Surah al-A`raf (The Elevated Places) 7 : 136
Translations
Pickthall
Yusuf Ali
Qur'an Dictionary
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(7:136:1) fa-intaqamnā So We took retribution |
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(7:136:2) |
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(7:136:3) fa-aghraqnāhum and We drowned them |
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(7:136:4) |
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(7:136:5) l-yami the sea |
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(7:136:6) |
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(7:136:7) kadhabū denied |
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(7:136:8) biāyātinā Our Signs |
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(7:136:9) wakānū and they were |
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(7:136:10) |
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(7:136:11) ghāfilīna heedless |
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Explanatory Note
Having given Pharaoh and his people every chance, and assigned for them a term which they were certain to reach, God destroyed Pharaoh and his clique. He also fulfilled His promise to the oppressed who remained patient in adversity.
The sūrah refers very briefly here to the drowning of Pharaoh and his people. The details are not given here in a relaxed pattern as they are given in other sūrahs. What happens here instead is to give an air of swift punishment after the unbelievers have had a long time to reconsider. Hence, the details are overlooked. The swiftness of the punishment has its effect which fills us with awe. “So We inflicted Our retribution on them, and caused them to drown in the sea.” (Verse 136) Just one strike and they are all destroyed. Proud, arrogant and despotic they certainly were, and suddenly they sink right to the bottom of the sea. It is certainly a fitting recompense, “Because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them.” (Verse 136) The compatibility is made clear between their attitude of denying God’s signs, choosing to remain heedless of them and this fitting destiny. We are clearly told that events do not come as a result of coincidence. They do not just happen haphazardly, as simple people tend to think.
3. Surah Overview
A study of its contents clearly shows that the period of its revelation is about the same as that of Surah 6: al-An’am (The Grazing Livestock), i.e. the last year of the Prophet's life at Makkah, but it cannot be asserted with certainty which of these two were sent down earlier. The manner of its admonition clearly indicates that it belongs to the same period. [Ref: Mawdudi]
It is considered the longest surah revealed during the Makkan period. Some consider this surah to have been revealed after Surah 38: Sad. [Ref: Tafsir al-Maudheei, Dr. Mustafah Muslim, vol. 3, p. 2]
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