Surah al-A`raf (The Elevated Places) 7 : 104

Explanatory Note

This opening of the story represents a particular Qur’ānic method of relating historical accounts. It is certainly the most appropriate method for this sūrah, because it fits in well with itscentral theme. It tells us the outcome right at the beginning. It then moves on to give the details, so that we may follow the events right up to their conclusion. What happened, then, between Moses and Pharaoh?
 
Here is the first encounter between truth and falsehood, faith and rejection. It is a scene which brings the Messenger, who calls on people to believe in the Lord of all the worlds, face to face with the tyrants who claim, and indeed practise, lordship over their people.
 
Moses reasserts the fact stated by every messenger that preceded him. It is the fact that God is the only Lord of the universe: just one God and one Lord, and total submission by the whole universe to Him alone. This is contrary to what is advanced by `comparative religion’ specialists and their disciples who grope in the dark as they make their claims about the development of religion, making no provision for the messages given by God to all His messengers. The faith preached by all those messengers is the same, repeated by every single one of them, stating that God is the Lord of all the worlds. This faith has not developed from a primitive pagan one which believed in numerous deities, progressing then to dualism, before eventually reaching its highest form of belief in one god. For when people deviate from divine faith and sink into a state of ignorance, or jāhiliyyah, there is no end to chaos. They then have a multitude of erring beliefs, ranging from the worship of totems, spirits, multiple gods to the worship of the sun and stars, to dualism, and to a monotheism that retains traces of paganism. No such deviant form of belief could ever be placed on the same level as the divine messages which consistently preached clear monotheism.