The Quran

134

Preface

وَلَمّا وَقَعَ عَلَيهِمُ الرِّجزُ قالوا يا موسَى ادعُ لَنا رَبَّكَ بِما عَهِدَ عِندَكَ ۖ لَئِن كَشَفتَ عَنَّا الرِّجزَ لَنُؤمِنَنَّ لَكَ وَلَنُرسِلَنَّ مَعَكَ بَني إِسرائيلَ

Yusuf Ali

Every time the penalty fell on them, they said: “O Moses! on your behalf call on thy Lord in virtue of his promise to thee: If thou wilt remove the penalty from us, we shall truly believe in thee, and we shall send away the Children of Israel with thee.”¹

The demand of Moses was two-fold: (1) come to God and cease from oppression, and (2) let me take Israel out of Egypt. At first it was laughed at and rejected with scorn. When the Plagues came for punishment, each time the Egyptians suffered, they promised amendment and begged Moses to intercede and cause the plague to cease. But every time it ceased, they went back to their evil attitude, until the final retribution came. This is a type of the sinner’s attitude for all times.