Yunus 10:73–109

Noah’s people denied him and did not accept him. I therefore saved him and those believers who were with him in the ship. I made them the successors of those before them; and I destroyed those who rejected the signs and evidence that he brought by means of the Flood. So reflect, O Messenger, over the fate of the people who were warned by Noah (peace be with him) but did not believe.

Then, after a period of time, We sent, after Noah, messengers to their people. The messenger came to their communities with overwhelming miracles and pure laws. But they had no intention to believe on account of their previous insistence on rejection of the messengers. Allah therefore sealed their hearts. Just as We sealed the hearts of the followers of the messengers of the past We will seal the hearts of the disbelievers who overstep Allah’s limits by committing disbelief in every time and place.

After a period of time, following these messengers, I sent Moses and his brother, Aaron, to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and the nobles from his people. I sent them with miracles indicating their truthfulness, but the people of Pharaoh were too proud to accept what the messengers brought. They were a sinful people because of their disbelief in Allah and rejection of His messengers.

When the truth was brought by Moses and Aaron (peace be upon them) to Pharaoh and the nobles from his people, they said: These miracles – of the staff and the hand – that Moses has brought is clear magic and is not the revealed truth.

Moses said to them in disapproval: Are you calling the truth, when it has come to you, magic? Never! This is not magic. I know that a magician can never be successful, so why would I practise magic?

The people of Pharaoh gave Moses the following response: Have you brought this magic to turn us away from the religion we found our fathers following, so that you and your brother can gain control of us? We are not going to believe you two, O Moses and Aaron.

Pharaoh said to his people, ‘Bring me every person who is knowledgeable and skilled in magic’.

When the magicians were brought to Pharaoh, Moses (peace be upon him) said to them with full faith that he would defeat them, ‘Throw down, O magicians, whatever you have to throw’.

When they threw down their magical spells, Moses (peace be upon him) said to them: What you have shown is magic. Allah will cause what you have done to be nothing and of no effect. You cause corruption on earth by means of your magic and Allah does not set right the action of a person who causes corruption.

Allah will establish the truth and give it weight with His words of decree and with the proof and evidence contained in His words of law, even though the sinful disbelievers from the people of Pharaoh dislike it.

The people resolved to turn away and none accepted Moses (peace be upon him), despite the open miracles and clear proof he brought, besides a few youth from his people, the Israelites. Those who persisted in rejection did so out of fear that Pharaoh and the nobles from his people would turn them away from their faith by imposing a punishment on them if they came to know of their belief. Pharaoh was high-handed in his authority over Egypt and its people, and he was of those who overstepped the limit with respect to disbelief and in killing and punishing the Israelites.

Moses (peace be upon him) said to his people, ‘O my people, if you have true faith in Allah, place your reliance in Him alone, if you have submitted. Placing reliance in Allah will protect you from harm and will bring you good’.

They responded to Moses (peace be upon him) and said to him: In Allah alone we place our trust. O our Lord, do not give the wrongdoers power over us because they will try to take us away from our religion by inflicting punishments on us, by killing us and by tempting us.

Rescue us through Your mercy, O our Lord, from the hands of the people of Pharaoh who are disbelievers, because they have made us into slaves and have harmed us by inflicting punishments on us and by killing us.

I revealed to Moses and his brother, Aaron (peace be upon them), that they should select and make homes for their people to worship Me alone; that they should make their homes face the direction of the qiblah (which was then Jerusalem); and that they should perform the ritual prayer with perfection. I also told Moses to inform the believers of news that will please them: the news of My assistance and support for them; My destruction of their enemy; and My making them successors on earth.

Moses (peace be upon him) said: O our Lord, You have given Pharaoh and the nobles from his people the glitz and glamour of this world. You have also given them wealth in this worldly life; but they were not grateful to You for what You gave them. Instead, they used that to mislead others from Your path. O our Lord, utterly destroy their wealth. Make their hearts hard so that they do not believe, unless they see the painful punishment at a time when their belief will be of no benefit to them.

Allah said to Moses and Aaron that He had accepted their prayer against Pharaoh and the nobles from his people. He instructed them to remain firm on their religion and not to deviate from it by following the path of the ignorant ones who do not know the path of truth.

I made the Israelites safely cross the sea after I split it open. Pharaoh and his troops pursued them out of oppression and enmity. Then, when the sea closed on him, bringing them to the point of drowning and he lost all hope of being saved, he said, ‘I believe that there is no being worthy of worship besides the One Whom the Israelites have accepted, and I am one of those who submit to Allah by following Him’.

