Verses 131–137
7. Al-A'raaf · The Heights
Makkan206 verses
فَإِذَا جَآءَتْهُمُ ٱلْحَسَنَةُ قَالُوا۟ لَنَا هَٰذِهِۦ ۖ وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ سَيِّئَةٌۭ يَطَّيَّرُوا۟ بِمُوسَىٰ وَمَن مَّعَهُۥٓ ۗ أَلَآ إِنَّمَا طَٰٓئِرُهُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
7:131But whenever any good came to them, they would say, ‘This is our due.’ And if any ill visited them, they took it for ill omens attending Moses and those who were with him. (Look! Indeed the cause of their ill omens is from Allah, but most of them do not know.)1
وَقَالُوا۟ مَهْمَا تَأْتِنَا بِهِۦ مِنْ ءَايَةٍۢ لِّتَسْحَرَنَا بِهَا فَمَا نَحْنُ لَكَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ
7:132And they said, ‘Whatever sign you may bring us to bewitch us, we are not going to believe you.’
فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلطُّوفَانَ وَٱلْجَرَادَ وَٱلْقُمَّلَ وَٱلضَّفَادِعَ وَٱلدَّمَ ءَايَٰتٍۢ مُّفَصَّلَٰتٍۢ فَٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ وَكَانُوا۟ قَوْمًۭا مُّجْرِمِينَ
7:133So We sent against them a flood and locusts, lice, frogs and blood, as distinct signs. But they acted arrogantly, and they were a guilty lot.2
وَلَمَّا وَقَعَ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلرِّجْزُ قَالُوا۟ يَٰمُوسَى ٱدْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ بِمَا عَهِدَ عِندَكَ ۖ لَئِن كَشَفْتَ عَنَّا ٱلرِّجْزَ لَنُؤْمِنَنَّ لَكَ وَلَنُرْسِلَنَّ مَعَكَ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ
7:134Whenever a plague fell upon them, they would say, ‘O Moses, invoke your Lord for us by the covenant He has made with you. If you remove the plague from us, we will certainly believe in you and let the Children of Israel go along with you.’
فَلَمَّا كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمُ ٱلرِّجْزَ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍ هُم بَٰلِغُوهُ إِذَا هُمْ يَنكُثُونَ
7:135But when We had removed the plague from them until a term that they should have completed, behold, they broke their promise.
فَٱنتَقَمْنَا مِنْهُمْ فَأَغْرَقْنَٰهُمْ فِى ٱلْيَمِّ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا وَكَانُوا۟ عَنْهَا غَٰفِلِينَ
7:136So We took vengeance on them and drowned them in the sea, for they denied Our signs and were oblivious to them.
وَأَوْرَثْنَا ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَانُوا۟ يُسْتَضْعَفُونَ مَشَٰرِقَ ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَغَٰرِبَهَا ٱلَّتِى بَٰرَكْنَا فِيهَا ۖ وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ عَلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ بِمَا صَبَرُوا۟ ۖ وَدَمَّرْنَا مَا كَانَ يَصْنَعُ فِرْعَوْنُ وَقَوْمُهُۥ وَمَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْرِشُونَ
7:137We made the people who were abased the heirs to the east and west of the land which We had blessed, and your Lord’s best word [of promise] was fulfilled for the Children of Israel because of their patience, and We destroyed what Pharaoh and his people had built and what they used to erect.
Tafsir
Commentary on this passage
Verse 131
1.The mischief mongers were thinking that they were the relatives of Allah and think they have rights on goodness and when the wrath descends they say this happens because or the pious people. Though they know all the reasons and secrets only too well.
Verse 136
2.At first the morale of people was very high and they said they will not believe at any cost and when the wrath began, they promised they would accept faith if Allah would remove His wrath and when it happened again and again, they became over confident that they had deceived Allah. Then Allah, after completing His favour, started to take revenge and all of them drowned. After that Allah made a virtuous person owner of the east and west so that polytheists know that the tree of tyranny is never fertile and people of Allah become satisfied that there is a divinity that shapes our ends.
Footnotes
Explanations of words and phrases in these verses
- 1
There is Alif Laam on Al Hasana and Sayye’ah is a common noun. This shows that the goodness was continously sent and difficulties descended only once in a while.
- 2
Five types of punishments befell the people of Firon: A deluge that washed away the settlements, the locusts that devoured the corps, then came the lice that made life difficult for human beings and animals, then arrived frogs in such huge qualities that they even emerged from the nostrils of the people. Lastly all the water turned into blood, and they could not even quench their thirst. Yet they did not become believers.
Benefit
The system of divination from happenings and portends is an ancient custom though there is nothing to prove its correctness. It only has a psychological effect that such and such good omen gives encouragement and bad omen weaken resolves. It is probably for this that Islam has permitted the good faal and prohibited evil faal because a person becomes mentally discouraged and his resolve is powerless.