“And Pharaoh said, ‘Leave me to kill Moses, and let him call upon his Lord. Indeed, I fear that he will change your religion or cause corruption to appear in the land.’” (26)

“This”—that is, the punishment that befell them—was because their messengers had come to them with clear proofs, but they disbelieved, so Allah seized them. Indeed, He is All-Strong, severe in punishment.

Regarding His saying, Exalted is He: “We certainly sent Moses with Our signs and clear authority, to Pharaoh, Haman, and Korah; but they said, ‘He is a lying sorcerer.’ When he came to them with the truth from Us, they said”—meaning Pharaoh and his people—“Kill the sons of those who believe with him.” Qatadah said: “This was other than the first killing, for Pharaoh had ceased killing the children. Then, when Moses was sent, he resumed killing them. Thus, its meaning is: Resume killing them.” (1) “And spare their women,” so as to deter them thereby from following and supporting Moses. “Yet the scheming of the disbelievers”—that is, the plotting, stratagems, and intrigues of Pharaoh and his people—“is only in vain”: their scheming comes to nothing, while what Allah wills for them befalls them.

“And Pharaoh said” to his chiefs, “Leave me to kill Moses.” He said this because there were among Pharaoh’s own people those who prevented him from killing Moses, fearing destruction. “And let him call upon his Lord”—that is, let Moses call upon the Lord whom he claims sent him to us, so that He may protect him from us. “Indeed, I fear that he will change”—that is, alter—“your religion,” which you follow, “or cause corruption to appear in the land.” Ya‘qub and the readers of Kufa recited it as: “or that corruption appear,” while the others recited: “and that corruption appear.” The readers of Medina and Basra, as well as Hafs, recited “cause to appear,” with a dammah on the ya and a kasrah on the ha, making it transitive; “corruption” is therefore in the accusative, corresponding to “change your religion,” so that the two verbs follow the same construction. The others recited it with the ya and ha in the fathah, making it intransitive; thus, “corruption” is in the nominative. By “corruption,” he meant changing the religion and worshipping other than Him.