Do you believe now after losing hope of life? You, O Pharaoh, had gone against Allah before the punishment by disbelieving in Him and preventing others from His path and you were one of those who spread corruption because of your own misguidance and your leading others astray.

So today I will take you out, O Pharaoh, from the sea and place you on a high piece of ground so that those who come after you can take a lesson from you. But many people are unmindful of My proof and evidence indicating My power, and they do not reflect over them.

I settled the Israelites in a fine and excellent place in the blessed lands of the Levant; and I provided them with pure and lawful provision. They did not differ in the matter of religion until the Qur’ān came to them confirming what they read in the Torah about the description of Muhammad (peace be upon him). When they rejected the revelation, their homelands were taken away from them. Your Lord, O Messenger, will decide between them on the Day of Judgement regarding the things they differed about; and He will repay those who were on truth, as well as those who were false, with what they deserve.

If you, O Messenger, are in doubt or confusion about the reality of the Qur’ān that I have revealed to you, then ask those Jews who read the Torah and the Christians who read the Gospel to confirm it. They will tell you that what was revealed to you is the truth because they have the description of it in their scriptures. The truth, about which there is no doubt, has come to you from your Lord, so do not be of those who have doubt.

Do not be of those who deny Allah’s proof and evidence, because that will make you one of those who have lost their own souls by bringing them to the point of destruction because of their disbelief. All these warnings are meant to show the seriousness of doubt and denial, despite the fact that the Prophet is protected from such things.

Those against whom Allah’s decree – that they will die as disbelievers due to their insistence on it – is established will never believe –

Even if every explanatory or universal sign comes to them, until they witness the painful punishment and believe at a time when their belief will not benefit them.

Never did a town to which I sent messengers to believe in faith validly and beneficially and before seeing the punishment, except the people of Jonah. When they truly accepted faith, I removed the punishment of disgrace and humiliation from them in the worldly life, and I let them have enjoyment until the end of their lives.

If your Lord, O Messenger, had willed for everyone on earth to believe, they would have done so. However, He did not will it to be so for a wise reason. He misguides whomever He wills through His justice; and He guides whomever He wills through His grace. You do not have the ability to force people to become believers: their guidance to faith lies only in Allah’s Hands.

It is not possible for any soul to believe by itself unless Allah permits. Belief only happens with His will, so do not lose yourself in grief over them. Allah places suffering and disgrace on those who do not apply their minds to His proof, instructions and prohibitions.

Say, O Messenger, to the idolaters who ask you for signs: Think about the signs that are in the heavens and the earth, which indicate Allah’s Oneness and power. Sending down signs and messengers are of no use for people who will not believe because of their insistence on disbelief.

Are these denying people waiting for something similar to what Allah imposed on the past communities who had denied? Say, O Messenger, to them, ‘Wait for Allah’s punishment. I too am waiting with you for Allah’s promise’.

Then I will send down the punishment on them and I will save My messengers and those of faith with them, so that they are not injured by what hurts their people. Just as I saved those messengers and the believers with them, I will most certainly save Allah’s Messenger and the believers with him, which is My duty to them.

Say, O Messenger: O people, if you are in doubt about my religion which I call you towards, the religion of monotheism, then I am certain of your religion being false and I will therefore not follow it. I will not worship those whom you worship besides Allah, but I will only worship Allah, the One Who will cause you to die. He has instructed me to be of those who are sincere to Him in religion.

He has likewise instructed me to remain firm on the true religion, inclining away from all other religions, and He has prohibited me from being one of those who associate partners with Him.

Do not worship, O Messenger, besides Allah, the idols and false gods that have no ability to benefit others, nor can they inflict harm on others. If you worship them, you will then be one of the wrongdoers who breaks Allah’s right and the right of their own souls.

If Allah afflicts you, O Messenger, with a disaster and you desire to remove it, then know that no one can remove it except Him, may He be glorified. If He wants ease for you, then there is no one who can repel His grace. He makes His grace reach whomever He wills of His servants. No one can compel Him. He is Forgiving and Merciful to those of His servants who repent to Him.

Say, O Messenger: O people, the Qur’ān has come to you as a revelation from your Lord. Whoever follows the right path and has faith in it, the benefit of that will return to him, because Allah is in no need of the obedience of His servants. Yet whoever strays, the effect of his straying will only harm him, because Allah is not affected by the disobedience of His servants. I am not a guardian over you, to watch over your actions and to take you to account for them.

Follow, O Messenger, what your Lord reveals to you and act on it. Be patient with the harms caused by those who oppose you from your people, whilst you convey the message as instructed. Remain firm on this path until Allah passes judgement with respect to them: by giving you victory over them in the world and by punishing them in the Afterlife, if they die as disbelievers.