Tafseer of Taa-Haa · Taa-Haa · 20:43
Go, both of you, to Pharaoh. Indeed, he has transgressed.
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.
Go both of you to Pharaoh with these signs — for he has indeed gone beyond all bounds in his error and his corruption; convey to him My messages. وَلا تَنِيَا فِي ذِكْرِي — that is to say: do not slacken in the remembrance of Me with respect to what I have commanded you and forbidden you; for your remembrance of Me strengthens your resolve and makes your feet firm, because when you remember Me, you remember the bounties and favors of Mine toward you — countless and not to be numbered. Of this verb it is said: wanā fulān fī hādhā l-amr, wa-ʿan hādhā l-amr — when he slackened in it — and he yānī, wanyan, as the poet al-ʿAjjāj said:
Famā wanā Muḥammadun mundh an ghafar Lahu l-ilāhu mā maḍā wa-mā ghayr
(And Muḥammad has not slackened, from the moment Allah forgave him what had passed and what remained.)
In the same sense in which we have explained this, the exegetes spoke.
Those who said this are mentioned below:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word (wa-lā taniyā): he said: "do not be slow."
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 وَلا تَنِيَا فِي ذِكْرِي : he said: do not slacken in My remembrance.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word وَلا تَنِيَا فِي ذِكْرِي : he said: do not slacken.
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: (taniyā) — slacken.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word وَلا تَنِيَا فِي ذِكْرِي : he said: do not slacken in My remembrance.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word وَلا تَنِيَا فِي ذِكْرِي : he said: do not slacken.
I was told, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word وَلا تَنِيَا فِي ذِكْرِي : he said: do not slacken.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word وَلا تَنِيَا فِي ذِكْرِي : he said: "the one who is wānī (slow) is the one who is negligent and careless — that is the wānī."