Tafseer of The Stories · Al-Qasas · 28:32
Insert your hand into the opening of your garment; it will come out white, without disease. And draw in your arm close to you [as prevention] from fear, for those are two proofs from your Lord to Pharaoh and his establishment. Indeed, they have been a people defiantly disobedient."
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.
As for His statement: اسْلُكْ يَدَكَ فِي جَيْبِكَ — He says: insert your hand; there are two dialectal forms: salaktu-hu and aslaktu-hu. فِي جَيْبِكَ — He says: into the collar-opening of your garment.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning اسْلُكْ يَدَكَ فِي جَيْبِكَ : that is, into the neck-opening of your garment.
We have already explained earlier the reason why he was commanded to insert his hand into the neck-opening and not into the sleeve.
As for His statement: تَخْرُجْ بَيْضَاءَ مِنْ غَيْرِ سُوءٍ — He says: it comes out white without any skin disease (baraṣ).
As Bishr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Qurra ibn Khālid related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His statement: اسْلُكْ يَدَكَ فِي جَيْبِكَ تَخْرُجْ بَيْضَاءَ مِنْ غَيْرِ سُوءٍ ; he said: it came out like a lamp — and Mūsā knew for certain that he had met his Lord.
As for His statement: وَاضْمُمْ إِلَيْكَ جَنَاحَكَ — He says: press your arm toward yourself.
As al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said, concerning وَاضْمُمْ إِلَيْكَ جَنَاحَكَ : your arm.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَاضْمُمْ إِلَيْكَ جَنَاحَكَ ; he said: his wings are the forearms; the upper arm is the wing; the palm is the hand — وَاضْمُمْ يَدَكَ إِلَى جَنَاحِكَ تَخْرُجْ بَيْضَاءَ مِنْ غَيْرِ سُوءٍ .
As for His statement: مِنَ الرَّهْبِ — He says: because of the fear and fright that had seized you from beholding the terror of the serpent.
And in a similar vein to what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of those who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, 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 statement: مِنَ الرَّهْبِ ; he said: the fright (al-faraqa).
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — similar to the foregoing.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَاضْمُمْ إِلَيْكَ جَنَاحَكَ مِنَ الرَّهْبِ : that is, because of the fright (al-ruʿb).
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement: مِنَ الرَّهْبِ ; he said: because of the fright and fear that had seized him from the serpent. He said: that is the rahb. And he recited the word of Allah: وَيَدْعُونَنَا رَغَبًا وَرَهَبًا ; he said: out of fear and hope.
The reciters differed concerning its reading. Most of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and Basra read: (مِنَ الرَّهَب) with fatḥa on the rāʾ and the hāʾ. Most of the reciters of Kūfa read: (مِنَ الرُّهْبِ) with ḍamma on the rāʾ and sukūn on the hāʾ. The position concerning this is that they are two readings that agree in meaning and are well known among the reciters in all the lands — whichever the reciter chooses, he is correct.
As for His statement: فَذَانِكَ بُرْهَانَانِ مِنْ رَبِّكَ — Allah the Exalted — exalted be His remembrance — says: these two that We have shown you, O Mūsā — the staff that became a serpent, and your hand, which was brown and now shines white without any skin disease — are two proofs (burhānān): that is, two signs and two arguments. The root of burhān is bayān (clarity/proof); one says to someone who makes a claim and is asked for proof: "Bring your burhān for what you say" — that is: bring its clarification and confirmation.
And in a similar vein to what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of those who said this:
Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning فَذَانِكَ بُرْهَانَانِ مِنْ رَبِّكَ : the staff and the hand are two signs.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn 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: فَذَانِكَ بُرْهَانَانِ مِنْ رَبِّكَ — two clarifications from your Lord.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, concerning فَذَانِكَ بُرْهَانَانِ مِنْ رَبِّكَ : these are two proofs.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His statement: فَذَانِكَ بُرْهَانَانِ مِنْ رَبِّكَ ; he recited: هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ — that is: a sign that we recognize. And he said: بُرْهَانَانِ — two signs from Allah.
The reciters differed concerning the reading of فَذَانِكَ . Most of the reciters of all the lands — except Ibn Kathīr and Abū ʿAmr — read: فَذَانِكَ with a light nūn, because it is the nūn of the dual. Ibn Kathīr and Abū ʿAmr read: "faDhānnika" with doubling of the nūn.
The Arabic philologists differed concerning the reason for the doubling. Some of the Basran philologists said: the nūn was strengthened for emphasis (tawkīd), just as one also places the lām in it. Some of the Kūfan philologists said: the nūn was strengthened in order to distinguish it from the nūn that drops off upon annexation (iḍāfa), because hātān and hādhān are not used in an iḍāfa construction. Another of them said: it is from the dialect of those who said "hādhā-ā," adding an extra alif — thus here an extra nūn was added to distinguish them from the declined nouns. And he said concerning (dhānika): it was originally "dhāka" among those who said "hādhāni yā hādhā," but the doubling of the iḍāfa was avoided and it was followed with the lām, because the iḍāfa is followed with the lām. Abū ʿAmr used to say: the doubling of the nūn in (dhānika) is from the dialect of Quraysh.
He says: إِلَى فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَئِهِ — to Firʿawn and the notables of his people — as a proof against them and as an indication of the reality of your prophethood, O Mūsā. إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا قَوْمًا فَاسِقِينَ — He says: Firʿawn and his retinue were a people of unbelievers.
