Teachings of the Qur'aan: Al-Ar'aaf - Aayaat 103-126

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B i s m i l l a a h i r R a h m a a n i r R a h e e m


Teachings of the Qur`aan

Al-A'raaf
Soorah 7


Aayaat 103 - 126
Ayub A. Hamid

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With the help of examples of previous nations, from the nation of Nooh to the nation of Shu�ayb �alayhissalaam, the previous section clearly laid down the way Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala deals with people who reject a messenger. The next section is a long one that concisely describes the whole history of Banee Israaeel from the advent of Moosa (Moses) �alayhissalaam onwards. The purpose is fourfold:

Firstly, to show the Quraish a clear and complete picture of how a messenger starts his mission, what kind of games the messenger�s opponents play, how initially the opponents seem to succeed and how they are finally destroyed. This is giving the Quraish another chance to see the reflection of their own behaviour and reform themselves before they suffer the inevitable consequences.

Secondly, it is to show the sincere believers that after suffering their share of hardships, they are destined to succeed, despite the apparent resourcefulness and initial upper hand of the disbelievers.

Thirdly, Banee Israaeel have been shown the mirror of their own history to warn them to accept and follow the Messenger sall Allaahu �alayhi wa sallam and not react as the Egyptians reacted to Moosa alayhissalaam, otherwise they will end up suffering the same consequences.

Fourthly, the Muslims have been warned to avoid repeating Banee Israaeel�s attitude towards Islam after receiving the guidance if they want to avoid the anger and curse of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala, which the Israelites suffered. These purposes are summarily mentioned in one concise statement �See then, what was the end of the trouble-makers!�

103 Then after them[1], We sent Moosa (Moses) with Our signs to Fir�own (Pharaoh) and his eminent courtiers, but they rejected those signs unjustly. See then, what was the end of the trouble-makers! 104 Moosa said: �O Fir�own! I am a messenger from the Lord of the universe. 105 It is only right for me to say nothing but truth about Allaah. I have come to you indeed with a clear proof from your Lord, therefore, send with me the children of Israel . 106 Fir�own (Pharaoh) said, �If you have come with a sign, then show it if you are truthful.� 107 So Moosa tossed his staff down, and lo! it became a clearly living serpent! 108 And he drew out his hand, and behold! it was shining brightly for the observers.

Fir�own (Pharaoh) was the title of the kings of Egypt . Each Fir�own claimed to be the incarnation of the Egyptian sun god who was considered the supreme of all gods and the creator. The crown of Fir�own was overlaid with a Uraeus - a stylized upright cobra that was considered a symbol of sovereignty, royalty and divine authority. It was thought that the Uraeus protected the king by spitting fire at evil forces. Even the sun shield representing the sun god was shown protected by Uraeus. Thus, the sun and the snake were the two most important gods and symbols of power that were worshipped and adored in Egypt and that were considered to be the sources of power and legitimacy for each Fir�own. The sun God was considered to have vast magical powers with which he created other things. Thus, Egyptian society was infatuated with magic and expertise in magic was highly regarded.

The �signs� refer to the miracles that Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala had bestowed upon Moosa �alayhissalaam to witness that he is His representative. The miracles that Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala bestows to His messengers as proofs of their truthfulness in their claim are tailored according to the society they are sent to. Miracles pertain to whatever area of expertise is considered impressive in the society and they clearly supersede and outperform whatever is humanly possible. In this case, it was the demonstration of magical powers. The two signs given to Moosa �alayhissalaam pertained to the two symbols of divinity, power and authority � the sun and the snake, whereupon his hand would shine brightly like the sun and his staff would transform into a living serpent. The demonstration of these signs not only proved his being a representative of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala but also gave a clear message to Fir�own and his eminent courtiers that the one worthy of worship and the source of all power and authority is only the Creator who created the sun and the snake and Who can bring them into being any time from any material whenever and wherever He wants.

They rejected the signs absolutely unjustly and regarded them as magic while they knew that such feats were not possible through magic and their own magicians had testified that they were not magic.

