and all good and evil are from Allah. Ibn ‘Abbas said: Their fate is what Allah decreed for them and ordained for them. Another report from him states: Their ill fortune is with Allah and comes from Allah—that is, the misfortune came upon them only because of their disbelief in Allah. It was also said that it means the tremendous misfortune awaiting them with Allah: the punishment of the Fire. “But most of them do not know” that what befell them was from Allah.

“And they said”—that is, the Copts said to Moses—“Whatever sign you bring us”: mahma is a word used for conditional statements and their consequences. “Whatever sign you bring us,” that is, whatever indication, “to bewitch us with it,” meaning, to turn us away from the religion we are following, “we will not believe in you,” that is, we will not accept you as truthful.

“So We sent against them the flood.” Ibn ‘Abbas ⦗135/b⦘, Sa‘id ibn Jubayr, Qatadah, and Muhammad ibn Ishaq said—their reports being interwoven with one another—that when the magicians believed and Pharaoh returned defeated, he and his people persisted in disbelief and continued in evil. So Allah sent them one sign after another and afflicted them with years of drought and a shortage of fruits. Then, after He had confronted them with the four signs—the staff, the hand, the years of drought, and the shortage of fruits—and they still refused to believe, Moses supplicated against them, saying: “My Lord, Your servant Pharaoh has exalted himself in the land; he has transgressed and rebelled. His people have broken Your covenant. My Lord, seize them with a punishment that You make a retribution for them, an admonition for my people, and a sign and lesson for those who come after them.”

So Allah sent against them the flood, which was water. Allah sent water upon them while the houses of the Children of Israel and the houses of the Copts stood intermingled and adjoining one another. Yet the houses of the Copts were filled, until they had to stand in water reaching their collarbones; whoever among them sat down drowned. Not a single drop of water entered the houses of the Children of Israel. The water remained over their land, and they were unable to plough or do any work. This lasted for them seven days, from one Saturday to the next.

Mujahid and ‘Ata’ said: The flood was death. Wahb said: In the language of Yemen, the flood means plague. Abu Qilabah said: It was smallpox, and they were the first people to be punished with it; thereafter it remained in the earth.

Muqatil said: The flood was water that overflowed their fields.

Ibn Zubyan narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas that he said: The flood was an affair from Allah that swept around them. He then recited: “Then a visitation from your Lord swept over it while they were asleep.” (Surah al-Qalam, 19)

The grammarians of Kufah said: tufan (flood) is a verbal noun that is not made plural, like preponderance and diminution.

The scholars of Basrah said: It is a plural noun, its singular being tufanah. So they said to Moses, “Call upon your Lord for us to remove the rain from us; then we will believe in you and send the Children of Israel with you.” Moses therefore called upon his Lord, and He removed the flood from them. In that year, Allah caused to grow for them pasture, crops, and fruits such as had never grown for them before, and their lands became fertile. They said, “This water was nothing but