Surah Al-Isra (The Night Journey ) 17 : 100

Overview (Verses 100 - 104)

A Threat to Exterminate the Believers
 
Yet those who made such suggestions and demands as related in the sūrah were themselves misers. Had they been in charge of God’s grace, they would have held on to it, fearing to expend it. “Say: Had you possessed the treasures of my Lord’s mercy, you would have been tight-fisted for fear of spending them. For man has always been niggardly.” (Verse 100) This is an image of utter stinginess, because God’s grace encompasses everything. It will never be exhausted or diminished. Yet in their miserly attitude, they would have withheld God’s grace from His creation, had they been placed in charge of administering it.
 
Miracles do not initiate faith in hardened hearts. Moses, for example, was given nine such clear signs, but Pharaoh and his people denied them until they suffered God’s punishment. “To Moses We gave nine clear signs. Ask the Children of Israel [about what happened]. When he came to them, Pharaoh said to him, ‘Indeed, Moses, I think that you are bewitched. ‘[Moses] said, ‘You know full well that none other than the Lord of the heavens and the earth has revealed these eye-opening signs. Indeed, Pharaoh, I think that you are utterly lost.’ So he resolved to wipe them off the face of the earth, but We caused him and all those who were with him to drown. Then We said to the Children of Israel, Dwell in the land. When the promise of the Last Day shall come to pass, We will bring you all together.” (Verses 101-104) This part of the history of Moses and the Children of Israel is mentioned here because it fits with the context of the sūrah. It started by mentioning the Aqşā mosque in Jerusalem, and it then related a part of the history of the Israelites with Moses. This is followed by mentioning the hereafter when Pharaoh and his people will be brought forward. This also fits with the scene of the hereafter and the one showing the end of those who deny resurrection, mentioned a little earlier in the sūrah.
 
Moses’ nine clear signs to which the sūrah refers were his hand turning white, his staff, and the tests to which Pharaoh’s people were subjected, such as drought, shortage of fruit, floods, locusts, ants, frogs and blood. “Ask the Children of Israel’ about what happened. They were witnesses to what took place between Moses and Pharaoh: “When he came to them, Pharaoh said to him: Indeed, Moses, I think that you are bewitched.” (Verse 101) Thus the word of truth assigning divinity to God alone, and the call to abandon all injustice and tyranny cannot he uttered, according to the tyrant, except by someone bewitched, unable to realize the meaning of what he says. Indeed tyrants like Pharaoh cannot imagine that anyone in his right senses could ever adopt such an attitude or give expression to such demands.
 
Moses, on the other hand, realizes that his strength is based in the truth he preaches. His message stands out as a source of light. He is certain of God’s support and that He will inevitably punish the tyrants: “Moses said: ‘You know full well that none other than the Lord of the heavens and the earth has revealed these eye-opening signs. Indeed, Pharaoh, I think that you are utterly lost.” (Verse 102) Moses makes it clear to Pharaoh that his denial of the truth when he is fully aware that none other than God could have accomplished such clear signs will earn him a terrible punishment. These signs were clear for anyone who cared to look. They show the truth in full light, clear as the bright day. Yet Pharaoh chose to deny them all and deny God. Hence, divine justice will inflict on him a punishment that leaves him utterly ruined.
 
At this point, the tyrannical Pharaoh resorts to his own material force, threatening to wipe Moses and his followers off the face of the earth. Such is the method to which all tyrants resort when they are faced with the truth. But God’s will is triumphant. His law of punishing the oppressors and supporting the oppressed comes into force: “So he resolved to wipe them off the face of the earth, but We caused him and all those who were with him to drown. Then We said to the Children of Israel, Dwell in the land. When the promise of the Last Day shall come to pass, We will bring you all together.’” (Verses 103-104)
 
Thus was the end of those who denied the clear signs which were shown to them as evidence of the truth. God gave the land to the oppressed to rule. When they are in charge, their actions will be the basis of the judgement they have to face. At the beginning of the sūrah we were given a clear idea of their end. Here we are only told that both they and their enemies will be gathered together on the Day of Judgement: “When the promise of the Last Day shall come to pass, We will bring you all together.” (Verse 104)