Surah Ghafir (40) — Ayah 26

(Ayah 26) ➊ { وَ قَالَ فِرْعَوْنُ ذَرُوْنِيْۤ اَقْتُلْ مُوْسٰى:} By saying this, Pharaoh wanted to make it appear that the reason he had not yet killed Musa (peace be upon him) was not because his courtiers and chiefs had stopped him. He said this merely to intimidate or to encourage himself, because inwardly he was extremely afraid, and Allah had granted Musa and Harun (peace be upon them) such dominance and awe with His statement: {’’ وَ نَجْعَلُ لَكُمَا سُلْطٰنًا فَلَا يَصِلُوْنَ اِلَيْكُمَا ‘‘} (“We shall strengthen you both, so they will not reach you.” Al-Qasas: 35), that he did not have the courage to kill them or cause them any harm. As for the courtiers, they neither stopped Pharaoh from killing Musa (peace be upon him) nor did Pharaoh give any weight to their opinions. (See Al-Mu’min: 29) He had made his entire nation so insignificant that they agreed with him in everything, no matter how irrational it was, as He said: «فَاسْتَخَفَّ قَوْمَهٗ فَاَطَاعُوْهُ اِنَّهُمْ كَانُوْا قَوْمًا فٰسِقِيْنَ» [ الزخرف : ۵۴ ] “So he made his people seem insignificant, and they obeyed him; indeed, they were defiantly disobedient people.”

➋ { وَ لْيَدْعُ رَبَّهٗ:} This too was his cowardly threat, otherwise, after seeing the miracles of Musa (peace be upon him), he and his people were convinced that he was a true messenger of Allah and that Allah would not leave him helpless. If he had not been convinced of this, then despite possessing such a mighty army, what had stopped his hand from killing Musa (peace be upon him)?

➌ { اِنِّيْۤ اَخَافُ اَنْ يُّبَدِّلَ دِيْنَكُمْ:} By “religion” is meant their belief and the system of government based on it, in which Pharaoh was considered the Most High Lord and his command was deemed obligatory to obey. That is, I fear that he will make you deny your religion and belief, under which you consider me your Lord and are content with my subjugation and obedience, and thus bring about a revolution in the country. In other words, I want to kill him for your sake.

➍ { اَوْ اَنْ يُّظْهِرَ فِي الْاَرْضِ الْفَسَادَ:} That is, if he cannot make all the people of Egypt deny their ancestral religion, then at least there is the danger that he will convince some of them of monotheism, while others will continue to believe in my lordship and authority, and this will cause constant disorder in the country. This is the same approach that every absolute ruler adopts to maintain his power by creating the specter of internal or external threats. Look at this tyrant, who calls the invitation of Musa (peace be upon him), by which people are coming to the right path, “corruption,” whereas the real corrupter is he himself, as mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah: « اَلَاۤ اِنَّهُمْ هُمُ الْمُفْسِدُوْنَ وَ لٰكِنْ لَّا يَشْعُرُوْنَ » [البقرۃ : ۱۲ ] “Behold! It is they who are the corrupters, but they do not perceive.”