Quran Quote  :  And be patient; for indeed Allah never lets the reward of those who do good go to waste. - 11:115

Quran-10:88 Surah Yunus English Translation,Transliteration and Tafsir(Tafseer).

وَقَالَ مُوسَىٰ رَبَّنَآ إِنَّكَ ءَاتَيۡتَ فِرۡعَوۡنَ وَمَلَأَهُۥ زِينَةٗ وَأَمۡوَٰلٗا فِي ٱلۡحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنۡيَا رَبَّنَا لِيُضِلُّواْ عَن سَبِيلِكَۖ رَبَّنَا ٱطۡمِسۡ عَلَىٰٓ أَمۡوَٰلِهِمۡ وَٱشۡدُدۡ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمۡ فَلَا يُؤۡمِنُواْ حَتَّىٰ يَرَوُاْ ٱلۡعَذَابَ ٱلۡأَلِيمَ

Transliteration:( Wa qaala Moosaa Rabbanaaa innaka aataita Fir'awna wa mala ahoo zeenatanw wa amwaalan fil hayaatid dunyaa Rabbanaa liyudillo 'ansabeelika Rabbanat mis 'alaaa amwaalihim washdud 'alaa quloobihim falaa yu'minoo hatta yarawul 'azaabal aleem )

88. Musa said, "O Lord! You have given Pharaoh and his chiefs splendor and wealth in the life of this world [232]. O our Lord! That they may lead people astray [233] from Your Path. O our Lord! Destroy their wealth and harden their hearts [234], so they will not believe until they see the painful punishment [235]." (Kanzul Imaan Translation)

(88) And Moses said, "Our Lord, indeed You have given Pharaoh and his establishment splendor and wealth in the worldly life, our Lord, that they may lead [men] astray from Your way. Our Lord, obliterate their wealth and harden their hearts so that they will not believe until they see the painful punishment." (Saheen International Translation)

Surah Yunus Ayat 88 Tafsir (Commentry)



  • Tafseer-e-Naeemi (Ahmad Yaar Khan)
  • Ibn Kathir
  • Ala-Madudi
  • Shaheen International

232. From this we learn that for the negligent people wealth becomes a
means of their negligence. It should be remembered that the letter LAAM
here is used for indicating consequence. Otherwise Allah Almighty had not
given them this wealth for mischief making but for them to become grateful.
However it became a means of mischief for the wretched Pharoah as a
result his end was bad.
233. By this is meant the end result of the wealthy of the followers of
Pharoah is indeed misguidance and heresy. They were using this wealth to
stop people from accepting faith. This tells us that no greed seeps in the
hearts of the pious for anyone's weath.
234. By this is meant that their wealth should make their hearts so hard that
they should not be inclined accepting faith. This is called being sealed. This
tells that heavy heartedness is a terrible punishment. May Allah Almighty
protect us from this. Its sign is shedding of tears from the heart, the heart
will not be inclined towards doing good deeds.
235. Thus whatever Hazrat Moosa (on) whom be peace) had said, came to
pass. All the money, fruit and other edible things turned into stones, he and
his followers were deprived of the opportunity of becoming believers,
though they brought faith at their time of drowning but was rejected. This
tells the tongue of the Prophet is a key to immediate result. Furthermore, to
pray for the infidelity of an infidel is no infidelity.
 

Ibn-Kathir

88. And Musa said: “Our Lord! You have indeed bestowed on Fir`awn and his chiefs splendor and wealth in the life of this world, our Lord! That they may lead men astray from Your path. Our Lord! Destroy their wealth, and harden their hearts, so that they will not believe until they see the painful torment.” 89. Allah said: “Verily, the invocation of you both is accepted. So you both keep to the straight way, and follow not the path of those who know not.”


Musa supplicated against Fir`awn and His Chiefs

Allah mentioned what Musa said when he prayed against Fir`awn and his chiefs after they refused to accept the truth. They continued to go astray and be haughty and arrogant. Musa said:

﴿رَبَّنَآ إِنَّكَ ءاتَيْتَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلاّهُ زِينَةً﴾

(Our Lord! You have indeed bestowed on Fir`awn and his chiefs splendor) and pleasure of this worldly life.

