Ayahs 10:49–5357. In response to the unbelievers' query, the Prophet (peace be on him) makes it clear that he had never claimed that he himself would come forth with the judgement mentioned above, or that it lay in his power to afflict people with punishment. There was no point, therefore, in asking him when the final judgement against them would come to pass. The warning of punishment had been given by God rather than by the Messenger. Hence it lay only in God's power to decide when His judgement should come to pass, and in which form God would execute His warning to punish unbelievers.
58. God does not act in haste in judging a people. He does not summarily punish or reward people the very moment they reject or accept a Messenger's call. Instead, God grants a long respite both to individuals and to nations. He once that term - which has been determined by God with full justice - is over, and the individual or nation concerned does not give up its rebellious attitude, God's judgement is enforced. The time for the enforcement of such judgement can never come a moment before or after the time fixed for it by God.
Ayahs 10:54–5959. Throughout their lives the unbelievers denied that they would be resurrected and called to account by God. Considering the Next Life a mere illusion, they wasted their lives on vain pursuits and levelled all kinds of allegations against the Prophets who had forewarned them that the Next Life would inevitably come to pass. All this notwithstanding, a moment will come when they will find themselves face to face with the Next Life. When such a moment comes they will be totally unnerved. In view of their evil deeds, their conscience will intimate to them the end they are going to meet. Speechless and haggard, their hearts will begin to sink out of remorse and regret. Those who had staked their all on vain fancies, and had refused to take any heed of the admonition of their well-wishers, whom else can they blame except themselves for the catastrophe that will confront them?
Ayah 10:6060. The word rizq is often used in daily parlance to denote 'eatables'. Hence, many people think that the reproach embodied in the present verse is directed merely against the wrong customs that have come into vogue in that narrow realm of behaviour which is confined to the dining room. It is not only those who are ignorant but also those who are learned about Islam that are victims of this misconception.
However, use of the word rizq in Arabic is not confined to eatables. It is used in a broad sense, and covers all the things that are granted to man by God for his use. Whatever God has conferred on man thus constitutes his rizq, including his offspring. In the works of the branch of knowledge called Asma al-Rijal (which is part of the Hadith Sciences), we find, among the transmitters of traditions, several names such as Rizq, Ruzayq, and Rizq Allah which signify the recipients of God's bounty. In the famous invocative prayer . 'O God: Show us the truth and grant us the strength (urzuqna) to follow it', the rizq that a person seeks from God is the strength to follow the truth after God has enabled him to perceive it. Here rizq has been used to mean the conferment of the bounty of knowledge on someone. In a tradition we have been told that Allah sends an angel to the womb of every expectant mother and that he writes down what the rizq, the life-span, and deeds of the to-be-born child are to be (see al-Bukhari, Kitab Bad' al-Khalq, Bad Dhikr al-Mala' ikah -Ed.). It is quite obvious that the word rizq here does not signify merely the eatables that child will receive during its life-lime; it rather signifies the totality of the things that it will receive. We also find the expression j in the Qur'an. (See al-Baqarah 2: 3; al-Anfal 8: 3 - Ed.)
It is, therefore, a serious mistake to consider rizq as being confined to the realm of the kitchen and the dining table. Likewise, it is a mistake, and quite a serious one to think that God disapproves only if those rules in the domain of food are broken and does not mind if people do so in other domains of life.
The error that people so commit has very grave consequences. As a result of this misconception, an important principle of Islam has been lost sight of. For it is owing to this misconception that while lawfulness or otherwise in regard to eating and drinking is considered a seriously religious issue, even highly religious people, let alone ordinary Muslims, feel no serious repugnance about the notion that in the collective sphere of life man has the right to lay down the rules of his behaviour. Even the most learned and pious religious scholars feel no revulsion against legislating without reference to God and His Book. Nor do they feel that such legislation is as sharply in conflict with Islam as one's laying down what is lawful and what is unlawful in matters of food and drink.
