Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (2/36)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

as a cutting rebuke and a humiliating reproach hurled at that vile, reviled, ignoble wretch: “Taste it! You were indeed the mighty, the noble!” (Q 44:49)

From the tenor of these passages it is clear that Pharaoh—may Allah curse him—did crucify them and torture them. Ibn ʿAbbās and ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr said, “At the beginning of the day they were magicians; by the end of it they were righteous martyrs.” This is confirmed by their own supplication: “Our Lord, pour upon us patience and let us die as Muslims.”

***
Section

When that momentous event took place—the overwhelming defeat the Copts suffered in that awe-inspiring scene, and the submission of the very sorcerers whose help they had sought—it only increased them in disbelief, obstinacy, and estrangement from the truth. After relating the previous incidents, Allah the Exalted says in Sūrat al-Aʿrāf:

“The chiefs among Pharaoh’s people said, ‘Will you leave Moses and his people to spread corruption in the land and forsake you and your gods?’ He said, ‘We will kill their sons and spare their women; indeed, we are dominant over them.’ (7:127)

Moses said to his people, ‘Seek help from Allah and be patient. The earth belongs to Allah; He bequeaths it to whom He wills of His servants, and the final outcome is for the God-fearing.’ (7:128)

They said, ‘We were harmed before you came to us and after you came to us.’ He said, ‘Perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you successors in the land, then He will see how you act.’” (7:129)

Allah—exalted be He—relates that the chiefs among Pharaoh’s people, his princes and grandees, urged their king to harm the Prophet of Allah, Moses, responding to him not with belief but with denial, rejection, and persecution. They said, “Will you leave Moses and his people to spread corruption in the land and forsake you and your gods?”—meaning, may Allah disfigure them, that his call to worship Allah alone, without partner, and to forbid worship of anything else, constituted “corruption” in the creed of the Copts—may Allah curse them. Some of them also recited:

(1) al-manbūḥ literally “the one cursed,” used to mean “the one insulted.” The phrase “nabahatnī kilābuka” (“your dogs barked at me”) signifies “you heaped insults on me.” The word derives from nabaḥ (a dog’s bark), i.e. its cry (ṣiyāḥ). Source: al-Lisān. (2) In manuscript B: “al-āyāt” (the verses). (3) In manuscript T it reads “istanshirū rabbahum” (“they sought help from their Lord”), which is erroneous. Nāfiʿ and Ibn Kathīr read “sa-naqtulu” (“we shall kill”) with a softened qāf. See Ḥujjat al-Qirāʾāt, p. 294; Nashr, vol. 2, p. 271. (4) Abd al-Fattāḥ al-Qāḍī records in al-Qirāʾāt al-Shādhdha (p. 48) that al-Ḥasan and Ibn Muḥayṣin read wa-ilāhtaka with a kasra on the hamza (shortened), a fatḥa on the lām, and an alif afterward. Some explain it as a maṣdar (verbal noun) meaning “worship,” i.e. “He entrusts His worship to you”; others take it as a maṣdar in the accusative sense, “He leaves the deity whom you worship.” The same variant appears in Shawaḏd Ibn Khālwīya (45) and al-Ṭabarī’s Tafsīr (9/17). He concludes that the only acceptable reading is that preserved by the canonical muṣḥaf readers (qurrāʾ al-amṣār), whose consensus constitutes decisive evidence.

وجه التقريع والتوبيخ، وهو المقبوح المنبوح (١) الذَّميم اللَّئيم: ﴿ذُقْ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْكَرِيمُ﴾ [الدخان: ٤٩] . والظّاهر من هذه السياقات (٢) أن فرعون لعنه الله، صلبهم وعذَّبهم، (رضي الله عنها) . قال عبد الله بن عباس، وعُبيد بن عُمير: كانوا من أوّل النّهار سَحَرة فصاروا من آخره شهداء بَرَرة. ويؤيّد هذا قولهم: ﴿رَبَّنَا أَفْرِغْ عَلَيْنَا صَبْرًا وَتَوَفَّنَا مُسْلِمِينَ﴾. * * * فصل ولمَّا وقع ما وقع من الأمر العظيم، وهو الغَلَبُ الذي غُلِبَتْهُ القِبط في ذلك الموقف الهائل، وأسلم السَّحَرة الذين استنصروا بهم (٣) ، لم يزِدْهم ذلك إلا كُفرًا وعِنادًا وبُعدًا عن الحق. قال الله تعالى بعد قَصَصِ ما تقدَّم في سورة الأعراف: ﴿وَقَالَ الْمَلَأُ مِنْ قَوْمِ فِرْعَوْنَ أَتَذَرُ مُوسَى وَقَوْمَهُ لِيُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَيَذَرَكَ وَآلِهَتَكَ قَالَ سَنُقَتِّلُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ وَنَسْتَحْيِي نِسَاءَهُمْ وَإِنَّا فَوْقَهُمْ قَاهِرُونَ (١٢٧) قَالَ مُوسَى لِقَوْمِهِ اسْتَعِينُوا بِاللَّهِ وَاصْبِرُوا إِنَّ الْأَرْضَ لِلَّهِ يُورِثُهَا مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ (١٢٨) قَالُوا أُوذِينَا مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَأْتِيَنَا وَمِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جِئْتَنَا قَالَ عَسَى رَبُّكُمْ أَنْ يُهْلِكَ عَدُوَّكُمْ وَيَسْتَخْلِفَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنْظُرَ كَيْفَ تَعْمَلُونَ﴾ [الآيات: ١٢٧ - ١٢٩] . يخبر (سبحانه وتعالى) عَنِ الملأ من قوم فرعون، وهم الأمراء والكبراء، أنّهم حَرَّضوا ملِكهم فرعون على أذيّة نبى الله موسى (عليه السلام) ، ومقابلته بدل التصديق بما جاء به بالكفر والردِّ والأذى فقالوا: ﴿أَتَذَرُ مُوسَى وَقَوْمَهُ لِيُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَيَذَرَكَ وَآلِهَتَكَ﴾ يعنون -قَبَّحهم اللهُ- أن دعوته إلى عبادة الله وحده لا شريك له، والنهيَ عن عبادة ما سواه، فسادٌ بالنسبة إلى اعتقاد القِبط، لعنهم الله. وقرأ بعضهم (٤) :

(١) المنبوح: المشتوم. يقال: نبحتني كلابك: أي لحقتني شتائمك. وأصلِه من نباح الكلب، وهو صياحه. اللسان. (٢) في ب: الآيات. (٣) في ط: استنصروا ربهم. وهو خطأ. وقراءة نافع وابن كثير: ﴿سَنَقْتُلُ﴾ بالتخفيف. حجة القراءات: (٢٩٤) والنشر (٢/ ٢٧١). (٤) قال عبد الفتاح القاضي في القراءات الشاذة (ص ٤٨): وقرأ الحسنَ وابن محيصن: ﴿وإلهتك﴾، بكسر الهمزة وقصرها وفتح اللام وألف بعدها، فقيل: إنه مصدر بمعنى العبادة مضاف لمفعوله، أي: ويترك عبادته لك، وقيل: مصدر أريد به المفعول، أي: ويترك المعبود الذي تعبده. وكذا في: شواذ ابن خالويه (٤٥)، وتفسير الطبري (٩/ ١٧)، وفيه: والقراءة التي لا نرى القراءة بغيرها هي القراءة التي عليها قرّاء الأمصار، لاجماع الحجة من القرّاء عليها.