وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا مُوسَىٰ تِسْعَ ءَايَٰتٍۭ بَيِّنَٰتٍ
Wa laqad ātaynā Mūsā tisʿa āyātin bayyināt, fa'sʾal banī Isrāʾīla idh jāʾahum fa-qāla lahu firʿawnu innī la-aẓunnuka yā Mūsā masḥūrā · Qāla laqad ʿalimta mā anzala hāʾulāʾi illā rabbu'l-samāwāti wa'l-arḍi baṣāʾir, wa innī la-aẓunnuka yā firʿawnu mathbūrā · Fa-arāda an yastafizzahum mina'l-arḍi fa-aghraqnāhu wa man maʿahu jamīʿā · Wa qulnā min baʿdihi li-banī Isrāʾīla'skunu'l-arḍa fa-idhā jāʾa waʿdu'l-ākhirati jiʾnā bikum lafīfā
"We gave Moses nine clear signs. Ask the Children of Israel: when he came to them, Pharaoh said to him, 'Moses, I think you are bewitched.' Moses said: 'You know well that none has sent these down but the Lord of the heavens and the earth, as things plainly to be seen. And I think, Pharaoh, that you are doomed to ruin.' Then he wished to drive them out of the land; so We drowned him and all who were with him. And after him We said to the Children of Israel: 'Dwell in the land. And when the promise of the hereafter comes, We shall bring you all together in one throng.'"
Towards its end the sūra returns to its second block (2-8), and this return can be verified at the level of the words:
| Block II (2-8) | Block VIII (101-104) |
|---|---|
| Wa ātaynā Mūsa'l-kitāb (2) | Wa laqad ātaynā Mūsā tisʿa āyāt (101) |
| Banī Isrāʾīl (2, 4) | Banī Isrāʾīl (101, 104) |
| Fa-idhā jāʾa waʿdu'l-ākhira (7) | Fa-idhā jāʾa waʿdu'l-ākhira (104) |
The expression in the third row is exactly the same: fa-idhā jāʾa waʿdu'l-ākhirati. The same sentence at the two ends of the sūra.
I record this as my own reading, and its support is this verbatim repetition: the sūra closes in the hundred and fourth verse the file it opened in the second. And the word of the close is worth recording: lafīfā — "all together, mingled".
The root ل-ف-ف: to wrap, to fold, to gather into one. Those who were parted, that is, will be brought together.
And a record required by the method: this verse too, like the second block, issues no blanket ruling about a people. The hundred and fourth verse speaks of a gathering and says nothing about the state of those gathered. In this commentary this verse is not linked to any current political question.
The Qurʾān enumerates the signs given to Moses in several sūras (the staff and the hand were treated at 26/32-33 in al-Shuʿarāʾ; the construction fī tisʿi āyāt occurs at 27/12 in al-Naml). But the full list of nine cannot be drawn with certainty from the text. No list is given in this commentary; more than one enumeration is transmitted in the sources, and they do not agree exactly.
The verse's literal record is this, and it can be recorded: the number is nine, and their quality is given as bayyināt (clear).
| Who | The utterance | The word |
|---|---|---|
| Pharaoh | Innī la-aẓunnuka yā Mūsā masḥūrā | Bewitched |
| Moses | Wa innī la-aẓunnuka yā firʿawnu mathbūrā | Doomed to ruin |
The two sentences are on exactly the same pattern, word for word: innī la-aẓunnuka yā … + the object. Only the last word changes, and the two words are close in sound as well: masḥūr / mathbūr.
I record this as an observation about the structure: the answer takes the pattern of the objection and changes what is inside it. And even the verb is the same: aẓunnu (I think) — that is, Moses uses the very degree of certainty that Pharaoh used.
The root ث-ب-ر: to perish, to be destroyed. Thubūr — destruction. The word was treated at 25/13-14 in al-Furqān (daʿaw hunālika thubūrā). I rely on that treatment.
And the word masḥūr occurs for the second time in the sūra — the first was in the forty-seventh verse, used of the Prophet.
The same accusation, in two places in the sūra, to two different messengers. I record this as my own reading: the sūra shows the same word at two dates fifty-four verses apart — and between them lie centuries.
The same method was treated at 25/31 in al-Furqān and at 35/4 and 35/25 in Fāṭir (meeting what is happening by setting it into a sequence). I rely on those treatments.