61. The purpose of the verse is to make people realize what an enormous act of rebellion people are committing by laying down, of their own accord, the limits that are lawful and those that are unlawful. Are they not conscious of the fact that human beings and all that they possess belong to Allah? If they are conscious of it, how can it be considered justifiable for men to lay down as to how they should use the possessions bestowed upon them by Allah? What would their own opinion be about the servant who claims that he has the full right to lay down the rules for the disposal of his master's property, and who believes that his master has no right to determine anything? Were a person's own servant to make such a claim about his master, how would the latter react to it? As for the servant who goes so far as even to deny that he is a servant or denies that he is answerable to a master, or who denies that the property under his care belongs to his master, he is guilty of an even greater monstrosity, and is beyond the scope of our discussion here. What is being discussed is the case of one who, on the one hand, acknowledges that he is the servant of a master and that the property in his possession has been entrusted to him by the master, and rightfully belongs to the master. Notwithstanding this acknowledgement, the servant claims that he has the right to lay down, independently of the master, the rules for using that properly.
62. If the master had authorized the servant to use his property as the latter wished and to lay down the rules for so doing as he pleased, the servant, would have been justified in doing so. But do these people really have any evidence to prove that they had been granted any such authorization by their master? Or is it that such a claim was backed by no such authorization? If they do nut have any evidence to produce such an authorization, they are guilty not only of rebellious behaviour, but also of lies and fabrications.
63. It is indeed an act of utmost favour on the part of the master that he informs his servant of the attitude he should adopt to the master's house and to other belongings and even with regard to his own self as he is able to obtain God's good pleasure and how he would be able to escape his wrath and punishment, But many servants are not sufficiently grateful to their master for this favour. It seems that the right thing would have been for the master to have left his properties at the servant's disposal without informing him of what would lead to reward and what would lead to punishment. He should then have kept a secret watch over his servants and punished those who work contrary to his desire - a desire which had not even been made known to them. The fact is that if the master had put his servants to such a severe test none would have escaped his punishment.
Ayahs 10:61–6664. The purpose of the statement is to console the Prophet (peace be on him) and to warn his enemies. On the one hand, the Prophet (peace be on him) is being reassured that the resoluteness, diligence and perseverance which characterize his efforts in preaching the truth and attempting to reform people is well known to God. It can hardly be conceived that after entrusting to the Prophet (peace be on him) a perilous task that God would leave him alone, unassisted. God knows full well all what the Prophet (peace be on him) does, and is also well aware of how others behave towards him. At the same time what is being said also constitutes a warning to the Prophet's opponents. If they obstruct the efforts of the Messenger of the truth, of one engaged in reforming mankind out of sincerity and goodwill, there is no reason for them to assume that no one is observing their deeds, or that they will never be called to account. They ought to take heed for all their deeds are being duly recorded on the Divine Scroll.
Ayah 10:6765. What is being said here in a summary fashion requires some elaboration. The statement refers to philosophical inquiry which aims atdiscovering the reality underlying the physical phenomena of the universe. All those who do not look up to revelation in order to know what such reality is, have to fall back, willy-nilly, on philosophical inquiry. Whether a person ends up with atheism, polytheism or monotheism, he perforce has recourse to philosophical inquiry of some sort in order to arrive at some conclusion about reality. Likewise, the worth of the religious doctrines propounded by the Prophets can also be determined by resort to philosophical reflection after which a person is likely to arrive at some conclusion as to whether the reality to which the physical phenomena allude makes any sense or not. The soundness of the conclusion at which a person arrives totally depends, however, on the soundness of the method of philosophical inquiry that is adopted. If the method is sound, so would the conclusion be; and vice versa.
Let us now examine the methods that were adopted by different groups in this pursuit. Of these, the method used by the polytheists is based on superstition. As for the gnostic and ascetic hermits, even though they flaunt meditation as their characteristic method and claim their ability to penetrate the reality that lies beyond the phenomenal veil, their quest is based merely on conjecture. Likewise, what they claim to have observed is actually a product of their fancy. Swayed by it, they mistake their fancies for the truth.
Now, philosophers are guided in their quest for reality by speculation which, it would seem, is nothing less than conjecture. But realizing that their conjecture has no respectable ground upon which to stand, philosophers provide the crutches of logical reasoning and phoney rationalism to support their quest, and give it the imposing title of philosophical inquiry.
