His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And when Moses said to his people, 'Remember the favor of Allah upon you when He saved you from the people of Pharaoh, who were inflicting upon you a terrible punishment and slaughtering your sons and keeping your women alive. And in that was a great trial from your Lord.'﴾ ﴿And when your Lord proclaimed, 'If you are grateful, I will surely increase your favor; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.'﴾ ﴿And Moses said, 'If you disbelieve, you and whoever is on the earth altogether, indeed, Allah is Free of need and Praiseworthy.'﴾ ﴿Has the news not come to you of those before you, the people of Noah and 'Aad and Thamud, and those after them? None knows them except Allah. Their messengers came to them with clear proofs, but they struck their hands in their mouths and said, 'Indeed, we disbelieve in that with which you were sent, and indeed, we are in doubt about that to which you invite us, disturbing.'﴾

This is a reminder of the days of Allah in the favors, and the day of salvation was great due to the greatness of what occurred in it. The interpretation of this verse and its stories has already been provided, which suffices for repeating it. However, in this verse, there is an addition of the conjunction 'wa' in His saying: 'and they slaughter,' while in Al-Baqarah it is 'they slaughter' without the conjunction. There, 'the terrible punishment' was interpreted as being the slaughter and keeping alive, and here it indicated types other than slaughter and keeping alive, and the slaughter and keeping alive were added to them. Ibn Muhaisin read: 'and they slaughter' with a fatḥah on the yā' and the bā' is lightened.

And 'the trial' in this verse may mean the affliction, and it may mean the test, and the meaning is close.

And 'proclaimed' means: informed, similar to: honored and showed generosity, and promised and threatened. This informing of His is accompanied by a decree and a predestination that preceded it. What is in 'Tafa'ala' in this context of attempting and beginning, when attributed to humans, is denied in the context of Allah, the Exalted. As for the Arabs' saying: 'ta'allama' meaning: informed, the past is rejected according to what Ya'qub mentioned, like the saying of the poet:

'Learned - you refused the curse...'

And similar to it.

And some scholars said: the increase upon gratitude is not in this world, but rather it is from the blessings of the Hereafter, and this world is lesser than that.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And it is correct and permissible that this may be, and that Allah, the Exalted, may increase the believer upon his gratitude from the blessings of this world, and that He may also increase him from both of them altogether. And in this verse, there is a promise and a warning, and what confirms that gratitude is inclusive of faith is that He equated it with disbelief. It may be possible that disbelief is the disbelief of blessings, not the disbelief of denial. Al-Tabari reported from Sufyan and from Al-Hasan that they said: The meaning of the verse is: 'If you are grateful, I will surely increase you in My obedience.' Al-Tabari strengthened it, and it is not as he said, but it is strong and good, so reflect upon it.

And His saying: ﴿If you are grateful﴾ is the response to an oath that is implied in the speech.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And Moses said﴾. In this verse, there is a belittlement of those addressed, conditioned by their disbelief, and a reprimand. This is evident in the two attributes with which He, blessed and exalted is He, described Himself at the end of the verse. His saying, "The Self-Sufficient" includes their belittlement and His greatness. And His saying, "The Praiseworthy" includes their reprimand. This is because He possesses attributes that necessitate all praises eternally in His essence; He has always been and will always be so. Your disbelief in a God whose state is the utmost of deficiency and abandonment. And in His saying, "The Praiseworthy," it implies that He is the One with blessings upon you, O disbelievers in Him, which should warrant your praise. Your disbelief in Him, despite that, leads you further into misguidance. This is a clear reprimand.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿Did not the tidings come to you﴾. This is a reminder of the days of Allah in punishment against the disbelieving nations. And His saying, ﴿None knows them except Allah﴾ is similar to His saying, ﴿And many generations between that﴾ [Al-Furqan: 38]. In this regard, the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "The genealogists have lied beyond Adnan." It was narrated from Ibn Abbas that he said: "There were thirty generations between the time of Moses and the time of Noah that none knows except Allah." Al-Mahdawi narrated from him that he said: "There were thirty fathers between Adnan and Ishmael that are not known."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this stopping at their number is a celebration, and the denial of knowledge of them altogether is more correct, and it is the wording of the Qur'an.

The interpreters have differed in the meaning of His saying, exalted is He: ﴿So they thrust their hands into their mouths﴾ according to the possibilities of the wording. And "the hands" in this verse may be interpreted to mean the limbs, and it may be interpreted to mean the hands of blessings in what has been mentioned. On the assumption that "the hands" are the limbs, the meaning could be: they thrust their own hands into their own mouths, biting them in rage against the messengers, and exaggerating in their denial. This is the saying of Ibn Mas'ud and Ibn Zayd. Ibn Abbas said: They were astonished and did that, and biting in rage is well-known. In the Book of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, it is said: ﴿They bite their fingertips out of rage﴾ [Al-Imran: 119]. And the poet said:

I have wasted my fingertips in anguish So he ended up biting the job.

And another said:

If Salma had seen my wounds And the thinness in the bone of my legs and hands.

And the distance from my family and the coldness of my companion Made me bite in longing with the tips of my hands.

And among what has been mentioned is that the meaning could be: they thrust their own hands into the mouths of the messengers to silence them and to suppress their words. This was said by Al-Hasan, and this is more severe in the refutation and leads to more extension against the messengers and harm towards them.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

The words can carry a fourth meaning, which is that the term 'hands' is used metaphorically. This means that they rejected their statements, their struggles, and their defenses regarding what they said with their mouths of denial. It is as if the meaning is: they rejected all their defenses in their mouths, that is, in their words. And he expressed all the defense by 'hands' since hands are the place for strong defense and opposition. Al-Mahdawi reported a weak saying, which is that the meaning is: they took the hands of the messengers and placed them in the mouths of the messengers.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this, in my view, has no basis.

Among what has been mentioned regarding that 'hands' refers to the hands of blessings is what Al-Zajjaj mentioned. This is because they rejected from the messengers in warning and conveying with their mouths, that is, with their words. Thus, the action is connected with 'in' instead of being connected with 'by'. A similar narration has been reported from Mujahid and Qatadah. The well-known plural of 'hand' in the sense of blessing is 'ayad', and it is not pluralized as 'ayd', except that pluralizing it as 'ayd' does not break a rule nor contradict a principle, and it is sufficient for us that Al-Zajjaj has estimated it and interpreted it.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And the word can also carry a second meaning, which is that the intended meaning is: they rejected the blessings of the messengers in the mouths of the messengers, that is, they did not accept it. Just as you say to someone whose words do not please you: 'Keep your words in your mouth, O so-and-so.' Since the hands of the messengers are words, this is permissible. Just as you say: 'I broke so-and-so's words in his mouth,' meaning: I returned it to him and interrupted it with little acceptance and with rejection. Al-Mahdawi narrated from Mujahid that he said: Its meaning is: they rejected the blessings of the messengers in the mouths of themselves with denial and rejection.

And His saying, the Exalted, 'Indeed, we are in doubt about what you invite us to, which is disturbing,' necessitates that they doubted the truthfulness of their prophethood and their words or denied them. They hesitated in affirming one of the two beliefs, then they became doubtful about the one belief in the truthfulness of his prophethood. Thus, a confirmed doubt came to them with suspicion. And Talhah ibn Musarraf read: 'What you invite us to' with one 'nun' that is emphasized.