Moosa �alayhissalaam did not merely present the signs, but explained the Islamic beliefs and invited them to become Muslim and purify themselves from Kufr, Shirk, tyranny and injustice. His claim to messenger-hood and all of his Islamic message is alluded to in the phrase �It is only right for me to say nothing but truth about Allaah.� Some aspects of its message are described in other places in the Qur-aan; however, the details of Moosa �alayhissalaam� s message are to be understood from the standard message which all messengers of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala give to their people. As the ultimate conciseness of the Qur-aan, here only a special aspect of the message �send with me the children of Israel � has been mentioned.

Because of the long period of time that Israelites had spent as slaves, they had lost the sense of how free and liberated people behave. Being led and told what to do, they - as a community - lacked the sense of playing a leadership role in the society. It was not possible to train them in the qualities of the liberated and in traits of leadership while they continued to live in Egypt as slaves. Hence Moosa wanted to take them out of their townships into the wilderness to put them through leadership and freedom boot camp.

Obviously, Fir�own refused to accept him as a messenger of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala and to let the Israelites escape from slavery. The miracles, however, made Fir�own and his courtiers feel their authority and rule over land were threatened. This was for two reasons: Firstly, a messenger of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala must be obeyed by everyone, thus by virtue of his being a messenger, he displaces any king or existing structures of authority. Secondly, the display of miracles by Moosa �alayhissalaam in itself deprived them from legitimacy to rule. In their minds and their public�s minds, legitimacy to govern emanated from the lifeless images of sun and snake gods. Moosa �alayhissalaam had displayed the possession of both of these things in their physical and living form, thus depriving Fir�own and his courtiers of the right to govern. For these reasons, they immediately concluded that Moosa �alayhissalaam wanted to take over the authority and throw them out of the land.

109 The eminent ones from the people of Fir�own said to each other, �This is some learned magician. 110 He wants to drive you out of your land; so what do you suggest?� 111 Then they suggested, �Put him and his brother off, and send recruiters out through the cities 112 to bring to you every learned magician.�

When a messenger presents his claim of being a representative of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala and presents miracles in support of his claim, the initial reactions of those in power is of utter disbelief. They reject his claim although the miracles are evidently and undoubtedly beyond human power. They try to find a reason to discredit the claim. Usually, the people surrounding an authority figure are the ones who suggest some �plausible� sounding excuses to reject a messenger�s claim. Also, usually, a messenger is regarded as crazy and/or a magician: crazy because of their inability to understand how a normal person can make such a claim as being representative of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala; and magician because of their physical miracles and because of the efficacy of their message that keeps effectively sinking into people�s hearts. In this case, they thought that Moosa �alayhissalaam can safely be regarded as a magician and even discredited by a competition with top magicians of their kingdom. Thus they summoned all the famous and celebrated master magicians of the country to come and compete in their magic with Moosa �alayhissalaam. A public competition was announced to take place at one of their biggest country fairs.

113 The magicians came to Fir�own and enquired, �Shall we have some suitable reward if we are the winners?� 114 He said, �Yes, and you will certainly be included among the closest courtiers.� 115 (A public competition was announced and at the time of competition) The magicians asked, �O Moosa, are you throwing first or are we going to be the first throwers?� 116 Moosa said, �You throw!� When they threw (their sticks and cords), they charmed people�s eyes and frightened them, and produced a mighty spell. 117 We instructed Moosa through waĥy (revelation) , �Cast your staff.� As soon as he did so, it swallowed up what they were falsifying through their spell. 118 So the Truth was established and what magicians were doing collapsed. 119 Thus Fir�own and his people were defeated right there and ended up belittled. 120 The magicians fell down in prostration. 121 They said, �We believe in the Lord of the universe, 122, the Lord of Moosa and Haaroon (Aaron).

