7. Al-A'raaf

The verse 101 has contained the phrase تِلْكَ الْقُرَ‌ىٰ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ مِنْ أَنبَائِهَا "these are stories of the towns that We narrate to you." The word: نَبَا 'naba' in Arabic is used to denote some great news. With the word: مِن 'min' the verse has indicated that the events described in these verses are only some of a large number of events bearing the same lesson. The verse has further said, "And surely, their messengers came to them with clear signs, but they were not to believe in what they had belied earlier." It brings out their obstinate attitude towards the prophets who came to them with clear signs or miracles which are a definite means to decide between right and wrong but they obstinately rejected the truth, only because they had once belied them.

We know from this verse that miracles were given to all the prophets. The miracles of some prophets have been mentioned while the miracles of most of the prophets have not been referred to in the Holy Qur'an. This does not allow one to infer that the prophets not mentioned in the Qur'an were not given any miracles. As for the statement of the people of the prophet Hud (علیہ السلام) ، appearing in Surah Hud مَا جِئْتَنَا بِبَيِّنَةٍ "you did not bring any clear sign", this verse has clearly indicated that their statement was simply out of their obstinacy or, maybe they thought his miracles were of less significance.

Another point to be noted is that the present verse is speaking of the peculiarity of the disbelieving people who rigidly and obstinately followed the path of ignorance, only to prove that what they had once said was true, with no regard to all the clear signs and proofs of the truth. Most of the Muslims, even some 'Ulama' (the religious scholars) are seen to have the same habit of supporting their wrong statements in the face of clear proofs of the truth. This condition is a usual cause of incurring Allah's wrath. ('Masail al Suluk' )

Thereafter, the verse said كَذَٰلِكَ يَطْبَعُ اللَّـهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِ الْكَافِرِ‌ينَ "This is how Allah stamps upon the hearts of the disbelievers" that is, Allah seals the hearts of those who disbelieve and reject the truth, making them unable to accept good as good.

The verse 102 has said, "And We did not find with most of them any covenant (unbroken)." The Companion ` Abdullah ibn Abbas ؓ has said that the covenant referred to in this verse is the Covenant called . That is, the covenant that Allah made with the spirits of all the creatures before creating them, when Allah said to them: أَلَسْتُ بِرَ‌بِّكُمْ ''Am I not your Lord?" All the human spirits entered into a covenant by answering" Yes" to the question. Most of the people forgot this covenant after they came to earth, and got involved in worshipping false gods instead of worshipping Allah. The verse, therefore, has said that Allah did not find most of the people true to this covenant. (Tafsir Kabir)

The respected companion ` Abdullah ibn Masud ؓ عنہما has said that the covenant referred to in this verse is the covenant of 'Iman' the Faith as has been indicated in the Holy Qur'an in these words إِلَّا مَنِ اتَّخَذَ عِندَ الرَّ‌حْمَـٰنِ عَهْدًا "Except the one who entered into a covenant with Rahman (Allah), the covenant in this verse signifies the covenant of Faith. The verse, therefore, implies that most of the people deviated from their covenant with Allah. We usually note that nearly every individual when he finds himself trapped in some distress, no matter how sinful he is, turns to Allah and often makes a promise in words or in his heart that he will be faithful to Allah and obey Him and avoid disobedience if he is relieved from this calamity. But when they are out of the mess, they indulge in their mundane desires having no regard for their covenant with Allah.

The Holy Qur'an has made mention of many of such people. It may be noted that the verse has made exception by saying 'most of them' and not 'all of them'. It is because there are people who are so perverted that even in their distress they do not turn to Allah, and they do not think of making any promise with Allah, while there are others who fulfill their promise and stay obedient to Him. At the end, the verse has the phrase "We found most of them sinners." That is, most of the people deviate from their covenant of staying obedient to Allah.

The above verses have described five events of earlier people so that present people may learn lesson from them and avoid following the course of their forefathers that led them to disaster.

