Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

27. “(Pharaoh) said: ‘Verily your messenger who has been sent unto you is a veritable madman’.”

28. “(Moses) said: ‘The Lord of the east and the west and what is between the two, if you have understanding’.”

29. “(Pharaoh) said: ‘If you take any god other than me, I will certainly make you one of the imprisoned’.”

30. “(Moses) said: ‘Even if I bring unto you something manifest?’”

Calumniations do not cause Allah’s friends to depart from their divine aims. One of the strongest weapons of prophets’ opponents is unfair imputation of insanity. Yes, those who can not offer reasonable argue, resort to false accusation and foul language.

Therefore, Pharaoh continued stubbornness. He exceeded the stage of scoffing and ridiculing him and imputed insanity to Moses (as).

The verse says:

“(Pharaoh) said: ‘Verily your messenger who has been sent unto you is a veritable madman’.”

It is the same imputation that all oppressors of the world used to charge divine reformers.

It is interesting that this conceited deceiver is not willing even to say ‘our messenger’ or ‘unto us’, but he says ‘your messenger’ and ‘unto you’, for the phrase ‘your messenger’ has got a ridiculing aspect.

It is a kind of ridiculing that is along with self-assertion, implying that he is so important that a godly prophet can not come, to call him. His aim of imputing insanity to Moses (as) was to negate the effect of the strong logic of Moses on his present companions.

However, this unfair accusation had no effect on the heavenly soul of Moses (as) and he continued the main path of monotheism by Allah’s signs in the expanse of creation, microcosm and macrocosm.

The verse says:

“(Moses) said: ‘The Lord of the east and the west and what is between the two, if you have understanding’.”

If Pharaoh had an unreal government in a small region called Egypt, Allah’s real government rules the East and the West and all that there are between them.

His signs are seen everywhere and in all creatures. Basically the very rising and downing of the sun in the east and the west and the system that works in it is the sign of His magnificence. But the problem is that such people do not ponder them and even they are not used to thinking.

(You must pay attention that the Qur’anic sentence /’in kuntum ta‘qilun/ (if you have understanding) refers to this matter that if Pharaoh had used to thinking in the past and present, he would understand this fact).

In fact, Moses (as) answers this insanity accusation very nicely, saying that he is not insane and a person who does not see all these signs of Allah is mad and insane.

A Persian poem says:

In spite of these strange signs and things that are found on the wall of creation,

If one does not think about You, is a picture on the wall.

It is true that for the first time Moses (as) referred to management of heavens and the earth, but since the heaven is so high and the earth it so mysterious, therefore, at last he pointed out a matter that no one could deny it and man sees it every day. It is the system of rising and downing of the sun and the precise program it has and no one can claim that he is its designer.

The Qur’anic phrase /wa ma baynahuma/ (and what is between the two) refers to the unity and relation of the East and the West, as this meaning is also applied to the heavens and the earth. And the relation and unity of their generations have somehow been stated by the Qur’anic phrase which is recited:

“...‘Your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of old’.”1

However, then this strong and top logic made Pharaoh very angry and he restored to the same weapon that all irrational oppressors use when they are defeated and hopeless.

The Qur’an says:

“(Pharaoh) said: ‘If you take any god other than me, I will certainly make you one of the imprisoned’.”

Pharaoh wanted to say he could not understand what Moses (as) said and the only thing he persisted on was that there was one great god to be worshipped and it was Pharaoh, and whoever would say something other than that he should be condemned to death or being sent to his helish prison.

Some commentators believe that since the Qur’anic word ‘Al-Masjunin’ in this verse has ‘’Alif’ and ‘Lam’, it refers to a special prison into which if anyone was sent, one would remain in it until his corpse was brought out.¹

As a matter of fact, Pharaoh wanted to suppress Moses (as) with these threatening and tough words and to make him silent, for the continuation of these discussions could make people awaken, and nothing is more dangerous for oppressors than alertness and cognizance of people.

In the previous verses we saw how Moses (as) maintained his logical superiority over Pharaoh, and showed the audience how much his religion depended on logic and intellect, and how Pharaoh’s claim was baseless and senseless. Sometimes Pharaoh ridicules, sometimes he imputes insanity to Moses (as), and finally he resorts to power, force, and threatening to death and prison.

Now Moses (as) had to choose a new approach which made Pharaoh hopeless again. Resorting to Allah’s might originated from a conspicuous miracle, he (as) addressed Pharaoh implying that if he (as) showed a manifest thing as a sign of his messengership, would he imprison him?

The verse says:

“(Moses) said: ‘Even if I bring unto you something manifest?’”