Your Lord called Moses: “Go to the wrongdoing people, the people of Pharaoh. Will they have no fear of God?”
He said: “My Lord, I fear that they will charge me with falsehood, and then my breast will be straitened and my tongue will not be fluent. So send as well for Aaron. Moreover, they have a charge of crime against me, and I fear that they will kill me.”
Said He: “By no means! Go forth, then, both of you, with Our signs; We are with you, listening to all. Go, both of you, to Pharaoh, and say: ‘We are messengers from the Lord of all the worlds: Let the children of Israel go with us.’” (The Poets: Al-Shu’ara: 26: 10-17)
The address here is to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). As the surah opened, God says to him: “Would you, perhaps, torment yourself to death (with grief) because they would not believe? If We will, We can send down to them from the skies a sign before which their necks will remain bent in submission. Yet whenever any fresh reminder comes to them from the Most Merciful, they always turn their backs on it. They have indeed denied (the truth of revelation); and they will in time come to understand what it was they were wont to deride.” (Verses 3-6) The surah then gives him accounts of what happened to some of the communities that rejected God’s messages and how they suffered His punishment.
“Your Lord called Moses: ‘Go to the wrongdoing people, the people of Pharaoh. Will they have no fear of God?’” (Verses 10-11) These two verses paint the first scene that shows Moses being given his message. It begins with exposing those people, declaring that they were “wrongdoing.” They did themselves a great wrong by denying God’s message, and they did much wrong to the children of Israel, killing their men but sparing their women and inflicting on them much torture. Hence, the surah describes them as wrongdoing before it specifies who they were. It then calls on Moses and all people to wonder at them: “Will they have no fear of God?” Will they continue to be heedless of the likely outcome of their wrongdoing? Will they not mend their erring ways? Theirs is certainly a singular situation.
But Moses was not unaware of Pharaoh and his regime. Indeed he was fully aware of his oppressive rule and the injustice he meted out to people. Hence, Moses realizes that the task assigned to him is difficult and that his mission is bound to be met with stiff resistance. Hence, he complains to his Lord of his own weakness. His complaints, however, are not those of one who does not wish to carry out the task. On the contrary, he is determined to fulfill it, but he seeks help from God. “He said: ‘My Lord, I fear that they will charge me with falsehood, and then my breast will be straitened and my tongue will not be fluent. So send as well for Aaron. Moreover, they have a charge of crime against me, and I fear that they will kill me.’” (Verses 12-14)
What Moses’ statement signifies is that he was not worried about being rejected by Pharaoh and his people; rather, what worried him was that this should happen at a time when he felt ill at ease and his tongue would not be fluent with his argument. He suffered from a block in his speech, which he mentioned in Surah 20, Ta Ha, as he prayed to God to remove it: “My Lord, open up my heart (to Your light), and make my mission easy for me, and free my tongue from its impediment, so that people may understand what I say. (20: 25-28) Should this block occur as one is speaking, it makes the speaker ill at ease, which in turn makes the block worse. Thus, the person suffering from it feels unable to express himself. This again increases his angry feelings in a vicious circle. This happens frequently. Hence, Moses fears that he might suffer an occurrence of this block as he confronts a despotic tyrant like Pharaoh with God’s message. Hence, he complains to God of his own weakness, and expresses his fears in respect of delivering his Lord’s message. This is the point of his request that God may include his brother Aaron in carrying out this task. This request does not express any reluctance on Moses’ part to carry out God’s orders, but reflects his fear of falling short of the task. Aaron is more eloquent, which means that he has an easier temperament. Thus, should Moses suffer a block, or should he feel straitened in his heart, Aaron could provide the proper argument. Although Moses prays, as related in Surah 20, that God remove his block of speech, he requests that Aaron should be assigned to help in the delivery of the divine message.
The same may be said of his other statement: “Moreover, they have a charge of crime against me, and I fear that they will kill me.” (Verse 14) It does not express any fear of confronting Pharaoh with the call to believe in God, or seek to abandon the mission assigned to him; rather, it is given as an added reason for the need to include Aaron in this task. Should Pharaoh kill Moses, Aaron would be able to carry on the mission and complete the task. Thus, we should read Moses’ prayer as a precaution aiming to ensure that the divine message is properly and fully delivered. The precaution is first against a speech block that may make the message appear to be weak, deprived of proper presentation and advocacy. Secondly, it is a precaution against its coming to a halt, should Moses be killed on account of the criminal charge leveled against him. It is only such an attitude that could be expected from a messenger like Moses whom God had chosen and reared under His own watchful eye.
Knowing how keen Moses was to fulfill his task and his worry lest his weakness should make him fall short of what was expected from him, God grants his requests and gives him reassurance. The surah gives no specific mention of how his prayers were answered, how Aaron received his assignment, and how they both arrived in Egypt. Instead, it shows the two brothers receiving together their detailed instructions at the same moment when reassurance is given to Moses and his fears are dismissed in an expression that primarily denotes an order to stop: “Kalla!” which is translated in the text as “By no means!”
“Said He: ‘By no means! Go forth, then, both of you, with Our signs; We are with you, listening to all. Go, both of you, to Pharaoh, and say: ‘We are messengers from the Lord of all the worlds: Let the children of Israel go with us.’” (Verses 15-17) By no means! Your breast will not be straitened, your tongue will not have a block, and they will not kill you. Remove all such thoughts from your mind, and proceed with your brother, equipped with Our signs. Moses had already seen two of these: His staff turning into a serpent and his hand changing color so as to look shining white. But these are not mentioned in this surah because the emphasis here is on the scenes of confrontation, contest with the sorcerers and the drowning of Pharaoh and his host while the believers are saved.
Moses and Aaron are told to go forth, and God also tells them: “We are with you, listening to all.” What power! What care and what security! All this is given to them. Indeed, God is with them and with every human being at every moment, but the companionship highlighted here is that of support at the difficult moment. It is shown here in the form of listening, which denotes full attention and ready support.