Of all the events of early people described in this chapter the next event is of prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) which has been described in some detail in the following verses because his miracles are larger in number and more prominent in their nature. Similarly, his people, the Israelite, were more obstinate and ignorant than other people of the world. In addition, these verses, 103-110 carry some injunctions and points of discussion.

The verse 103, has said that after the prophets Nuh, Hud, Salih, Lut and Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) ، We sent Musa with Our signs towards Pharaoh and his people. The 'signs' may refer to the verses of the Torah or to the miracles of the prophet Musa (علیہم السلام) . The word Pharaoh was the title of Egyptian kings. The Pharaoh of Musa's time is said to be Mernephtah. The phrase فَظَلَمُوا بِهَا ''they did injustice to them (signs) " here means that they showed indifference to the verses of Allah, instead of being grateful to Him and having faith in them they rejected His verses. The word ظلم rendered as wrong or injustice, in fact, signifies the use of something for a purpose opposite to what it was created for. Further it said فَانظُرْ‌ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُفْسِدِينَ "So look how was the fate of mischief-makers." Again the people are invited to take lesson from these events and think of their own fate.

The verse is a clear declaration of the prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) before Pharaoh that he was a messenger of Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, and that his status of prophethood does not allow him to ascribe anything but truth to Allah because the message given to the prophets by Allah is a sacred trust and it is a great sin to tamper with it. All the prophets of Allah are free of all sins and cannot do so. The prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) tried to convince them that they should believe him because his truthfulness was beyond question and that he had never uttered a word of lie. In addition to this, his miracles are a clear proof to support his claim to prophethood.

In the light of these clear signs he must believe him and let the children of Isra'il go with him free of his illegitimate surveillance.

The prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) in response to his demand, threw down his staff on the earth, instantly it turned into a serpent: فَإِذَا هِيَ ثُعْبَانٌ مُّبِينٌ. The word 'thu` ban' in Arabic signifies a huge serpent. The use of the word 'mubin' as an adjective which means 'clear or prominent' is quite descriptive of the fact that this miraculous event took place manifestly before the eyes of the people of the Pharaoh, and it was not performed secretly in a hidden or secluded place as is usually done by magicians. In some historical traditions it has been cited on the authority of the Companion Ibn ` Abbas ؓ that as the serpent moved towards Pharaoh, he jumped from his throne and sought shelter near the prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) and many of his courtiers died of extreme fear. (Tafsir Kabir)

Transformation of the staff into a real serpent is not, in fact, totally impossible as it apparently seems. It is, however, surprising due to being unusual. The miracle has to be an unusual act, beyond the power of a common individual. Allah shows the miracles through His prophets to make people understand that they possess some divine powers and are true prophets of Allah.

Thereafter, the verse (7:108) said, وَنَزَعَ يَدَهُ فَإِذَا هِيَ بَيْضَاءُ لِلنَّاظِرِ‌ينَ 'And he drew out his hand, and it was white light to the onlookers.'

The Arabic word: نَزع naza` a signifies extracting something from another thing with force. Here this word indicates that the prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) applied some force while drawing out his hand. The verse does not speak of a place from where he drew out his hand. In other verses, however, we find mention of two things. In a verse (27:12) we find the words أَدْخِلْ يَدَكَ فِي جَيْبِكَ 'enter your hand under your robe.' The other verse (20:22) contains the words (وَاضْمُمْ يَدَكَ إِلَىٰ جَنَاحِكَ ) 'put your hand under your arm.' The two phrases indicate that he used to draw out his hand either from under his arm or from under his shirt. Arabic word: بَيْضَاءُ 'bay’ da' means white. The whiteness of hand may also be due to some disease, it is perhaps, why the Holy Qur'an has added the words 'without an evil' in other (28:32, 27:12) verse to eliminate any possible doubt of a disease. We know from a Tradition reported by the Companion ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ that this whiteness was not of ordinary kind. It had light that illuminated the whole surrounding. (Qurtubi) The Arabic word 'nazirin' signifying the 'onlookers or viewers' indicates that this light was so surprising for the people that they gathered to see it.

The prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) performed two miracles at this occasion on the demand of the Pharaoh. First, the transformation of his staff into a serpent, second, drawing his hand out from under his arm, emanating light from it. The first was to serve as warning for the unbelievers while the second aimed at inviting them to the truth. It also indicated that the message of the prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) was a light and to follow it would lead people to eternal success.

The Arabic word 'Mala" is used for influential chiefs. After seeing these miracles they said to the people he was a great sorcerer. Being ignorant of divine powers of Allah they could say nothing else as they believed Pharaoh to be their god and had seen nothing but the magical charms of the sorcerers in their life. They, however, added the word "alim' signifying the one who knows, showing their impression that the miraculous acts of Musa (علیہ السلام) were of the kind that could not be performed by an ordinary magician. So, they said that he was a sorcerer of great knowledge.

The difference between miracle and sorcery

The miracles and sorcery are so distinct in their nature and effect that they do not require any explanation to any one applying common sense. The sorcerers usually live in impurity and, the more they are unclean and impure the more they are successful in their sorcery. The prophets, on the other hand, are by nature the most clean and pure people. Another obvious distinction is that a sorcerer is never successful when he makes claim to prophethood. Besides, the acts performed under the effect of sorcery do have physical causes as other things have, with the only difference that their causes remain hidden to common people. The people, therefore, take them to be happening without the help of any cause. On the contrary, the miracles are directly a manifestation of Allah's power and have nothing to do with physical causes. This is why the miracles have been ascribed directly to Allah and not to the prophets in the Holy Qur'an. The Qur'an said "but Allah threw the pebbles" (while these pebbles were thrown by the Holy Prophet ﷺ in the battle of Badr) In short, the miracles and sorcery are totally different from each other. The people of knowledge have no confusion about it. In order to eliminate any possible confusion of a common individual, Allah has provided with obvious distinctions between the two.

Even the people of the Pharaoh found the miracles of the prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) somehow different from the normal acts of sorcerers. Therefore, even while accusing him of sorcery they admitted that he was 'of great knowledge' meaning that his act was not comparable with the acts of the normal sorcerers.

The Arabic word 'Mala" is used for influential chiefs. After seeing these miracles they said to the people he was a great sorcerer. Being ignorant of divine powers of Allah they could say nothing else as they believed Pharaoh to be their god and had seen nothing but the magical charms of the sorcerers in their life. They, however, added the word "alim' signifying the one who knows, showing their impression that the miraculous acts of Musa (علیہ السلام) were of the kind that could not be performed by an ordinary magician. So, they said that he was a sorcerer of great knowledge.

The difference between miracle and sorcery

The miracles and sorcery are so distinct in their nature and effect that they do not require any explanation to any one applying common sense. The sorcerers usually live in impurity and, the more they are unclean and impure the more they are successful in their sorcery. The prophets, on the other hand, are by nature the most clean and pure people. Another obvious distinction is that a sorcerer is never successful when he makes claim to prophethood. Besides, the acts performed under the effect of sorcery do have physical causes as other things have, with the only difference that their causes remain hidden to common people. The people, therefore, take them to be happening without the help of any cause. On the contrary, the miracles are directly a manifestation of Allah's power and have nothing to do with physical causes. This is why the miracles have been ascribed directly to Allah and not to the prophets in the Holy Qur'an. The Qur'an said "but Allah threw the pebbles" (while these pebbles were thrown by the Holy Prophet ﷺ in the battle of Badr) In short, the miracles and sorcery are totally different from each other. The people of knowledge have no confusion about it. In order to eliminate any possible confusion of a common individual, Allah has provided with obvious distinctions between the two.

Even the people of the Pharaoh found the miracles of the prophet Musa (علیہ السلام) somehow different from the normal acts of sorcerers. Therefore, even while accusing him of sorcery they admitted that he was 'of great knowledge' meaning that his act was not comparable with the acts of the normal sorcerers.