Tafseer of The Poets · Ash-Shu'araa · 26:61
And when the two companies saw one another, the companions of Moses said, "Indeed, we are to be overtaken!"
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.
Allah, exalted is His remembrance, says: When the two hosts saw one another — the host of Mūsā, that is, the Children of Israel, and the host of Pharaoh, that is, the Copts — قَالَ أَصْحَابُ مُوسَى إِنَّا لَمُدْرَكُونَ (the companions of Mūsā said: "We shall surely be overtaken") — that is to say: we shall be overtaken; Pharaoh and his armies will now reach us and kill us. It is reported that they said this to Mūsā, regarding him as an evil omen.
* Mention of those who said this:
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of his father, who said: I asked ʿAbd al-Raḥmān about فَلَمَّا تَرَاءَى الْجَمْعَانِ قَالَ أَصْحَابُ مُوسَى إِنَّا لَمُدْرَكُونَ (When the two hosts saw one another, the companions of Mūsā said: "We shall surely be overtaken"). He said: They regarded Mūsā as an evil omen and said: أُوذِينَا مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَأْتِيَنَا وَمِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جِئْتَنَا (We were persecuted before you came to us and after you came).
Mūsā related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: فَلَمَّا تَرَاءَى الْجَمْعَانِ (When the two hosts saw one another) — the Children of Israel saw Pharaoh staring at them and said: إِنَّا لَمُدْرَكُونَ and they said: "O Mūsā, أُوذِينَا مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَأْتِيَنَا وَمِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جِئْتَنَا — today Pharaoh will reach us and kill us; we shall surely be overtaken — the sea is before us and Pharaoh is behind us."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Bakr, on the authority of Shahr ibn Ḥawshab, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When Mūsā reached the sea and the violent storm arose, the companions of Mūsā looked behind them at the wind and before them at the sea, and they said: قَالَ أَصْحَابُ مُوسَى إِنَّا لَمُدْرَكُونَ * قَالَ كَلا إِنَّ مَعِيَ رَبِّي سَيَهْدِينِ (The companions of Mūsā said: "We shall surely be overtaken." He said: "By no means! My Lord is with me; He will guide me.").
The Qurʾān-reciters differed concerning its reading: the majority of the reciters in the great cities, except for al-Aʿraj, read it as إِنَّا لَمُدْرَكُونَ, while al-Aʿraj read it as "innā la-muddarrakūn", as one says: nazala and anzala (two forms of the same verb). The reading that holds with us is that upon which the authoritative reciters have reached agreement, namely the reading of the reciters of the great cities.
