Surah Taha, Ayah 49

The Conversation between Musa and Fir`awn

Allah, the Exalted, informs about Fir`awn that he said to Musa, in his rejection of the existence of a Supreme Maker and Creator, Who is the God of everything and his own Lord and Owner:

فَمَن رَّبُّكُمَا يمُوسَى

(Who then, O Musa, is the Lord of you two) meaning "Who is the one who called you forth and sent you For verily, I do not know him and I have not given you any god other than myself."

قَالَ رَبُّنَا الَّذِى أَعْطَى كُلَّ شَىءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى

((Musa) said: "Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.") `Ali bin Abi Talhah related that Ibn `Abbas said, "He is saying that He created a mate for everything." Ad-Dahhak said that Ibn `Abbas said, "He made the man a man, and the donkey a donkey and the sheep a sheep." Layth bin Abi Sulaym reported from Mujahid that he said, "He gave everything its form." Ibn Abi Najih said that Mujahid said, "He fashioned the creation of every moving creature." Sa`id bin Jubayr said concerning His statement,

أَعْطَى كُلَّ شَىءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى

((Who) gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.) "He gave each of His creatures what is suitable for its creation." Therefore, He did not give man the form of a wild beast, nor did He give wild beasts the form of the dog. Likewise, the dog's form is not like the sheep's. He also gave creature a suitable spouse, and He influenced everything towards that mate. There is no species of creation that is exactly like another species. They are different in their actions, their forms, their sustenance and their mating. Some of the scholars of Tafsir have said that this statement, "He gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright," is similar to Allah's statement,

وَالَّذِى قَدَّرَ فَهَدَى

(And Who has measured; and then guided.) 87:3 This means He measured out an ordained amount (of sustenance, actions, etc.) and then guided His creatures to it. He wrote the deeds, the appointed times of death and the provisions. Then, the creatures traverse upon that and they are not able to avoid it, nor are they able to abandon it. In this Ayah Musa is saying that our Lord is the One Who created the creation, measured out its ordainment and compelled the creatures to that which He wanted.

قَالَ فَمَا بَالُ الْقُرُونِ الاٍّولَى

((Fir`awn) said: "What about the generations of old") The most correct opinion concerning the meaning of this, is that when Musa informed Fir`awn that his Lord Who sent him is the One Who creates, sustains, ordains and guides, Fir`awn began to argue, using the previous generations as a proof. He was referring to those people of old who did not worship Allah. In other words, "If the matter is as you say, then what happened to those people They did not worship your Lord. Instead they worshipped other gods besides Him." Musa said to him, in response to this, that if they did not worship Allah, then Allah knows precisely what happened to them and He will give them just recompense for their deeds, as is written in Allah's Book (of decrees). This Book is called Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz (The Preserved Tablet) and it is the Book of Deeds.

لاَّ يَضِلُّ رَبِّى وَلاَ يَنسَى

(My Lord neither errs nor forgets.) This means that nothing eludes Him and He does not miss anything, whether it is small or great. He does not forget anything and His Most Exalted knowledge is described as encompassing everything. Blessed be He, the Exalted, the Most Holy and free of any imperfections. The knowledge that creatures have has two deficiencies. The first is that it does not completely encompass anything, and the second is that the creature is prone to forget after knowing. Therefore, Allah has declared Himself above such deficiencies.

Allah said,إِنَّنِي مَعَكُمَا أَسْمَعُ وَأَرَ‌ىٰ "I am surely with you both. I hear and I see." - 20:46) Here the word "with you" is used in the sense of divine help and support which human senses cannot perceive.

Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) called upon the Pharaoh to embrace the True Faith and also to deliver the Bani Isra'il from bondage

This shows that the prophets have the duty of guiding mankind towards their salvation as well as to liberate their people from worldly and economic bondages. Therefore, in this verse Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) is reminded of both these duties.

God created everything; and everything is performing the functions assigned to it by Him

Pharaoh was an extremely haughty and arrogant person. Having acquired power, he had started considering himself to be a god. So Moses feared that when the message of the real God was presented to him, he would flare up in anger. But God’s messengers are under His protection. So Moses was commanded to proceed and to be rest assured that Pharaoh, despite his great might and power, would not be able to do him any harm. The Israelites were monotheists like the Muslims. But, being in the midst of the polytheistic community of Egypt, they were badly affected by its polytheistic culture. Moreover, the rulers had subjected them to such privation and hard labour as to render them incapable of thinking about such higher realities as the oneness of God and the life hereafter. Therefore, Moses was instructed to remove the Israelites from this sphere and settle them elsewhere, so that they could be brought up and educated far away from this vitiating atmosphere of polytheism and ignorance.