Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:107
So Moses threw his staff, and suddenly it was a serpent, manifest.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement: فَأَلْقَى عَصَاهُ فَإِذَا هِيَ ثُعْبَانٌ مُبِينٌ ("Then he cast down his staff, and behold, it was a manifest serpent") (107)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted be His praise, says: Then Mūsā cast down his staff — فَإِذَا هِيَ ثُعْبَانٌ مُبِينٌ ("and behold, it was a manifest serpent"), that is to say a serpent — مُبِينٌ ("manifest"), which means: to whoever saw it, it was manifest that it was truly a serpent.
* * *
And as we have explained this, so have the interpreters of the Qurʾān spoken.
* Mention of those who said that:
14909 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning فَإِذَا هِيَ ثُعْبَانٌ مُبِينٌ ("and behold, it was a manifest serpent"): he said: It changed into an enormous serpent. And another said: as large as the city.
14910 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his statement: فَإِذَا هِيَ ثُعْبَانٌ مُبِينٌ ("and behold, it was a manifest serpent"), he says: and behold, it was a serpent that almost pounced upon him — that is to say: that almost sprang upon him.
14911 - Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning فَإِذَا هِيَ ثُعْبَانٌ مُبِينٌ ("and behold, it was a manifest serpent"): "the thuʿbān" is the male serpent, with its mouth open, its lower jaw placed on the ground and its upper jaw upon the wall of the palace. Then it turned toward Firʿawn to seize him. When he saw it, he panicked before it, leapt up and soiled himself — which he had never done before — and cried out: O Mūsā, take it away, and I will believe in you and I will send the Children of Israel with you! Then Mūsā took it, and it became a staff again.
14912 - ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn al-Haytham related to me, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, saying: Abū Saʿd related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning فَإِذَا هِيَ ثُعْبَانٌ مُبِينٌ ("and behold, it was a manifest serpent"): he said: He cast down the staff and it became a serpent, which placed one of its jaws below the dome and its other jaw above the dome — ʿAbd al-Karīm said: Ibrāhīm said: and Sufyān pointed with his thumb and forefinger like this, in the shape of a bow — and when it sought to seize him, Firʿawn said: O Mūsā, take it away! Then Mūsā took it with his hand, and it became a staff again as it had been the first time.
14913 - Al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Walīd related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: al-Aṣbagh ibn Zayd informed us, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Ayyūb, saying: Saʿīd ibn Jubayr related to me, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: He cast down his staff and it changed into an enormous serpent, with its mouth open, coming swiftly toward Firʿawn. When Firʿawn saw that it was coming toward him, he threw himself from his throne and implored Mūsā to keep it away from him, which he did.
14914 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his statement: ثُعْبَانٌ مُبِينٌ ("a manifest serpent"): he said: the male serpent.
14915 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Maʿqil related to me that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: When Mūsā entered upon Firʿawn, Firʿawn said to him: Do I know you? He said: Yes! He said: أَلَمْ نُرَبِّكَ فِينَا وَلِيدًا ("Did we not raise you among us as a child?") [Surah Al-Shuʿarāʾ: 18]. He said: Then Mūsā gave him the answer that he gave, and Firʿawn said: Seize him! But Mūsā forestalled him and cast down his staff, and behold, it was a manifest serpent, which hurled itself upon the people so that they fled, and twenty-five thousand of them perished, some of them killing one another, and Firʿawn fled until he entered his house.
14916 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Abū Saʿd related to us, saying: I heard Mujāhid say concerning His statement: فَأَلْقَاهَا فَإِذَا هِيَ حَيَّةٌ تَسْعَى ("Then he cast it down, and behold, it was a serpent gliding swiftly") [Surah Ṭā Hā: 20]: he said: The distance between its two jaws was forty cubits.
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Footnotes:
(5) See the explanation of "mubīn" in what preceded in the linguistic indexes (b-y-n).
(6) In the printed edition it reads "kādat" (feminine) in both places, and I have adopted what is in the manuscript. And "the serpent" (al-ḥayya) has a masculine and a feminine form.
(7) "Al-laḥy" (with fatḥa on the lām and sukūn on the ḥāʾ) — and they are "laḥyān" (two jaws): these are the two bones in which, from the inside, the teeth are set, in the mouth of every creature that has jaws.
(8) "Al-fuqm" (with ḍamma followed by sukūn) is "al-laḥy" (the jaw), which I have explained above, and they are "fuqmān" (two jaws).
(9) "Al-ṭāq" is the vault of a building, that is, that which is curved in buildings as though it were a bow.
(10) "Iqtaḥama ʿan sarīrihi" — he threw himself down and fell from his throne.
(11) In the printed edition and the manuscript it reads: "Mūsā said to him: Do I know you?", which is without doubt an error; the correct reading is adopted from the tafsīr of Ibn Kathīr 3:527.
(12) In the printed edition and the manuscript it reads: "He cast down his staff, and behold, it was a serpent gliding swiftly", but that does not occur in any recitation, and the recitation is as I have adopted.
