Tafsir al-Sadi - Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi’ - (506)

Tafsir al-SadiAbd al-Rahman al-Sadi’

“Indeed, it has been revealed to us”—that is, this is a report from Allah, not something originating from ourselves—“that punishment will befall whoever denies and turns away”; that is, whoever denies the reports of Allah and His messengers and turns away from submitting to them and following them. This encourages Pharaoh to believe, affirm the truth, and follow the two messengers, while warning him against the opposite. Yet this admonition and reminder did not benefit him: he denied his Lord, disbelieved, and disputed the matter wrongfully and obstinately.

⦗507⦘

⦗49–55⦘ “He said, ‘Who, then, is the Lord of you two, O Moses?’ * He said, ‘Our Lord is He who gave each thing its form and then guided it.’ * He said, ‘What, then, of the former generations?’”

That is, Pharaoh asked Moses in denial, “Who, then, is the Lord of you two, O Moses?” Moses gave him a clear, sufficient, and conclusive answer: “Our Lord is He who gave each thing its form and then guided it.” That is, our Lord is the One who created every creature and gave each one the form suited to it—a form demonstrating the excellence of His workmanship in creating it, whether in the largeness, smallness, or intermediate size of its body, and in all its other attributes. “Then guided it”: He guided every creature toward the purpose for which it was created. This universal guidance (1), observable in all creatures, means that every creature can be seen pursuing the benefits for which it was created and warding off harm from itself. Allah Most High has even endowed beasts with enough intelligence to enable them (2) to do so.

This is like His statement Most High: “Who perfected everything He created.” Thus, the One who created all creatures, gave them their excellent forms—whose perfection no intellect could propose surpassing—and guided them to what serves their welfare is the Lord in truth. To deny Him is to deny the greatest reality in existence; it is a willful denial of the obvious and an open avowal of falsehood. Even if one were to suppose that a person denied any number of established facts, his denial of the Lord of the worlds would be graver than all of that. Therefore, when Pharaoh could not obstinately oppose this decisive proof, he resorted to quibbling and veered away from the point, asking Moses, “What, then, of the former generations?” That is: What was their condition, and what became of them? How did they fare, given that they preceded us in denial, disbelief, wrongdoing, and obstinacy, and do they provide us with a precedent? Moses replied:

(1) In B: “complete.” (2) Thus in B; A reads: *mā tatamakkan* (“by which it is able”).

﴿إِنَّا قَدْ أُوحِيَ إِلَيْنَا﴾ أي خبر من عند الله لا من عند أنفسنا ﴿أَنَّ الْعَذَابَ عَلَى مَنْ كَذَّبَ وَتَوَلَّى﴾ أي كذب بأخبار الله وأخبار رسله وتولى عن الانقياد لهم واتباعهم وهذا فيه الترغيب لفرعون بالإيمان والتصديق واتباعهما والترهيب من ضد ذلك ولكن لم يفد فيه هذا الوعظ والتذكير فأنكر ربه وكفر وجادل في ذلك ظلما وعنادا ⦗٥٠٧⦘ ﴿٤٩ - ٥٥﴾ ﴿قَالَ فَمَنْ رَبُّكُمَا يَا مُوسَى * قَالَ رَبُّنَا الَّذِي أَعْطَى كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى * قَالَ فَمَا بَالُ الْقُرُونِ الأولَى﴾ . أي: قال فرعون لموسى على وجه الإنكار: ﴿فَمَنْ رَبُّكُمَا يَا مُوسَى﴾ فأجاب موسى بجواب شاف كاف واضح، فقال: ﴿رَبُّنَا الَّذِي أَعْطَى كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى﴾ أي: ربنا الذي خلق جميع المخلوقات، وأعطى كل مخلوق خلقه اللائق به، الدال على حسن صنعه من خلقه، من كبر الجسم وصغره وتوسطه، وجميع صفاته، ﴿ثُمَّ هَدَى﴾ كل مخلوق إلى ما خلقه له، وهذه الهداية العامة (١) المشاهدة في جميع المخلوقات فكل مخلوق، تجده يسعى لما خلق له من المنافع، وفي دفع المضار عنه، حتى إن الله تعالى أعطى الحيوان البهيم من العقل، ما يتمكن (٢) به على ذلك. وهذا كقوله تعالى: ﴿الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ﴾ فالذي خلق المخلوقات، وأعطاها خلقها الحسن، الذي لا تقترح العقول فوق حسنه، وهداها لمصالحها، هو الرب على الحقيقة، فإنكاره إنكار لأعظم الأشياء وجودا، وهو مكابرة ومجاهرة بالكذب، فلو قدر أن الإنسان، أنكر من الأمور المعلومة ما أنكر، كان إنكاره لرب العالمين أكبر من ذلك، ولهذا لما لم يمكن فرعون، أن يعاند هذا الدليل القاطع، عدل إلى المشاغبة، وحاد عن المقصود فقال لموسى: ﴿فَمَا بَالُ الْقُرُونِ الأولَى﴾ أي: ما شأنهم، وما خبرهم؟ وكيف وصلت بهم الحال، وقد سبقونا إلى الإنكار والكفر، والظلم، والعناد، ولنا فيهم أسوة؟ فقال موسى:

(١) في ب: الكاملة. (٢) كذا في ب، وفي أ: ما تتمكن.