The Poets (Al-Shu‘ara’)
Verses 36-42 GROUP_946 26.36-42
36
قَالُوا أَرْجِهِ وَأَخَاهُ وَابْعَثْ فِي الْمَدَائِنِ حَاشِرِينَ
They said, ‘Let him and his brother wait a while, and send heralds into the cities,
37
يَأْتُوكَ بِكُلِّ سَحَّارٍ عَلِيمٍ
who shall bring to you every skilful sorcerer.’
38
فَجُمِعَ السَّحَرَةُ لِمِيقَاتِ يَوْمٍ مَّعْلُومٍ
So the sorcerers were gathered on the appointed day
39
وَقِيلَ لِلنَّاسِ هَلْ أَنتُم مُّجْتَمِعُونَ
and the people were told,‘Will you also gather together,
40
لَعَلَّنَا نَتَّبِعُ السَّحَرَةَ إِن كَانُوا هُمُ الْغَالِبِينَ
so that we may follow the magicians, if they be the winners.’
41
فَلَمَّا جَاء السَّحَرَةُ قَالُوا لِفِرْعَوْنَ أَئِنَّ لَنَا لَأَجْرًا إِن كُنَّا نَحْنُ الْغَالِبِينَ
When the magicians came, they asked Pharaoh, ‘Shall we have a reward, if we are the winners?’
42
قَالَ نَعَمْ وَإِنَّكُمْ إِذًا لَّمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ
He replied, ‘Certainly, in that case you will join my inner circle.’
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
Commentary
(a) Pharaoh and his courtiers considered Moses’s feats as magical in nature. So, they planned to counter them by magic. Their imagination took them no further than thinking that if Moses could change a rod into a snake, their magicians could also change sticks into snakes. They had no knowledge beyond that. They considered Moses’s actions as those of a human being and that is why they wanted to counter them by human means. They did not know the secret that Moses’s mission was a divine mission, and which human being can clash with God? The annual national festival day of the Egyptians was appointed the day for the competition between Moses and the magicians. And for this purpose, a big open area was chosen so that a large number of people could gather and give as much encouragement to the magicians as possible.