﴿وَأَمْوَالاً﴾

(and wealth) plentiful and abundant. Allah’s statement,

﴿فِى الْحَيَوةِ الدُّنْيَا رَبَّنَا لِيُضِلُّواْ عَن سَبِيلِكَ﴾

(in the life of this world, Our Lord! That they may lead men astray from Your path.) was read with the word “Liyadillu” and “Liyudillu.” The first is with a Fathah over the Ya, meaning that “You have given them that while You know they would not believe in what You have sent me with to them. You did that so they would gradually be drawn away from the truth.” As Allah said:

﴿لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ فِيهِ﴾

(that We may test them thereby.)(20:131) and (72:17). Others read the word with a Dammah over the Ya. (i.e. Liyudillu) This makes the Ayah mean: You have given them that so whoever You willed from among Your creatures will be tried. Those whom You wish to misguide would think that You have given them that because You loved them and You cared about them.”

﴿رَبَّنَا اطْمِسْ عَلَى أَمْوَلِهِمْ﴾

(“Our Lord! Destroy their wealth,”) Ibn `Abbas and Mujahid said: “They asked Allah to destroy their wealth.” Ad-Dahhak, Abu Al-`Aliyah and Ar-Rabi`a bin Anas said: “Allah made their wealth into engraved stones as it was before.” About Allah’s statement,

﴿وَاشْدُدْ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ﴾

(and harden their hearts) Ibn `Abbas said, “Harden their hearts means put a seal on them.”

﴿فَلاَ يُؤْمِنُواْ حَتَّى يَرَوُاْ الْعَذَابَ الاٌّلِيمَ﴾

(so that they will not believe until they see the painful torment.) This prayer was from Musa because he was angry for the sake of Allah and His religion. He prayed against Fir`awn and his chiefs when he was certain that there was no good in them. Similarly, Nuh prayed and said:

﴿وَقَالَ نُوحٌ رَّبِّ لاَ تَذَرْ عَلَى الاٌّرْضِ مِنَ الْكَـفِرِينَ دَيَّاراً – إِنَّكَ إِن تَذَرْهُمْ يُضِلُّواْ عِبَادَكَ وَلاَ يَلِدُواْ إِلاَّ فَاجِراً كَفَّاراً ﴾

(My Lord! Leave not one of the disbelievers on the earth! If You leave them, they will mislead Your servants, and they will beget none but wicked disbelievers.) (71:26-27) Harun said “Amin” to his brother’s prayer. And Allah answered Musa’s prayer. Allah said:

﴿قَدْ أُجِيبَتْ دَّعْوَتُكُمَا﴾

(Verily, the invocation of you both is accepted.) `in destroying Fir`awn’s people.

﴿قَدْ أُجِيبَتْ دَّعْوَتُكُمَا فَاسْتَقِيمَا﴾

(Verily I have answered your prayers (both of you). So you both keep to the straight way) So as I have answered your prayer, you should remain steadfast on My command.’ Ibn Jurayj narrated that Ibn `Abbas said about this Ayah: “Be steadfast and follow My command.”

(10:88) Moses prayed:[86] ‘Our Lord! You bestowed upon Pharaoh and his nobles splendour[87] and riches[88] in the world. Our Lord! Have You done this that they may lead people astray from Your path? Our Lord! Obliterate their riches and harden their hearts that they may not believe until they observe the painful chastisement.[89]

Ala-Maududi

(10:88) Moses prayed:[86] ‘Our Lord! You bestowed upon Pharaoh and his nobles splendour[87] and riches[88] in the world. Our Lord! Have You done this that they may lead people astray from Your path? Our Lord! Obliterate their riches and harden their hearts that they may not believe until they observe the painful chastisement.[89]


86. This prayer was offered by Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) during the last period of his stay in Egypt. There was a long interval between this and the events mentioned in the preceding verse which happened during the early days of his mission. The details of this intervening period are available at other places in the Quran.

87. The Arabic word zeenat includes the magnificence, grandeur, glory and the apparent brilliance of their culture and civilization which attracted other people towards them with the desire of imitating them.

88. “Wealth”, possessions, resources and means which help the people like Pharaoh to put into practice all their devices and plans, and the lack of which prevents the standard bearers of the truth from carrying out their plans.

89. As it has already been stated, Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) made this prayer during the last period of his stay in Egypt. When he had shown many signs, one after the other, to Pharaoh and his chiefs and pointed out the way clearly to them, but they had persisted obdurately in their antagonism to the truth. The Prophet begged his Lord to destroy their possessions and harden their hearts. And this was in accordance with the decree of Allah. As they had merited this punishment according to the divine law of retribution, Allah decreed that they should not get the light of faith, which they themselves had extinguished with their persistent disbelief.

(88) And Moses said, "Our Lord, indeed You have given Pharaoh and his establishment splendor and wealth in the worldly life, our Lord, that they may lead [men] astray from Your way. Our Lord, obliterate their wealth and harden their hearts so that they will not believe until they see the painful punishment."

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