Surah ash-Shu`ara' (The Poets ) 26 : 49

Overview (Verses 49 - 51)

Brute Force to Suppress Faith

We can then imagine the panic that affected Pharaoh and his nobles as they heard the sorcerers’ declaration and their profound, unshakeable belief in God, before whom they now prostrated themselves. Enraged, Pharaoh issued a clear warning that he would inflict all sorts of punishment upon the sorcerers. He further accused them of conspiring with Moses against him and the Egyptian people: [Pharaoh] said: You believe in him even before I have given you permission! Surely, this one must be your master who has taught you witchcraft! But in time you shall come to know. I shall most certainly have your hands and feet cut off on alternate sides, and I shall most certainly crucify you all. (Verse 49) The Qur’ānic text places special emphasis on Pharaoh’s first words, “you believe in him even before I have given you permission,” so as to highlight the surrender to Moses without first obtaining Pharaoh’s permission. Thus, he accuses them of a purposeful conspiracy in which they willingly participated, knowing full well its outcome. He could not appreciate what had touched their hearts. How could a tyrant feel the effect of faith on people’s minds and hearts? He then delivered his hasty accusation to explain their transformation: “Surely, this one must be your master who has taught you witchcraft!” (Verse 49) This is a very strange accusation which defies explanation unless one says that some of these priest sorcerers — since the religion that made Pharaoh a deity relied on magic-practising priests — attended to Moses’ education given he was brought up in Pharaoh’s palace, or that he might have attended them in their temples. Hence, Pharaoh manipulates this distant relation, turning it on its head. Thus, instead of saying that Moses was their disciple, he says he was their master; this to make the situation look even more horrendous. Pharaoh then threatens them with torture, magnifying what punishment he will inflict on those believers: “In time you shall come to know. I shall most certainly have your hands and feet cut off on alternate sides, and I shall most certainly crucify you all.” (Verse 49) These are the same stupid measures to which every tyrant resorts when he feels his position or life threatened. Furthermore, Pharaoh displays no compunction about it. He utters his words knowing that in his position of absolute power he can carry out his threats to the letter. What, then, would this small group of believers who have just seen the light of faith say in reply?

What they say is indeed inspiring. Their reply comes from their hearts: they have found true faith and will not exchange it for anything else. They realize that their newly-found relation with God enables them to totally disregard tyrant’. They now aspire to the true life of the hereafter, paying no heed whatsoever to what they may have to face in this life: “They said: No harm [can you cause us]. To our Lord we shall indeed return. We certainly hope that our Lord will forgive us our sins, since we are the first who have believed.” (Verses 50-51) ‘You can cause us no harm!’ That you may be able to cut our hands and feet off on alternate sides, or that you may crucify us does not mean that you can harm us. Indeed, even if you kill us all, you will not harm us, because we will return to our Lord. Whatever happens on this earth will end here. Our hopes and aspirations are all centred on what will happen in the life to come where we “certainly hope that our Lord will forgive us our sins, since we are the first who have believed.” What splendid effect faith has on a believer’s mind, and how it brightens his soul, pouring reassurance and contentedness on it. Thus man, who originates from an essence of clay can attain the sublime. When faith settles in the heart, it enriches it to the extent that all that this world can offer seems trivial and worthless.

Here, the curtains fall to retain both the effect of this splendid scene and its majestic rhythm. It is given here in this way so as to make it a lesson to be fully appreciated by the new Muslims in Makkah as they faced the Quraysh unbelievers’ torture and persecution. It remains a lesson to all advocates of faith as they suffer persecution anywhere and in every generation.