Tafseer of The Stories · Al-Qasas · 28:4
Indeed, Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and made its people into factions, oppressing a sector among them, slaughtering their [newborn] sons and keeping their females alive. Indeed, he was of the corrupters.
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.
The word of Allah, the Exalted: إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ عَلا فِي الأَرْضِ وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا يَسْتَضْعِفُ طَائِفَةً مِنْهُمْ يُذَبِّحُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيِي نِسَاءَهُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ (4)
Allah, the Exalted, says: Pharaoh set himself up as a tyrant and an arrogant one in the land of Egypt and exalted himself over its people and subjugated them until they acknowledged his enslavement (al-ʿubūda).
As Muḥammad ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ عَلا فِي الأرْضِ — that is to say: he behaved as a tyrant in the land.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ عَلا فِي الأرْضِ — that is to say: he committed injustice in the land.
His word وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا — by "al-shiyaʿ" he means: the groups. That is to say: he divided its people into scattered groups.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَجَعَل أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا — that is to say: into groups: he slaughtered one group of them, let another group live, punished one group, and made one group into slaves (yastaʿbidu). Allah, the Almighty and Exalted, says: يُذَبِّحُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيِي نِسَاءَهُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ .
Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: As for the situation of Pharaoh — he had seen a dream in his sleep that a fire had come out of Jerusalem, spread over the houses of Egypt, burned the Copts but spared the Children of Israel, and burned the houses of Egypt. He summoned the sorcerers, the diviners, the trackers, and the soothsayers and asked them about his dream. They said to him: "There shall come forth from this land — from which the Children of Israel have come, that is, Jerusalem — a man at whose hands the destruction of Egypt shall lie." Thereupon he commanded that no boy be born among the Children of Israel without being slaughtered, and no girl without being spared. To the Copts he said: "Look at your slaves (mamālīk) who work outside, bring them inside, and put the Children of Israel to do that filthy work." So he put the Children of Israel to the labors of their slaves, and their slaves were brought inside. This is the situation alluded to by: إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ عَلا فِي الأرْضِ وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا — namely the Children of Israel, when he had put them to the filthy work.
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 — all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا — he said: "he divided them."
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: وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا — he said: "into groups."
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word: وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا — he said: "al-shiyaʿ means: the groups."
His word يَسْتَضْعِفُ طَائِفَةً مِنْهُمْ — it is mentioned that his humiliation of them consisted in his enslavement of them.
Mention of who said that:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to me, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: "he made one group of them into slaves (yastaʿbidu), slaughtered one group, killed one group, and let one group live."
His word إِنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ — that is to say: he was among those who sowed corruption in the land by killing those who did not deserve the death penalty, enslaving (istiʿbād) those whom he had no right to enslave, his tyranny in the land over its people, and his arrogance toward the worship of his Lord.
