“And remember when Moses said to his people, ‘Remember Allah’s favor upon you, when He saved you from Pharaoh’s people, who afflicted you with the worst torment, slaughtering your sons and sparing your women. And in that was a tremendous trial from your Lord. (6) And remember when your Lord proclaimed, “If you are grateful, I will surely increase you; but if you are ungrateful, indeed My punishment is severe.”’ (7)
“And remember when Moses said to his people, ‘Remember Allah’s favor upon you, when He saved you from Pharaoh’s people, who afflicted you with the worst torment, slaughtering your sons’” (1). Al-Farra’ said: The reason for the occurrence of the conjunction in “slaughtering your sons” is that Allah, Exalted is He, informed them that Pharaoh’s people used to torment them through various kinds of punishment besides slaughter, as well as through slaughter. Wherever the conjunction is omitted in “slaughtering” and “killing,” it is intended as an explanation of the torment that they used to inflict upon them. (2) “And sparing your women,” meaning, leaving them alive. “And in that was a tremendous trial from your Lord.” (3)
“And remember when your Lord proclaimed,” that is, made known. The verbs adh-dhana and ta’adh-dhana have the same meaning, as with aw‘ada and tawa‘‘ada, both meaning “he threatened,”
(1) Al-Tabari narrated from Ibn Uyaynah in his interpretation of this verse: “Allah’s favors among you and His days.”
(2) Al-Tabari further clarified this in his Tafsir (16:524): “The waw (and) was introduced here because the statement, ‘and they slaughtered your sons,’ is intended to convey that the people of Pharaoh were afflicting the Children of Israel with various kinds of punishment besides slaughter, as well as with slaughter itself. Elsewhere in the Quran, however, it occurs without the waw: ‘they inflicted upon you the worst torment, slaughtering your sons’ (al-Baqarah 2:49); and elsewhere: ‘they killed your sons’ (al-Araf 7:141). The waw was omitted in the passages where it is absent because ‘they slaughtered’ and ‘they killed’ are intended to explain the kinds of punishment that they inflicted upon them. This applies to every clause intended as an elaboration: it is expressed without the waw. If it is intended to be conjoined with something else, rather than to elaborate upon it, it is expressed with the waw.” See also Abu Jafar ibn Ibrahim ibn al-Zubayr al-Gharnati, Milak al-Tawil, ed. Dr. Mahmoud Kamil Ahmad, 1:53-57.
(3) Allah, Exalted is He, says that in the various punishments which the people of Pharaoh inflicted upon you there was a great bala (trial) from your Lord; that is, a great trial and test from your Lord. Bala in this context may mean a blessing, or it may mean the affliction of hardships that befalls people. See Tafsir al-Tabari, 16:525.