Tafseer of The Stories · Al-Qasas · 28:6
And establish them in the land and show Pharaoh and [his minister] Haman and their soldiers through them that which they had feared.
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 explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمْ فِي الأَرْضِ وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَحْذَرُونَ (6) ("And that We give them a firm place in the land, and that We show Pharaoh and Hāmān and the armies of them both that very thing which they dreaded from them") (28:6).
His saying: وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمْ فِي الأرْضِ ("And that We give them a firm place in the land") means: and that We prepare for them an abode in the land of Syria (al-Shām) and Egypt. وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا ("And that We show Pharaoh and Hāmān and the armies of them both") — they had been informed that their ruin would come about at the hand of a man from the Children of Israel, and for that reason they were in fear concerning them. Therefore Pharaoh slaughtered their sons and spared their women alive. Thus Allah showed to Pharaoh and Hāmān and the armies of them both — from the Children of Israel, by means of Mūsā ibn ʿImrān, His prophet — that very thing which they dreaded from them: their own ruin and the destruction of their dwellings and houses.
As Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمْ فِي الأرْضِ وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَحْذَرُونَ ("And that We give them a firm place in the land, and that We show Pharaoh and Hāmān and the armies of them both that very thing which they dreaded from them"): something which the people dreaded.
He said: And it was reported to us that a soothsayer made a prediction to the enemy of Allah, Pharaoh, and said: "This year a boy will be born among the Children of Israel who will take your kingship from you." Therefore he pursued their sons that year: he killed their sons and spared their women alive, as a precaution against what the soothsayer had told him.
Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: Pharaoh had a man who looked out for him and informed him — he means that he was a soothsayer (kāhin) — and he said to him: "This year a boy will be born who will take away your kingship." Therefore Pharaoh slaughtered their sons and spared their women alive, as a precaution. That is His saying: وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَحْذَرُونَ ("And that We show Pharaoh and Hāmān and the armies of them both that very thing which they dreaded from them").
The Qurʾān-reciters differed over the reading of His saying: وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ ("And that We show Pharaoh and Hāmān"). Most of the reciters of the Hijāz and Basra, and some of the Kūfans, read this as: وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ , with the meaning: and that We show, with the nūn, connecting it to His saying: وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمْ ("And that We give them a firm place"). And most of the reciters of Kūfa read it as: "وَيَرَى فِرْعَوْنُ" ("and Pharaoh sees"), so that the action belongs to Pharaoh, with the meaning: and Pharaoh beholds, with the yāʾ of yarā, and with the nominative (rafʿ) of Pharaoh, Hāmān, and the armies.
And the correct view concerning this is that they are two well-known readings among the reciters of the regions, which are close to one another in meaning. Each of the two has been read by learned reciters, and whichever of the two the reciter reads, he has gotten it right, for it is established that Pharaoh would not have seen from Mūsā what he saw except by Allah, Mighty and Exalted, showing it to him; and Allah, exalted is His mention, would not have shown it to him unless he saw it.
