophet Moses or his Message but because they (specially their elders) were afraid of exposing themselves to the persecution of Pharaoh. This state of fear was the result of their moral degeneration. Though all of them racially and religiously belonged to the community of Prophets Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph and, therefore, were Muslims, yet slavery of centuries had so much degraded them that they had lost that spirit of Islam which impels one to become the standard-bearer of Islam against the domination of unbelief and deviation, or imbues one with the courage to stand by the one who had raised that banner.

The Bible has described their degraded condition at the time of the conflict with Pharaoh in Exodus 5: 20-21: "And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: And they said unto them, the Lord look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savior to be abhorred n the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. " The Talmud (Selections by H. Polano, page 152) confirms the same

"Yea" said the overburdened children of Israel to Moses and Aaron, "We are like a lamb which the wolf has carried from its flock, the shepherd strives to take it from him, but between the two the lamb is pulled to pieces; between ye and Pharaoh will we all be killed. "

The Qur'an also refers to this in VII: 129:

"His people answered, `We were oppressed before you came and now again we are being oppressed after you have come. "

80The Arabic word (musrifin) literally means "transgressors" . As this could not express the true spirit, it has been translated into "....those who are not bound by any limits". They are the people who do not hesitate to employ even the most wicked methods to achieve their object: who practice without any pangs of conscience cruelty, immorality, barbarism etc., if these serve their purpose, and who cross all limits in pursuit of their desires. In short, they are such people as know no limits to stop at."