Surah Ibrahim (14) — Ayah 5

(Ayah5) ➊ {وَ لَقَدْ اَرْسَلْنَا مُوْسٰى بِاٰيٰتِنَاۤ …:} At the beginning of the Surah, Allah Almighty mentioned the Book revealed to our Prophet (peace be upon him) and stated its purpose: that you may bring people out from darkness into light. Now, the efforts of previous prophets to bring their nations from darkness into light and the behavior of their nations are mentioned. First, the mention of Musa (Moses), then other nations and their messengers. Allah Almighty granted Musa (peace be upon him) some cosmic signs, that is, miracles contrary to the usual order of the universe, which the enemy was unable to match. Some of these were related to Pharaoh and his people, such as the staff of Musa, the shining hand (Ta-Ha: 17–22), famine, shortage of fruits, storm, locusts, lice, frogs, and blood. (A’raf: 133) All these miracles were given as proof of prophethood, because the addressee, Pharaoh, was extremely stubborn, rebellious, claimed divinity, and was very merciless. Whereas our Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) was given only one miracle as proof of prophethood, the “Qur’an”; all other miracles were for blessing and to increase the faith of the believers. Many of Musa’s miracles were related to the Children of Israel, such as the splitting of the sea, salvation from Pharaoh, the shade of clouds, the descent of manna and quails, the gushing forth of twelve springs, the mountain being uprooted and a covenant being taken, the dead coming to life by touching the flesh of a cow, etc., and some were verses of divine revelation, which are called “revelatory verses.” The very first revelation to Musa (peace be upon him) came long before the Torah, on his return from Madyan, and then continued to come for years without taking the form of a book. Pharaoh was drowned because of his disobedience to the commands of this revelation. Then Allah Almighty called Musa (peace be upon him) to the Mount and granted him the Torah. In short, Musa (peace be upon him) was given many signs besides the Torah, because the enemy was extremely severe and his own people, due to their slave mentality, were very fickle, influenced by unbelieving beliefs and customs, and repeatedly made demands. Above, about seventeen signs (miracles) have been mentioned; the purpose of all was to bring Pharaoh and his people from the darkness of disbelief to the light of faith.

➋ {وَ ذَكِّرْهُمْ بِاَيّٰىمِ اللّٰهِ … : ’’أَيَّامٌ‘‘} refers to those days in which some rare event occurred in the form of calamity or blessing, such as the Day of Badr, etc. By attributing {’’أَيَّامٌ‘‘} to Allah, their importance is greatly increased. In the next verse, a few {’’أَيَّامٌ‘‘} are mentioned, but only those who are very patient and very grateful take heed from these events, because the foundation of every good deed is patience, and gratitude is also granted only to those who are patient; those who complain and are impatient, how can they be granted the ability to be grateful?