• Moses exhorts his people to accept the truth

• The exhortations of the other apostles of God were first rejected

• People demanding miracles from the apostles

• The disbelievers’ attachment to the false belief and the wrong conduct of their ancestors

Ibrahim (Abraham) Verses 7 – 12

وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَئِنْ كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ

And when declared your Lord: “If ye be grateful1I will increase (My favours) unto you, and if ye be ungrateful, Verily my torment is indeed severe.” (14:7)

وَقَالَ مُوسَىٰ إِنْ تَكْفُرُوا أَنْتُمْ وَمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَغَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ

And said Moses: “If ye be ungrateful, ye and those on earth, all together, verily God is the Absolute (Self-sufficient)2the (Ever) Praised.” (14:8)3

أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَبَأُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ قَوْمِ نُوحٍ وَعَادٍ وَثَمُودَ ۛ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ ۛ لَا يَعْلَمُهُمْ إِلَّا اللَّهُ جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَرَدُّوا أَيْدِيَهُمْ فِي أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَقَالُوا إِنَّا كَفَرْنَا بِمَا أُرْسِلْتُمْ بِهِ وَإِنَّا لَفِي شَكٍّ مِمَّا تَدْعُونَنَا إِلَيْهِ مُرِيبٍ

What! came not unto you the account of those before you, of the people of Noah, and ‘Ad, and Thamud; and those who (came) after them? None knoweth them but God; Came unto them their apostles with clear signs (miracles) but they thrust4their hands5into their mouths6and said they “Verily we disbelieve (that) which ye are sent with and verily we are indeed in a doubt about that unto which ye invite us (which is) disquieting. (14:9)

قَالَتْ رُسُلُهُمْ أَفِي اللَّهِ شَكٌّ فَاطِرِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ يَدْعُوكُمْ لِيَغْفِرَ لَكُمْ مِنْ ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُؤَخِّرَكُمْ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى قَالُوا إِنْ أَنْتُمْ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُنَا تُرِيدُونَ أَنْ تَصُدُّونَا عَمَّا كَانَ يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا فَأْتُونَا بِسُلْطَانٍ مُبِينٍ

Said their apostles! What! about God is there any doubt, the Originator of the heavens and the earth? He inviteth7you to forgive for you your sins and grant you respite for a term appointed!” Said they: “Nothing are ye but men like unto us; ye intend that ye turn us away from what our fathers did worship, Therefore bring ye unto us some 8authority manifesting.” (14:10)

قَالَتْ لَهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ إِنْ نَحْنُ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُكُمْ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَمُنُّ عَلَىٰ مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَمَا كَانَ لَنَا أَنْ نَأْتِيَكُمْ بِسُلْطَانٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ

Said unto them their apostles: “(Yes) (nothing) we are but men like you but God bestoweth9His favours whomsoever He willeth of His servants; and it is not for us that we bring unto you any authority10except by the permission of God; And on God should the believers 11rely.” (14:11)12

وَمَا لَنَا أَلَّا نَتَوَكَّلَ عَلَى اللَّهِ وَقَدْ هَدَانَا سُبُلَنَا وَلَنَصْبِرَنَّ عَلَىٰ مَا آذَيْتُمُونَا وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُتَوَكِّلُونَ

“And what reason have we that we should rely not on God, and indeed He hath guided us unto our ways; and surely we will endure whatever hurt ye may inflict on us; and on God (alone) should the reliant rely.” (14:12)

Commentary

Verse 11

Reliance or the dependence upon God demands remaining steadfast in the event of trials and sufferings and never resorting to seeking the help of anyone else other than God and the godly sources. The Seventh Holy Imam Musa Ibn Ja’far al-Kazim says that there are grades of ‘Tawakkul’ or dependence upon God. To depend upon God in all matters, i.e., to be content with whatever God does, with the conviction that no creature can ever profit or hurt or give or take away or provide or prevent and having no hope whatsoever of any help from any one else besides God.

• 1. Gratitude increases the blessings and bounties and ingratitude takes them, away and invites chastisements and calamities.
• 2. He Who subsists by Himself - needs none & nothing for His Subsistence & every one & every thing needs Him for one’s or its subsistence.
• 3. Refer to verse 31:12.
• 4. To control the intensity of anger. Refer to verse 3:118 as the biting of fingers in excessive anger and repentance - This may be to ridicule the Apostle of God. (Manhaj-us-Sadiqin).
• 5. See 3:118.
• 6. See 3:118.
• 7. Subject to the people believing in the Truth and amending their wrong ways. Sins pardonable are not, those against the others for forgiveness of such Sins depends upon their forgiveness from those who have suffered at the hands of the sinner.
• 8. Miracle.
• 9. Refers to the instructive aspects of the apostles of God.
• 10. Miracle.
• 11. True and genuine reliance is after exhausting all the native resources in the right way & then depending upon the divine mercy.
• 12. Refer to verses 12:67 & 39:38.