'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

Tafsir of Surah Al-Qasas

This surah is Meccan except for His saying, exalted and mighty is He: "Indeed, He who has made the Quran obligatory upon you will surely bring you back to a place of return" [Al-Qasas: 85]. This was revealed at Al-Juhfa at the time of the migration of the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, to Medina. This was said by Ibn Salam and others. And Muqatil said: In it from the Medinan verses: "Those to whom We gave the Book" [Al-Qasas: 52] to His saying, exalted is He: "We do not seek the ignorant" [Al-Qasas: 55].

His saying, exalted and mighty is He:

"Ta-Sin" "These are the verses of the Clear Book" "We recite to you from the news of Musa and Fir'aun in truth for a people who believe" "Indeed, Fir'aun exalted himself in the earth and made its people into factions, weakening a group of them, slaughtering their sons and keeping their women alive. Indeed, he was of the corruptors."

The discussion of the letters at the beginnings of the surahs has been addressed, which suffices for repetition. Whoever said that these letters are names of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said: The letter Ta is from the greatness that belongs to Allah, glorified is He, and the letter Sin is from peace, and the letter Meem is from the Benefactor, or from the Merciful, and so on. And His saying: "These" is determined according to each saying regarding the letters. So, whoever made "Ta-Sin" an example of the letters of the alphabet, the reference with "These" is to the letters of the alphabet. And whoever separated it said: "These" in the places of these, and this is permissible since it was not present and ready, but rather it is sayings that imply some things gradually. Therefore, it is permissible to refer to it as: "These."

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

The original meaning of "These" is a reference to what is present, and "Those" is a reference to what is absent. They may overlap when there is certainty in the absence that stands in place of presence, and when there is distance in presence that stands in place of absence. From that is His saying, exalted is He: "And what is that in your right hand, O Musa" [Ta-Ha: 17] when Musa could not see his Lord, exalted is He, so he and his staff were in a state of absence, and that was permissible. And from the opposite is the author of a book saying: This is a book, and what follows this course will be similar, and it resembles in our verses that "These" could be equivalent to: These are the verses of the Clear Book, and it seems that it could be established in terms of the verses all at the time of this address when they were not present. And "We recite" means: We narrate and follow the story, and He specified the believers in His saying, exalted is He: "for a people who believe" in that they are the ones who benefit from it, unlike others.

And "he was arrogant in the land" refers to the arrogance of tyranny and domination. And His saying, the Most High: "in the land" means the land of Egypt and the place of his kingdom. Whenever the land is mentioned in general, it refers to the land that resembles the story of the saying being conveyed; for the news that spreads throughout all the land is few, and most of what we have mentioned. And "the factions" means the groups. This saying was from Pharaoh as he made the Copts kings, and the Israelites were used as laborers, while they were the oppressed group. And "he kills" is an expression of exaggeration and indicates the repetition of the act. And Qatadah said: This act was from Pharaoh because his priests and scholars told him: A boy from the Children of Israel will ruin your kingdom. And Al-Suddi said: He saw a vision regarding this, so he took the Children of Israel to slaughter the children for years. He saw that he was cutting off their lineage, so he returned to slaughter one year and spare another. Thus, Aaron, peace be upon him, was born in the year of sparing, and Moses, peace be upon him, was born in the year of slaughter. And the majority of the reciters read: "he kills" with a dammah on the ya and a kasrah on the ba indicating abundance. And Abu Haywah and Ibn Muhaisin read it with a fatha on the ya and ba and a sukoon on the dhal. Wahb ibn Munabbih said: I have been informed that Pharaoh slaughtered seventy thousand children in this attempt. And Al-Naqash said: He killed a total of sixteen children.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: He hoped with his ignorance to defy fate, and where is this aspiration from the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to Umar: If it is him, you will not be able to overcome him, meaning Ibn Sayyad. And the rest of the verse is clear.