Transliteration:( Famaaa aamana li-Moosaaa illaa zurriyyatun min qawmihee 'alaa khawfin min Fir'awna wa mala'ihim 'any yaftinahum; wa inna Fir'awna la'aalin fil ardi wa innahoo laminal musrifeen )
220. By this is meant at first only a few Israelites accepted faith due to
Pharoah's fear, but later thousands of magicians and Israelites became
believers. Hence there is no inconsistency in this verse. It could also mean
that a few from the people of Pharoah accepted faith, or those few boys of
the Israelites which
their mothers had given to the female. supporters of the Pharoah had
become believers, i.e. though they were Isrealites but were regarded as
Qibtis (Khazainul Irfaan).
221. In that he would compel them to become apostates after having
accepted Islam. From this we learn that reciting the Kalima is a condition
for declaring faith. Mere inward belief without its verbal declarations is not
sufficient for being a believer. Observe, those who could not declare their
faith due to fear of the Pharoah have been declared by Allah Almighty that
they did not accept faith.
222. From this we learn that to gain eminence for egotistic reasons is the
way of the infidels, while making efforts to gain eminence for the sake of
Religion is the way of the Prophets. Hazrat Yusuf (on whom be peace)
said. "Set me over the treasures of earth". No doubt, I am watchful,
knowing. (S12:V55) The former eminence is rebellious, the latter is
promotion of Religion.
223. This means though he was just a servant of Allah Almighty, he was
trying to go beyond the limits of servitude and began to claim divinity. This
tells that to remain within the limits is a great bounty of Allah Almighty.
When water goes beyond the limits becomes floods, when a man exceeds
the limits he becomes a devil.
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83. But none believed in Musa except the offspring of his people, because of the fear of Fir`awn and his chiefs, lest they should persecute them; and verily, Fir`awn was an arrogant tyrant on the earth, he was indeed one of the transgressors.
Allah tells us that despite all the clear signs and irrefutable evidence Musa came with, only a few offspring from Fir`awn’s followers believed in him. They were even scared that Fir`awn and his followers would force them to return to Kufr (disbelief). Fir`awn was an evil tyrant and extremely arrogant. His people feared him and his power too much. Al-`Awfi reported that Ibn `Abbas said:
(But none believed in Musa except the offspring of his people because of the fear of Fir `awn and his chiefs, lest they should persecute them.) “The offspring that believed in Musa from Fir`awn’s people, other than Banu Israel, were few. Among them were Fir`awn’s wife, the believer who was hiding his faith, Fir`awn’s treasurer, and his wife.” The Children of Israel, however, themselves believed in Musa, all of them. They were glad to see him coming. They knew of his description and the news of his advent from their previous Books. They knew that Allah was going to save them through him from the capture of Fir`awn and give them power over him. So when this knowledge reached Fir`awn he was very wary. But his caution and weariness didn’t help him one bit. When Musa arrived, Fir`awn subjected them to great harm, and
(They said: “We (Children of Israel) suffered troubles before you came to us, and since you have come to us.” He said: “It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you successors on the earth, so that He may see how you act’)﴿7:129﴾ The fact that all of the Children Israel became believers is evidenced by the following Ayat:
(10:83) None but a few youths[78] of Moses’ people accepted him,[79] fearing that Pharaoh and their own chiefs would persecute them. Indeed Pharaoh was mighty in the land, he was among those who exceed all limits.[80]
78. Though literally zurriyyah means offspring, it has been translated into youths because the Quran 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 Quran has mentioned this particular aspect of the matter because the same was the case of the response to the mission of Prophet Muhammad (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, Jaafar Tayyar, Zubair, Talhah, Saad bin Abi Waqqas, Musab bin Umair, Abdullah bin Masud, 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 Prophet (peace be upon him) and another of Ubaidah bin Harith Muttalabi, who was older than the Prophet (peace be upon him).
79. Some 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 amama is followed by the letter lam, it generally means obeying and following. Thus the original words of the text will mean “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 (peace be upon him) 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 (peace be upon him) 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 (peace be upon them all) 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 Quran also refers to this in (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayat 129):
His people answered, we were oppressed before you came and now again we are being oppressed after you have come.
80. The Arabic word musrifin literally means transgressors, or 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.
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