Then we come across scientists. In their own field, they resort to scientific methods of inquiry, but as soon as they enter the realm of the metaphysical, they abandon this method and proceed with guesswork and conjecture. The outlook of all these groups is impaired, afflicted with bias and prejudice of one sort or another. This makes them impervious to everything which is alien to them with the net result that they cling adamantly to their cherished ways. The Qur'an brands this kind of intellectual quest as essentially fallacious. It tells such people that the real cause of their malady is guesswork and conjecture in their pursuit of reality, and that they do not heed the reasonable counsel of others because of their deep-seated prejudices. The result is not only are they incapable of independently grasping reality, but their prejudice renders them incapable of arriving at any sound judgement regarding it even when it is expounded by the Prophets.
In sharp contrast to these fallacious methods, the Qur'an lays down an altogether different method to guide men in their quest of reality. This requires, first of all, that one should heed with open ears and consider with open minds the statements of those who claim to be expounding their doctrine about reality not on the basis of speculation or conjecture, nor on the basis of meditation or intuitive conviction, but on the basis of 'knowledge'. They should then proceed to consider the phenomena which form a part of man's observation or experience of the universe (called ayat - signs - in the Qur'anic parlance); to systematize all that they come to know in this manner and to seriously reflect whether the phenomena seem to testify to the reality underlying the phenomena to which these people [i.e. the Prophets] have drawn their attention. If one finds sufficient grounds to affirm the truths propounded by the Prophets, why on earth should anyone contradict such truths? In our view, this very method is the basis of the philosophy of Islam and it is regrettable that even Muslim philosophers abandoned it and set out to follow in the footsteps of Plato and Aristotle.
Not only does the Qur'an urge people, over and over again, to follow this method, but by frequently drawing attention to the physical phenomena and then showing how right conclusions can be derived from them, it also seems to train them to follow this method. Were one to consider even the present verse by way of example one would encounter reference to a couple of physical phenomena - night and day. The alternation of day and night is the outcome of an absolutely precise and well-regulated movement of the earth around the sun. This is an incontrovertible sign of the existence of an all-encompassing controller, of an all-powerful Lord Whose dominion embraces the whole universe. This alternation of day and night is also indicative of the infinite wisdom and purposiveness of the Creator since a lot of creatures of the earth depend upon it. This alternation is also indicative of the Providence, Mercy and Lordship of the Creator since it is evident that He Who has created all beings on earth has also made arrangements to cater to all their requirements.
What this unmistakably proves is that the Creator is the One Who fully controls the entire universe and that far from being arbitrary and capricious. He is Wise. His actions also go to show that in view of His benevolence and providence He alone deserves to be served and worshipped. Also, this alternation of day and night clearly reveals that anything which is subject to the system of alternation of night and day is a servant and not the Lord. All this being the testimony of the natural phenomena, how can it ever be entertained that the religious doctrines developed by polytheists on the basis of their guesswork and conjecture have even a shred of legitimacy?
Ayahs 10:68–7066. In the preceding verses, the polytheists were reproached for basing their religious doctrines on guesswork and conjecture, and then failing to examine, on scientific grounds, whether those doctrines were backed up by any supporting proof or not. In this verse, the Christians and followers of some other religions are being taken to task for another error - for their designating someone, again by resort to sheer conjecture, as God's son.
67. This Arabic expression is used both in its literal sense and also by way of exclamation. As an exclamatory expression it emphasizes one's utter amazement about God. In its literal sense, it signifies that God is free of every defect and flaw. The above verse in question employs both meanings. For, apart from expressing amazement at the notion that God took someone as His son, it also stresses the perfection, the absolute flawlessness of God. Since God is perfect and flawless, how does it make any sense to say that He took someone as His son?
68. In refuting the notion that God took anyone as His son, three arguments are advanced:
(i) God is free of all defects;
(ii) God is All-Sufficient; and
(iii) all that is in the heavens and in the earth belongs to Him.
