The Quran

127

Preface

وَقالَ المَلَأُ مِن قَومِ فِرعَونَ أَتَذَرُ موسىٰ وَقَومَهُ لِيُفسِدوا فِي الأَرضِ وَيَذَرَكَ وَآلِهَتَكَ ۚ قالَ سَنُقَتِّلُ أَبناءَهُم وَنَستَحيي نِساءَهُم وَإِنّا فَوقَهُم قاهِرونَ

Yusuf Ali

aid the chiefs of Pharaoh?s people: “Wilt thou leave Moses and his people, to spread mischief in the land, and to abandon thee and thy gods?” He said: “Their male children will we slay; (only) their females will we save alive; and we have over them (power) irresistible.”¹

Pharaoh’s order against the sorcerers was drastic enough. But his Council is not satisfied. What about Moses and the Israelites? They had a seeming victory, and will now be more mischievous than ever. They appeal to Pharaoh’s vanity and his superstition and sense of power. “If you leave them alone,” they say, “where will be your authority? You and your gods will be defied!” Pharaoh has a ready answer. He was really inwardly cowed by the apparent power of Moses. He dared not openly act against him. But he had already, before the birth of Moses, passed a cunning order to destroy the whole people of Israel. Through the instrumentality of midwives (Exod. 1:15), all the male children were to be destroyed, and the females would then be for the Egyptians: the race of Israel would thus be at an end. This order was still in force, and would remain in force until the despised race was absorbed. But Egyptian cunning and wickedness had no power against God’s Plan for those who had faith. See verse 129.