Salaam and welcome to the weekly programme on a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an titled Path Towards Enlightenment.

We start from where we left you last week and here is ayah 12 of Surah Naml:

وَأَدْخِلْ يَدَكَ فِي جَيْبِكَ تَخْرُجْ بَيْضَاءَ مِنْ غَيْرِ سُوءٍ ۖ فِي تِسْعِ آيَاتٍ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ وَقَوْمِهِ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا قَوْمًا فَاسِقِينَ

“Insert your hand into your bosom. It will emerge white, without any fault, —among nine signs for Pharaoh and his people. Indeed they are a transgressing lot.”

Last week we said that on being formally entrusted with prophethood for the mission to Pharaonic Egypt, Moses underwent Divine Tests such as his witnessing of flames emanating from a green bush without its leaves burning even a little bit, and then the turning of his staff into a serpent when he threw it down on God’s command, followed by its return to its original wooden shape, when on God’s command he hesitatingly picked it up. These were indeed miracles, and as is indicated by the ayahs that we recited to you now, God shows him another miracle. Now Moses is asked to insert his palm into his clothes towards the bosom and then take it out to find how it has amazingly become bright white, without any blemish. The ayah then means to say to Moses that your miracles are not just these two but they are nine, and the seven others will be shown to you later when you invite Pharaoh, the Egyptians and the Israelites to monotheism, so that no excuse is left for them.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Nature, despite its orderly cycle of developments in keeping with its essence of creation, is after all subject to the command of its Creator, the One and Only God, Who whenever He deems necessary, turns it into a phenomena that is in complete contrast to its essence.
2. At times, God makes such miracles fully manifest in order to convince the skeptics and doubters, in order to enable them to use their intellect to discover the truth, even though hardcore infidels may not wriggle out from the grip of the Satan to believe in the One and Only God.

Now we listen to ayahs 13 and 14 of Surah Naml:

فَلَمَّا جَاءَتْهُمْ آيَاتُنَا مُبْصِرَةً قَالُوا هَـٰذَا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ

وَجَحَدُوا بِهَا وَاسْتَيْقَنَتْهَا أَنفُسُهُمْ ظُلْمًا وَعُلُوًّا ۚ فَانظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُفْسِدِينَ

“But when Our signs came to them, as eye-openers, they said, ‘This is plain magic.”

“They belied them (the Prophets) —though they were convinced in their hearts— wrongfully and defiantly. So observe how was the fate of the agents of corruption!”

Moses on entering Egypt went to the Pharaoh and invited him and his people to monotheism, but despite seeing some of the amazing miracles, the tyrant refused to believe in God and accused the Prophet of being a magician. As is clear from the wordings of the ayah, although the Pharaoh and his courtiers were convinced deep down in their heart about the truthfulness of the words of Prophet Moses, vain pride and satanic inclinations prevented them from acknowledging the truth. They thought that they were culturally and politically superior to Moses and should not accept his words. The result was that they wronged themselves and the others, and were eventually destroyed. God asks us to contemplate on the factors that led to the annihilation of the oppressors and the corrupt, so that we should learn lessons and avoid such a dangerous fate. 

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Faith is higher than self-assumed knowledge, and it is faith that grants certitude to the true believers by making them accept and acknowledge the truth.
2. Those who are weak of faith, deny the realities, even though deep down in their hearts they realize it is the truth.
3. One of the obstacles in accepting and acknowledging truth is arrogance and the false sense of superiority.
4. The fate of the oppressors and the corrupt is destruction and annihilation.

FK/AS/SS