Moses said to his family: “I perceive a fire. I will bring you from there some information, or else, I will bring you a burning brand so that you may warm yourselves.”
But when he came close to it, he was addressed: “Blessed are those in the fire and those around it! And limitless in His glory is God, the Lord of all the worlds.
“Moses! Truly, I am alone God, the Almighty, the Wise! Now throw down your staff!” But when he saw it moving, as if it were a serpent, he turned and fled, with no thought of turning back. “Moses, have no fear!” (Said God): “Messengers have nothing to fear in My presence. If anyone has done wrong and then replaced the wrong with good; well, I am Much-Forgiving, Merciful.
“Now place your hand inside your garment, and it will come out (shining) white without blemish. (This is one of) the nine signs for Pharaoh and his people. They are wicked people.
“But when Our light-giving signs came to them, they said: ‘This is plain sorcery.’
Within their souls they knew them to be true, yet they, in their wickedness and arrogance, rejected them. Consider, then, what happened in the end to the evil-doers.” (The Ants; Al-Naml: 27: 7-14)
“Now throw down your staff.” (Verse 10) In this case the whole thing is given in a nutshell. We have little of the long discourse mentioned in Surah 20, Ta Ha, because the emphasis here is laid on the call to Moses and his assignment. “But when he saw it moving, as if it were a serpent, he turned and fled, with no thought of turning back.” (Verse 10) When he did as he was told and threw down his staff, he saw it come alive moving fast like a certain type of small fast moving snakes. His spontaneous nature caught up with him as he was totally taken by surprise. He could have never thought the staff will be so transformed on being thrown down. Hence, he ran away from the snake, with no thought of going back to look at this serpent. The whole reaction suggests complete surprise and violent reaction.
But he was soon reassured with the call from on high being resumed. The call now tells him of the nature of his assignment: “Moses, have no fear!” (Said God): “Messengers have nothing to fear in My presence.” (Verse 10) He is told that he is entrusted with a message from God, and God’s messengers entertain no fear in the presence of their Lord, as He informs them of their duties.
“If anyone has done wrong and then replaced the wrong with good; well, I am Much-Forgiving, Merciful.” (Verse 11) Only those who do wrong should be afraid. However, those of them who replace wrong with what is good, abandoning injustice, evil and unbelief to ensure justice, believe and do righteous deeds will receive God’s grace and forgiveness.
Moses is now reassured and calm. Therefore, his Lord gives him his second miracle before even telling him about his mission or its nature: “Now place your hand inside your garment, and it will come out (shining) white without blemish.” (Verse 12) Again he did as he was told, putting his hand through the top opening of his robe, and it came out brilliant white. He had no skin disease. What happened was another miracle. God promises him to support him with nine miraculous signs of the type of which he has already seen two. At this point he is told of his assignment for which he has been given such preparation. “(This is one of) the nine signs for Pharaoh and his people. They are wicked people.” (Verse 12)
The surah does not give us here any details of these nine signs that are mentioned in Surah 7, The Heights. These were the years of drought, shortage of crops, floods, locusts, ants, frogs and blood. The lack of details in this instance is due to the fact that the emphasis here is on clear miraculous nature of these signs, and the stubborn refusal of Pharaoh’s people to acknowledge them and take heed: “But when Our light-giving signs came to them, they said: ‘This is plain sorcery.’ Within their souls they knew them to be true, yet they, in their wickedness and arrogance, rejected them. Consider, then, what happened in the end to the evil-doers.” (Verses 13-14)
Thus they were given numerous signs to bring the truth clearly before their eyes. Indeed these signs are described here as “light-giving” which is rather an inadequate rendering of the meaning of the Arabic adjective, mubsirah, which means “endowed with insight”, as if the signs themselves can see the people and lead them to follow divine guidance. Yet they described these signs as “plain sorcery”. But they were neither convinced nor suspecting anything of the kind. Deep inside, they were convinced that they were true signs confirming the truth of the message, but they nevertheless repeated such claims out of “their wickedness and arrogance.” Yet “within their souls they knew them to be true.” Their attitude was one of stubborn arrogance because they did not seek a proof. In fact they just did not wish to believe.
The same was the case with the Quraysh elders. They were certain of the truth of the Qur’an, but they persisted in denying it and rejecting the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) call on them to believe in God alone. They wanted to continue with their false beliefs because of the privileges and gains they felt would be threatened if they were to abandon their religion. They realized that such gains and privileges depended totally on their false beliefs and that Islam was sure to do away with them. They felt that their position was very shaky, compared with the clear truth of Islam.
Such is the truth. Its rejecters do not deny it out of ignorance. They deny it because they know it to be the truth and realize that it threatens their interests and privileges. Hence, they adopt an attitude of deliberate rejection.
“Consider, then, what happened in the end to the evil-doers.” (Verse 14) The end Pharaoh met is well known, and the Qur’an tells us about it in other surahs. Here we have only this brief reference to it, as it may cause those avowed opponents of the truth to reflect on the lessons of the past. It may, perchance, alert them to take heed before they suffer a similar fate.