The magicians being the celebrated masters of their craft were quite sure to win because it was unimaginable that anyone in that kingdom would have the skills to surpass their skills. Hence they took a commitment from Fir�own for huge rewards. At the time of the competition, with Fir�own and his courtiers and thousands of people watching, they gave Moosa the option of starting. But Moosa �alayhissalaam let them take the lead. They threw sticks and cords, and with their spell, they all appeared to the audience as if they were snakes. It should be noted here that the magic does not change the nature of the objects, but merely affects the human perception causing some illusionary appearance of those objects. Then Moosa �alayhissalaam threw his staff and it actually became a snake moving around freely among the magical snakes. As it would approach those magical (illusionary) snakes, their magic spell would be nullified, making them re-appear in their natural form as cords or sticks. Seeing this, the magicians realized that they were not up against a magician. His staff did not merely appear like a snake but really became a living snake that moved around and behaved like a real snake. He truly was a representative of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala, otherwise he could not have created a real snake out of wood and he could not have nullified their magic. Upon this realization, they could not help but believe in Moosa �alayhissalaam as the messenger of Allaah and could not hold themselves from prostrating to Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala, the Lord of Moosa and Haaroon �alayhimussalaam.

Fir�own, who was hoping to discredit Moosa �alayhissalaam, was himself humiliated on this defeat. He became furious and took out his anger on the magicians.

123 Fir�own said, �You believed in him before I gave you permission! Surely this is a plot that you have secretly devised in this city, to drive out its people, but soon shall you know (the consequences) . 124 I will certainly cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, then will I crucify you all together.� 125 They responded, �Indeed to our Lord we will be returning anyway. 126 You are persecuting us only because we have believed in the signs of our Lord when they came to us! Our Lord, pour out on us steadfastness and ensure that we die as Muslims!

This incident would have started a huge conversion to Islam by Egyptians and tremendous success to the Islamic mission of Moosa �alayhissalaam. For damage control, on the one hand, Fir�own discredited the competition by claiming that it was a set up between the magicians and Moosa �alayhissalaam who he claimed to be their guru and master magician. On the other hand, he threatened the magicians with dire consequences for their acceptance of Islam. The beauty of Islamic faith is that once a person consciously and truly accepts it, he becomes liberated from all fears and worries. For the ultimate and eternal success with Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala in the Hereafter, he is willing to face any consequence in the temporary life of this world. Thus the magicians took Fir�own�s threats in stride and refused to go back from the truth they had sincerely discovered.

It should be noted that during all this time from the initial presentation to Fir�own and his courtiers to the time of this competition, Moosa �alayhissalaam was clearly presenting and propagating his message of Islam so much so that Fir�own, his courtiers and the public at large knew exactly what the Islamic beliefs were that Moosa �alayhissalaam was inviting everyone to. That is why the magicians knew exactly what was Islamically required of them, as soon as the truth became evident to them.

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[1] The messengers and their nations mentioned in the previous section.

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Copyright � 2007 Ayub A. Hamid
All rights reserved

This document may be used, only with this copyright notice included. Permission is granted to circulate among private individuals and groups, to post on internet forums, and include in not-for-profit publications subject to the following conditions: (1) Material used must be produced faithfully in full, without alteration or omission; (2) The author�s subject title must remain unchanged, in whole or in part; (3) Material must be attributed to the author Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid. Contact the author for all other rights, which are reserved.

Note: This series is providing the teachings of the Qur�aan, not a literal translation. Instead of literal translation, it gives interpretive meanings of the verses, along with their contextual details. Please remember that any translation of the Holy Qur�aan is in fact only an expression of the translator�s understanding of the Word of Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta�aala, and hence cannot be equated with the Qur�aan itself. Only the original Arabic text can be called the Holy Qur�aan.

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Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid is a visionary and strategic Islamic thinker residing in Canada for the last 31 years. His recently published books are:

1. Islam - Does It Make Sense?

2. Unveiling the Commands�The Truth about Hijaab, Khimaar and Jilbaab.

3. Finding A Soulmate - A Guide for Parents and Youth.

4. A Book Unlike Any Other.

5. Islam - Adopting Its Paradigms.
6. Exploring the Islamic Beliefs.


http://soundvisionc anada.com/ shop/pbrowse. asp?Pg=3&Cat=10004

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The following soowar �Teachings of the Qur�aan� series by Ustaadz Ayub A. Hamid, are available on request:-

Al Faatihah

Al Baqarah

Aali �Imraan

A Nisaa�

Al Maaidah

Al An�aam

Al A'raaf: Name, Background and Topics/7:1-9/7:10-25/7:26-33/7:34-39/7:40-53/7:54-58/ 7:59-72/7:73-79/7:80-93/7:94-102/


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