Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

32. “So he cast down his rod, and behold, it was a clear serpent.”

33. “And he drew out his hand, then behold, it was radiant white to the beholders!”

Prophets’ miracles are clear and manifesting, not fantasy and imagination.Becoming staff a manifest serpent is repeated ten times in the holy Qur’an, and whitening of Moses hand is repeated five times. Of course, for making the true words effective, one must rightly use both hopeful and unhopeful or threatening methods.

Moses (as) threw the staff that he had in his hand and it changed into a great serpent by the command of Allah.

The verse says:

“So he cast down his rod, and behold, it was a clear serpent.”

And then he put his hand in his cloth on his chest and took it out, it suddenly became white and brightening.

The verse says:

“And he drew out his hand, then behold, it was radiant white to the beholders!”

In fact, these two great miracles were signs of hope and fear. The first one was for warning and the second one was for good tidings. One is stating the divine punishment and the other one is light and the sign of mercy, for miracle must be in harmony with prophet’s call.

The Arabic word /u‘ban/ means a great serpent like a dragon. In the book Mufradat, Raqib says that this word is probably derived from the word /a‘b/ that means the current of water, for the movement of this animal is like the streams that move in the shape of serpent form.

The Qur’anic word /mubin/ may refer to this fact that staff really changed into a great snake and no jugglery and cunning, like what sorcerers do, has happened.

It is necessary to mention that here the word /u‘ban/ is used, in Surah An-Naml, No. 27, verse 10, and in Surah Al- Qasas, No. 28, verse 31 the word ‘Jan’ (small snakes that move fast and swiftly), and in Surah Ta-Ha, No. 20, verse 20, the word ‘Hayyah’ (that means ‘snake’ and is derived from the word ‘Hayat’) is used.

The application of these various words may raise question, but they are for stating one of the following matters:

They may refer to various statuses of that snake; first the staff changed into a thin and small snake and then it grew gradually and changed into a great dragon.

Or these three various words may refer to the different characteristics of that snake; the word /u‘ban/ refers to its greatness, the word ‘Jan’ refers to its swiftness and fastness, and the word ‘Hayyah’ refers to the life and liveliness of that snake.