A brief elucidation of these statements will enable one to appreciate the meaning and significance of what is being said here. To be a son can have only two meanings: either he has sprung from his father's loins, that is, he is his father's son in the true sense of the term, and thus of his father's loins, or that he is not a son in the literal sense of the word but has merely been adopted as such. Now, if someone is considered to be a son of God in its true, literal sense, that would obviously amount to considering God akin to a mortal. Like any other mortal, God is conceived to belong to one gender or the other, and to stand in need of a spouse, and of some sort of conjugal relationship to enable the birth of offspring, and thus to ensure the continuity of his progeny. Alternatively, God is believed to have adopted someone as His son. Such a statement could either mean that God is akin to that issueless human who resorts to adoption in order that the adopted son might inherit Him and thus secure Him against the loss that would ensue from his being issueless, or at least partially offset that loss. The other possibility is that God also has certain emotional predilections and it is for this reason that He has fallen in love with one of His creatures to the extent of adopting him as His son. In each of the above-mentioned cases, the concept of God is marred by investing Him with several flaws, defects and weaknesses, and He is conceived as One lacking self-sufficiency, as One Who perforce must depend on others.
Hence, the opening part of the verse clearly proclaims God to be free of all defects, deficiencies and weaknesses which people ascribe to Him. This is followed by saying that God is All-Sufficient, that is, He is free of all those needs which impel an issueless mortal to adopt someone as his son. This is further followed by the assertion that all that is in the heavens and in the earth belongs to God and hence all human beings, without any exception, are His servants and bondsmen. This makes ii clear that there is no personal relationship between God and any of His creatures that would prompt Him to choose any, to the exclusion of others, for elevation to the level of godhead. For sure, He holds certain people, on grounds of their merit, to be dearer than others. But God's love for someone does not mean that he is lifted up from the rank of being God's servant to becoming His associate and partner in godhead. What God's special love for some person means can be gauged from the following verse of the Qur'an: 'Oh, surely the friends of Allah have nothing to fear, nor shall they grieve - the ones who believe and are God-fearing. For them are glad tidings in this world and in the Hereafter' (see verses 62-4 above).
Ayahs 10:71–7369. In the preceding verses a combination of convincing arguments and persuasive instruction was employed to drive home to the people that their intellectual outlook and way of life were faulty. As opposed to that, the right way for mankind was highlighted and it was shown why that way was right. Thereafter, attention was paid to candidly exposing the attitude which the unbelievers had adopted during the past eleven years: instead of mending their ways in the light of the reasonable criticism to which they had been subjected and in response to the right guidance offered to them, they became inveterate enemies of the very man who was expounding a message that could ensure their salvation and who sought their well-being and had no axe of his own to grind. Regrettably, they responded to his arguments by throwing brickbats and answered his sincere counsels by hurling filthy abuses at him. They found even the existence of this man in their midst, of one whose main fault was that he called a spade a spade, absolutely insufferable. They virtually said that if in a group of blind persons there is anyone possessed of sight, the only right course for him is to blind himself rather than try to restore the vision of others. And if such a person refused to do so, it was for them to pluck out his eyes and make him blind like themselves.
No direct comment is made here with regard to the attitude of those people. Instead, God asks His Prophet (peace be on him) to narrate to them the story of Noah. Through this story the unbelievers would be able to see clearly their own predicament as well as the predicament of the believers.
70. Faced with determined opposition from the unbelievers, Noah made it quite clear that he would not cease to strive for his cause, regardless of what the unbelievers might do for it is in God that he put his trust. (Cf. Hud 11: 55.)
Ayah 10:7471. 'Those who transgress' mentioned in the present verse are those who, once they commit a wrong, cling to it out of adamance and obstinacy. These are the ones who, out of sheer arrogance and egotism, would like to stick to the stand they once took even if it was erroneous. Such people remain unmoved
Ayah 10:7572. For a full appreciation of the story of Moses and Pharaoh, see the explanatory notes in Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. III, al-A'raf7, n. 83 ff. The points elucidated in these notes will not be repeated here.
73. Intoxicated by their riches, political power and glory they considered themselves to be well above the level of ordinary human beings. Thus, instead of humbly submitting themselves to God, they waxed proud.
Ayah 10:7674. The response of the Pharaonites to the Prophet Moses (peace be on him) was exactly the same as the response of (he Makkan unbelievers to the Prophet (peace be on him). This response bar, been mentioned earlier (see verse 2 above) in these words: 'This man is indeed an evident sorcerer.'
The context makes it clear that the Prophets Moses and Aaron (peace be on them) were entrusted with the same mission which had formerly been entrusted to Prophet Noah (peace be on him), then to the Prophets who followed him and finally to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) who was the last in the chain of such Prophets.
