طسم
Tā. Sīn. Mīm. (1)
تِلْكَ آيَاتُ الْكِتَابِ الْمُبِينِ
THESE ARE MESSAGES of a divine writ clear in itself and clearly showing the truth. (2)
نَتْلُو عَلَيْكَ مِنْ نَبَإِ مُوسَىٰ وَفِرْعَوْنَ بِالْحَقِّ لِقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ
We [now] convey unto thee some of the story of Moses and Pharaoh, setting forth the truth for [the benefit of] people who will believe. (3)
إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ عَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا يَسْتَضْعِفُ طَائِفَةً مِنْهُمْ يُذَبِّحُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيِي نِسَاءَهُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ
Behold, Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and divided its people into castes. One group of them he deemed utterly low; he would slaughter their sons and spare [only] their women: for, behold, he was one of those who spread corruption [on earth]. (4)
وَنُرِيدُ أَنْ نَمُنَّ عَلَى الَّذِينَ اسْتُضْعِفُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَنَجْعَلَهُمْ أَئِمَّةً وَنَجْعَلَهُمُ الْوَارِثِينَ
But it was Our will to bestow Our favour upon those [very people] who were deemed [so] utterly low in the land, and to make them forerunners in faith, and to make them heirs [to Pharaoh's glory], (5)
وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَحْذَرُونَ
and to establish them securely on earth, and to let Pharaoh and Hāmān and their hosts experience through those [children of Israel] the very thing against which they sought to protect themselves. (6)
وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ أُمِّ مُوسَىٰ أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ وَلَا تَخَافِي وَلَا تَحْزَنِي إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ
And so, [when he was born,] We inspired [thus] the mother of Moses: "Suckle him [for a time], and then, when thou hast cause to fear for him, cast him into the river, and have no fear and do not grieve – for We shall restore him to thee, and shall make him one of Our message-bearers!" (7)
فَالْتَقَطَهُ آلُ فِرْعَوْنَ لِيَكُونَ لَهُمْ عَدُوًّا وَحَزَنًا إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا كَانُوا خَاطِئِينَ
And [some of] Pharaoh's household found [and spared] him: for [We had willed] that he become an enemy unto them and [a source of] grief, seeing that Pharaoh and Hāmān and their hosts were sinners indeed! (8)
وَقَالَتِ امْرَأَتُ فِرْعَوْنَ قُرَّتُ عَيْنٍ لِي وَلَكَ لَا تَقْتُلُوهُ عَسَىٰ أَنْ يَنْفَعَنَا أَوْ نَتَّخِذَهُ وَلَدًا وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ
Now the wife of Pharaoh said: "A joy to the eye [could this child be] for me and thee! Slay him not: he may well be of use to us, or we may adopt him as a son!" And they had no presentiment [of what he was to become]. (9)
وَأَصْبَحَ فُؤَادُ أُمِّ مُوسَىٰ فَارِغًا إِنْ كَادَتْ لَتُبْدِي بِهِ لَوْلَا أَنْ رَبَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قَلْبِهَا لِتَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
On the morrow, however, an aching void grew up in the heart of the mother of Moses, and she would indeed have disclosed all about him had We not endowed her heart with enough strength to keep alive her faith [in Our promise]. (10)
وَقَالَتْ لِأُخْتِهِ قُصِّيهِ فَبَصُرَتْ بِهِ عَنْ جُنُبٍ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ
And so she said to his sister, "Follow him" – and [the girl] watched him from afar, while they [who had taken him in] were not aware of it. (11)
وَحَرَّمْنَا عَلَيْهِ الْمَرَاضِعَ مِنْ قَبْلُ فَقَالَتْ هَلْ أَدُلُّكُمْ عَلَىٰ أَهْلِ بَيْتٍ يَكْفُلُونَهُ لَكُمْ وَهُمْ لَهُ نَاصِحُونَ
Now from the very beginning We caused him to refuse the breast of [Egyptian] nurses; and [when his sister came to know this,] she said: "Shall I guide you to a family that might rear him for you, and look after him with good will?" (12)
فَرَدَدْنَاهُ إِلَىٰ أُمِّهِ كَيْ تَقَرَّ عَيْنُهَا وَلَا تَحْزَنَ وَلِتَعْلَمَ أَنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
And thus We restored him to his mother, so that her eye might be gladdened, and that she might grieve no longer, and that she might know that God's promise always comes true – even though most of them know it not! (13)
