Surah Al-Araf, Verse 155-156

﷽

*Surah Al-Araf, Verse 155:*

وَاخْتَارَ مُوسَىٰ قَوْمَهُ سَبْعِينَ رَجُلًا لِّمِيقَاتِنَا فَلَمَّا أَخَذَتْهُمُ الرَّجْفَةُ قَالَ رَبِّ لَوْ شِئْتَ أَهْلَكْتَهُم مِّن قَبْلُ وَإِيَّايَ أَتُهْلِكُنَا بِمَا فَعَلَ السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَّا إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا فِتْنَتُكَ تُضِلُّ بِهَا مَن تَشَاءُ وَتَهْدِي مَن تَشَاءُ أَنتَ وَلِيُّنَا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الْغَافِرِينَ

And Musa (Moses) chose out of his people seventy (of the best) men for Our appointed time and place of meeting, and when they were seized with a violent earthquake, he said: "O my Lord, if it had been Your Will, You could have destroyed them and me before; would You destroy us for the deeds of the foolish ones among us? It is only Your Trial by which You lead astray whom You will, and keep guided whom You will. You are our Wali (Protector), so forgive us and have Mercy on us, for You are the Best of those who forgive.

#COMMENTARY

Seventy of the elders were taken up to the Mount, but left at some distance from the place where Almighty ALLĀH spoke to Moses. They were to be silent witnesses, but their faith was not yet complete, and they dared to say to Moses: "We shall never believe in thee until we see Almighty ALLĀH in public" (chapter ii, verse 55). They were dazed with thunder and lightning, and might have been destroyed but for ALLĀH's mercy on the intercession of Moses.

Rajfat: violent quaking, earthquake, I ake it to refer to the same event as is described by the word Sā'iqāt in chapter ii, verse 55, the thunder and lightning that shook the Mountain-side.

Moses was guiltless, but he identifies himself with his whole people, and intercedes with Almighty ALLĀH on their behalf. He recognises that it was a trial, in which some of his people failed to stand the test. Such failure was worthy of punishment. But he pleads for mercy for such as erred from weakness and not from contumacy, and were truly repentant, although all who erred were in their several degrees worthy of punishment.

﷽

*Surah Al-Araf, Verse 156:*

وَاكْتُبْ لَنَا فِي هَٰذِهِ الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ إِنَّا هُدْنَا إِلَيْكَ قَالَ عَذَابِي أُصِيبُ بِهِ مَنْ أَشَاءُ وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَالَّذِينَ هُم بِآيَاتِنَا يُؤْمِنُونَ

And ordain for us good in this world, and in the Hereafter. Certainly we have turned unto You." He said: (As to) My Punishment I afflict therewith whom I will and My Mercy embraces all things. That (Mercy) I shall ordain for those who are the Muttaqun (pious - see V. 2:2), and give Zakat; and those who believe in Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs and revelations, etc.);

#COMMENTARY

ALLĀH's mercy is in and for all the things. All nature subserves a common purpose, which is for the good of all His creatures. Our faculties and our understandings are all instances of His grace and mercy. Each unit or factor among his creatures benefits from the others and receives them as ALLĀH's mercy to itself: and in its turn, each contributes to the benefit of the others and is thus an instance of ALLĀH's mercy to them. His mercy is universal and all-pervasive; while His justice and punishment are reserved for those who swerve from His Plan and (to use a mediaeval juridicial formula) go out of His Peace.

The personal grace and mercy-and their opposite-are referred to the singular pronoun "I" while the impersonal Law, by which ALLĀH's Signs operate in His universal, is referred to the plural pronoun of authority and dignity, "We."