Tafseer of Abraham · Ibrahim · 14:5
And We certainly sent Moses with Our signs, [saying], "Bring out your people from darknesses into the light and remind them of the days of Allah." Indeed in that are signs for everyone patient and grateful.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah, exalted be His remembrance, says: We sent Mūsā before you, O Muḥammad, with Our signs and Our arguments, just as We sent you to your people with similar signs and arguments.
Thus Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ [change of chain] — and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan al-Ashyab related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid [change of chain] — and al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah: وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا مُوسَى بِآيَاتِنَا : he said: "With the clear proofs."
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا مُوسَى بِآيَاتِنَا : he said: "The nine signs — the flood and what accompanied it."
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning أَرْسَلْنَا مُوسَى بِآيَاتِنَا : he said: "The nine clear signs."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
As for His word أَنْ أَخْرِجْ قَوْمَكَ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ (bring your people out of the darknesses into the light): just as We have sent down this Book to you, O Muḥammad, that you may bring the people out of the darknesses into the light by the leave of their Lord. By His word أَنْ أَخْرِجْ قَوْمَكَ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ is meant: call them — from the errors to the guidance, and from disbelief (kufr) to faith (īmān). As in:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا مُوسَى بِآيَاتِنَا أَنْ أَخْرِجْ قَوْمَكَ مِنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ : he said: "From the errors to the guidance."
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Hishām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda — the same.
As for His word وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ (and remind them of the days of Allah): Allah, glorious and exalted, says: admonish them with what has come to them of My favors in the days that have passed. By mentioning "the days" He contented Himself without naming the favors He intended, because they were days known to them — days on which Allah had bestowed great favors upon them, had delivered them from the people of Pharaoh after they were in the humiliating torment they endured, had drowned their enemy Pharaoh and his people, and had made them inherit their land, their dwellings, and their possessions.
Some philologists said: its meaning is: make them fearful of what descended upon ʿĀd and Thamūd and the like of them in the way of torment, and by pardon toward others. He said: this is, in meaning, as when one says: "treat them with severity and gentleness."
Others among them said: we have found in Arabic usage a witness for naming favors as "days." Then they cited the poem of ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm:
وَأَيَّامِ لَنَا غُرٍّ طِوَالٍ عَصَيْنَا الْمَلْكَ فِيهَا أَنْ نَدِينَا
And they said: it is possible that he called them "illustrious and long" because of their good deeds toward the people therein. And they said: this is a witness for the one who said that وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ has the meaning of the favors of Allah. Then they said: it is also possible that they were called "illustrious" because of their dominance over the king and their resistance to him, so that those days are illustrious for them and long for their enemies.
Abū Jaʿfar says: the one who said this and supposes that this verse is a proof that "the days" have the meaning of "favors" has no ground for it. For ʿAmr ibn Kulthūm described what he described of the days as "illustrious" because of the honor of his tribe therein and their resistance to the king by not obeying him. This is as when people say: "There was never a white day for so-and-so," by which they mean: there was never a memorable day of good for him. As for his describing them as "long" — one describes only as "long" in times of adversity, as al-Nābigha said:
كِلِينِي لِهَمٍّ يَا أُمَيْمَةَ نَاصِبِ وَلَيْلٍ أُقَاسِيهِ بَطِيء الكَوَاكِبِ
So ʿAmr described them as long because of the heavy distress they brought upon the enemies of his people. There is no interpretation other than what I have said.
And in agreement with what we have said about this, the scholars of Qurʾānic interpretation also spoke.
Mention of those who said that:
Yaḥyā ibn Ṭalḥa al-Yarbūʿī related to me, saying: Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ : he said: "With the favors of Allah."
Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥabīb ibn al-Shahīd related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿUbayd al-Muktib, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ : he said: "With the favors of Allah."
Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿUbayd al-Muktib, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
Aḥmad related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: ʿAbathar related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us [change of chain]; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ : he said: "With the favors of Allah."
Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ : he said: "With the favors that He had bestowed upon them: delivering them from the people of Pharaoh, splitting the sea for them, spreading the clouds over them, sending down upon them the manna and the quails."
Aḥmad related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Ḥabīb ibn Ḥassān related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ : he said: "With the favors of Allah."
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ : he said: "Remind them of the favors of Allah toward them."
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ : he said: "With the favors of Allah."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word of Allah وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ : he said: "His days on which He took vengeance upon the peoples who disobeyed Him — make them fearful thereof, warn them thereof, and remind them that the same may befall them as befell the former peoples."
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: al-Ḥimmānī related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Abān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, on the authority of Ubayy, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, concerning وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ : he said: "The favors of Allah."
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, on the authority of al-Thawrī, on the authority of ʿUbaydullāh or someone else, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللَّهِ : he said: "With the favors of Allah."
إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِكُلِّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ (Verily, in that are signs for every patient and grateful one): this means: in the past days of My favors toward them — that is, toward the people of Mūsā — are signs, that is: lessons and admonitions, for every patient and grateful one, that is: for whoever is patient in obeying Allah and grateful for the favors He has bestowed upon him.
Al-Muthanná related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Hishām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the word of Allah, glorious and exalted: إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِكُلِّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ : he said: "How excellent is the servant who, when he is tried, is patient, and when he is given, is grateful."