- and to establish them securely on earth, and to let Pharaoh and Haman6 and their hosts experience through those [children of Israel] the very thing against which they sought to protect themselves.7
- 6 This Hainan, who is mentioned several times in the Qur'an as Pharaoh's chief adviser, is not to be confused with the Persian Haman of the Old Testament (The Book of Esther iii ff.). Most probably, the word "Haman" as used in the Qur'an is not a proper name at all but the Arabicized echo of the compound designation Ha-Amen given to every high priest of the Egyptian god Amon. Since at the time in question the cult of Amon was paramount in Egypt, his high priest held a rank second only to that of the reigning Pharaoh. The assumption that the person spoken of in the Qur'an as Haman was indeed the high priest of the cult of Amon is strengthened by Pharaoh's demand (mentioned in verse 38 of this surah as well as in 40:36-37) that Haman erect for him "a lofty tower" from which he could "have a look at [or "ascend to"] the god of Moses": which may be, among other things, an allusion to the hieratic purpose of the great pyramids of Egypt and to the function of the high priest as their chief architect. (But see also note 37.)
- 7 The Egyptians - obviously remembering the earlier, alien Hyksos dynasty that had invaded Egypt and subsequently allied itself with the Hebrews (see surah 12, note 44) - feared that the latter might in the future, too, make common cause with foreign invaders (cf. Exodus i, 10): and to protect themselves against this danger, they decided - as mentioned in several places in the Qur'an as well as in the Bible - to have every male Hebrew child killed.
- To establish a firm place for them in the land, and to show Pharaoh, Haman,3331 and their hosts, at their hands, the very things against which they were taking precautions.3332
- 3331 Haman was evidently Pharaoh's minister, not to be confounded with a Haman who is mentioned in the Old Testament (Esther 3:1), as a minister of Ahasuerus (Xerxes) King of Persia, the same who invaded Greece, and ruled from B.C. 485 to 464.
- 3332 Pharaoh was trying to kill the Israelites. Instead, the Plagues of Egypt, invoked by Moses, killed thousands of Egyptians (7:133. and notes 1091-92), because "they were steeped in arrogance,-a people given to sin." In pursuing the Israelites in their flight, Pharaoh and his army were themselves overwhelmed in the sea.
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To establish a firm place for them in the land, and to show Pharaoh, Haman, and their hosts, at their hands, the very things against which they were taking precautions.
— Abdullah Yusuf Ali -
And to establish them in the earth, and to show Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts that which they feared from them.
— Marmaduke Pickthall -
And to grant them power in the land, and to make Firon and Haman and their hosts see from them what they feared.
— M. Habib Shakir -
And to establish them in the land, and We let Fir'aun (Pharaoh) and Haman and their hosts receive from them that which they feared.
— Taqiuddin Hilali and M. Mohsin Khan -
And We should establish them in the earth, and We should let Fir'awn and Haman and their hostee from them that which they dreaded.
— Abdul-Majid Daryabadi -
and to establish them in the land; and to show Pharaoh and Haman, and their armies, the very thing they dreaded.
— Hasan Qaribullah and Ahmed Darwish -
and to establish them in the land, and to show Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts what they were dreading from them.
— Ayub Khan -
And to establish them in the earth, and to make Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts see from them that which they feared.
— Sher Ali -
and to establish them securely on earth, and to let Pharaoh and Hāmān and their hosts experience through those [children of Israel] the very thing against which they sought to protect themselves.
— Muhammad Asad -
and to establish them in the land, and to show Pharaoh and Ha man, and their hosts, what they were dreading from them.
— Arthur Arberry -
to give them power in the land{{7}} and to show Pharaoh and Haman{{8}} and their hosts, at their hands, the same which they feared.
— Abu'l Ala Maududi