From the outset, the thrust of the surah has been the same - that man should take God, the Lord of the universe, and Him alone, as his Lord and as the sole object of his worship, service and obedience, and that he has to render to Him an account of all his deeds. Now, those who had rejected the message of the Prophet (peace be on him) are being told that their well-being as well as that of all human beings rests on affirming their belief in the One True God and in the Hereafter, a belief which has been invariably expounded by the Prophets down the ages. Man's well-being depends on affirming this belief, and on fashioning his entire behaviour on the basis of that.
This constitutes the pivotal point of the whole surah. The reference to other Prophets (peace be on them) in this surah by way of historical illustration indicates that the message of all the Prophets was the same as the one embodied in this surah. The Prophets Moses and Aaron (peace be on (hem) had conveyed the same message to Pharaoh and his chiefs. Had the mission of these two Prophets been merely to liberate a specific nation, as some people are inclined to believe, reference to this event for the purpose of historical illustration would have been quite discordant with the context in which it occurs. There can be no doubt that the mission of Moses and Aaron partially aimed at bringing about the liberation of the Israelites (then, a Muslim people) from the domination of an unbelieving nation. This was, however, a secondary rather than the central purpose of raising those Prophets. According to the Qur'an the main objective of the mission of these two Prophets was the same as that of all other Prophets. An objective which has been clearly set forth in the following verses of: 'Go to Pharaoh for he has certainly transgressed all bounds (of servitude to Allah). And say to him: "Would you rather be purified; and that I guide you to your Lord that you may fear Him" ' (al-Nazi'at 79: 17-19). Now, since Pharaoh and his nobles did not respond positively to this call, the Prophet Moses (peace be on him) was ultimately left with no other choice but to secure the liberation of his people, who were Muslims, and to take them away from the area dominated by Pharaoh. This was of course a fairly important event, and the Qur'anic narration of it also treats it as such. However, all those who are not inclined to view the detailed teachings of the Qur'an in isolation from its general principles, can never commit the mistake of considering the liberation of a people to be the basic purpose of raising a Prophet whereas inviting people to the true faith is of secondary significance, (For further details see Ta Ha 20: 44-52; al-Zukhruf 43: 46-56; and al-Muzzammil 73: 15-16.)
Ayah 10:7775.In view of the apparent similarity between sorcery and miracle the Israelites hastily branded Moses (peace be on him) a sorcerer. In relegating Moses to the role of a sorcerer, however, these simpletons ignored the fact that the character and conduct as well as the motives underlying the activity of sorcerers are entirely different from those of the Prophets. Is it consistent with the known character of a sorcerer that he should fearlessly make his way to the court of a tyrant, reproach him for his error, and summon him to exclusively devote himself to God and to strive for his self-purification? What would rather seem to be consistent with the character of a sorcerer is that if he had gained access to the courtiers he would have gone about flattering them, soliciting their help in securing an opportunity to show his tricks. And if ever he succeeded in Finding his way to the royal court, he would probably have resorted to flattery in an even more abject and dishonourable manner, would have made himself hoarse in publicly praying for the long life and abiding glory of the ruler, and would then have humbly pleaded that he might be allowed to perform his show. And once the show was over, he would have disgracefully stretched forth his hands in the style of a beggar, entreating for an appropriate award.
All this has been condensed into the succinct statement that 'sorcerers never come to a happy end'.
Ayahs 10:78–8076.Had the sole demand of Moses and Aaron (peace be on him) been the liberation of the Israelites, Pharaoh and his courtiers would not have suspected that the spread of these Prophets' message would transform the religion of the land and that the supremacy of Pharaoh and his courtiers would be undermined. What made them uneasy was the fact that Prophet Moses (peace be on him) was inviting the people of Egypt to the true faith and that this posed a threat to the whole polytheistic way of life which was the very cornerstone of the predominance of Pharaoh and his chiefs and clergy. (For further details see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, al-A'raf7, n. 44 and al-Mu'min 40, n. 43 -Ed.)
Ayahs 10:81–8277. What Moses (peace be on him) presented before the court was no sorcery; rather it was the sorcerers who had made a show of their tricks of sorcery.
Ayah 10:8378. The word dhurriyah used in this verse literally means 'offspring'. We have, however, rendered this into English as 'a few youths'. We have preferred this translation because the Qur'an employed this particular expression so as to convey the idea that it was a few youths - male and female - who had the courage of their convictions to embrace and champion the truth in those perilous times whereas their parents and the more elderly members of the community were unable to do so. The older segment of the population was too deeply concerned with its materialistic interests, too engrossed in worldliness and too eager to enjoy a life of security to stand by the truth when that seemed to invite all kinds of peril. On the contrary, this older generation tried to persuade the young ones to stay away from Moses for the simple reason that it would invite the wrath of Pharaoh upon themselves and upon others.
The Qur'an underscores this point, for once again those who came forward and courageously supported the Prophet (peace be on him) were not the elderly. They were rather a few courageous Makkan youths. Those who embraced Islam at this very early period in its history - the period of revelation of these verses - and who supported the message of truth despite fierce persecution, were all young people. This group was altogether bereft of the aged doters of a life free of peril and hazard. 'Ali ibn abi Talib, Ja'far ibn al-'Aqil, Zubayr, Talhah, Sa'd ibn abi Waqqas, Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr, 'Abd
Allah ibn Mas'ud were all young people and each one of them, at the time of embracing Islam, was under twenty. Likewise, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Awf, Bilal and Suhayb were all in their twenties while Abu 'Ubaydah ibn al-Jarrah, Zayd ibn Harithah, 'Uthman ibn 'Affan and 'Umar ibn al-Khattab were between thirty and thirty-five years of age. The oldest among these Companions was Abu Bakr. and when he embraced Islam he too was no older than thirty-eight. 'Ammar ibn Yasir was the same age as the Prophet (peace be on him), and only one Companion, 'Ubaydah ibn Harith al-Muttalibi was older than he.
79. The words which occur in the present verse have given rise to the misunderstanding that all the Israelites were unbelievers, and that in the early phases of Moses' 'prophethood' only a very few persons were believers. The use of the preposition when applied to signifies 'to obey and follow someone'. What these words, therefore, mean is that except for a few young people none in the whole nation of Israel was prepared to accept Moses as his leader, to follow him and support him in his Islamic mission. The part of the verse which follows makes it quite clear that this was not because they had any doubts about the veracity of Moses (peace be on him) or about the truth of his mission. The only reason for them not joining hands with him was that they - especially their elders and nobles - were unwilling to risk Pharaoh's fierce persecution.
These people both in terms of pedigree and faith, belonged to the ummah of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph (peace be on them) and were, therefore, Muslims. Yet the long subjugation of the Israelites had created such moral degeneration and faint-heartedness among them that they had been rendered altogether incapable of championing the cause of faith and truth or of opposing falsehood and unbelief, or even supporting those who had set out to champion that cause. The overall attitude of the Israelites during the whole of this conflict between Moses and Pharaoh may be gauged by the following statement in the Bible:
They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came forth from Pharaoh; and they said to them, 'The Lord look upon you and judge, because you have made us offensive in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us' (Exodus 5: 20-1).
According to the Talmud, the Israelites used to tell the Prophets Moses and Aaron (peace be on them): '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' (H. Polano, The Talmud Selections, p. 152).
The Qur'an also refers to much the same when it mentions what the Israelites said to Prophet Moses (peace he on him): We were oppressed before your coming to us and after it (al-A'raf 7: 129).
80. The word which has been used here signifies transgressors, those who exceed the limits. But this literal translation hardly conveys the true spirit of the wored. For it has been used to refer to those who, in order to achieve their objectives, are not deterred from using any means, howsoever evil they may be. Such people do not mind committing injustice, or indulging in acts of moral turpitude. They are also wont to go to any extent in pursuing their desires. Once they have something in mind, they simply know no bounds.
Ayah 10:8481. Such an address could, obviously, not be directed to a community of unbelievers. The Prophet Moses' statement makes it absolutely clear that the Israelites of those days were believers. Accordingly, Moses; (peace be on him) exhorted them not to be unnerved by Pharaoh's might, that they put their trust in God's power if indeed they were true believers as they claimed,
Ayahs 10:85–8682. This was the reply of the youths who came forward to support Moses (peace be on him). It is evident from the context that the ones who said: 'We place our reliance on Allah' were not the 'wrong-doing folk' [mentioned in the present verse] but the 'youths' [mentioned in verse 83 above].
83. The supplication of these devout youths: 'Our Lord! Do not make us a trial for the oppressors', covers a very wide range of meanings. Whenever a people rise to establish the truth in the midst of prevalent falsehood, they encounter oppressors of all sorts. On the one hand, there are protagonists of falsehood who would like to crush the standard-bearers of the truth with all the force at their disposal. There is also a sizeable group of people who claim to champion the truth but who, despite their claim to be its devotees, are so cowed by the all-round supremacy of falsehood that they look upon the struggle to make the truth prevail as an unnecessary, futile and absurd pursuit. Such people are inclined, in order to somehow justify their insincerity to the cause of the truth, to prove that those who are engaged in the struggle to make the truth prevail are in fact in error. By so doing they seek to calm the uneasiness felt by their conscience concerning the desirability of struggling for the cause of the truth. Over and above all these are the common people who observe, as silent spectators, the encounter between truth and falsehood, and ultimately support the party which appears to be winning regardless of what aspect that party supports.
In this scenario, every reverse that the votaries of the truth suffer, every affliction or hardship that they endure, any mistake that they commit, and any weakness that they show becomes a cause of trial for all these groups. If the votaries of the truth are crushed or defeated, the protagonists of falsehood jubilantly claim that it was they, rather than those whom they opposed, who were in the right. The lukewarm supporters of the truth would cry: 'Look! Did we not foretell that the conflict with such mighty forces would merely result in a loss of many precious lives, that it would be an act of sheer self-destruction, an act of wanton suicide, which has not been made incumbent on us by the Law of God. So far as the fundamental requirements of faith are concerned, they are being fulfilled by the performance of basic religious duties and rituals. As for the rulers, however oppressive they may be, they did not prevent them from performing those duties.' As for the masses, their attitude is that the truth is known by the fact that it achieves victory. Hence, if a group comes forth as triumphant, the fact of its triumph proves that it was in the right. Similarly, if in the course of a struggle, the protagonists of the truth commit any lapse or betray any weakness in the face of heavy odds, or if even a single person succumbs to any act of immorality, this provides a good many opponents with a pretext to cling to falsehood. If the struggle meets with failure, people are so wont to lose heart that it becomes extremely difficult for any similar movement to rise for a very long time. Viewed against this background, the prayer of the companions of Moses (peace be on him) appears very meaningful: 'Our Lord! Do not make us a trial for the oppressors.' This prayer sought from God His grace that would protect them from their shortcomings and weaknesses, and would render their struggle successful in this world in order that their very existence might become a blessing for fellow human beings rather than a means, in the hands of oppressors, to inflict harm.
Ayah 10:8784. The Qur'an-commentators disagree about the meaning of this verse. After carefully considering the actual words of the verse and reflecting over the context in which these words were said, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps because of the oppression prevailing in Egypt, and because the faith of the Israelites had become quite weak, congregational prayer had become defunct among both the Israeli and Egyptian Muslims, The abandonment of congregational prayer was a major cause of the disintegration of their collective entity and the virtual extinction of their religious life. That is why Moses (peace be on him) was directed to re-establish congregational prayer and to construct or acquire a few houses in Egypt specifically for that purpose.
The author's expression 'Egyptian Muslims' denotes those Egyptians who had embraced the faith of the Prophets, the faith of Moses (peace be on him) - Ed.
The reason for such a directive is that when a group of Muslims falls prey to degeneration and dissolution, the necessary effort to revive their religious spirit and to restore their shattered integrity, if it is to conform to a truly Islamic pattern, must begin with the revival of congregational prayer.
The directive to 'make your houses a direction for men to pray' suggests, in my opinion, that these prayer-houses should become pivotal points for the entire people. That the directive to 'establish Prayer' immediately follows this statement means that rather than offer Prayer at different places, they should congregate in the houses set aside for Prayer and perform it collectively. For certainly one of the implications of the expression 'to establish Prayer' which frequently occurs in the Qur'an, is its observance in congregation.
85. Moses (peace be on him) was directed to banish those feelings of despair, awe and dismay which had seized the believers. To 'give glad tidings' encompasses the whole range required by this task.