Tafsir of Ibraheem 14:5

(And indeed We sent Moses) This is the commencement of the detailed exposition of what was summarized in His saying, the Almighty: "And We sent not a messenger except in the language of his people" (14:4).

(With Our signs) meaning: accompanied by them. As Ibn Jarir and others have narrated from Mujahid, ‘Ata’, and ‘Ubayd ibn ‘Umayr, these are the nine signs that Allah Almighty manifested at his hand, peace be upon him. It is also said that it may refer to the signs of the Torah.

(That "Bring forth your people") It is interpreted as: "I command you to bring forth," for the command contains the meaning of "saying" without its literal letters; or it is a masdariyyah (infinitive) clause, preceded by an omitted preposition because arsala (to send) governs through the particle ba (with), and the elision of the preposition before an (that) and anna (that) is standard. The connection of the masdariyyah clause to the command is a matter whose verification has already been addressed. Some have claimed that an here is redundant, but its weakness is manifest.

The intended meaning of "his people," peace be upon him, as is apparent, is the Children of Israel, and their being brought forth refers to their departure after the destruction of Pharaoh.

(From the darknesses) i.e., from the disbelief and ignorance they were in, which led them to say: "O Moses, make for us a god just as they have gods" (7:138).

(Into the light) i.e., into faith in Allah Almighty, His oneness, and all that they were commanded to do. It is also said: He brought them out of the darkness of deficiency into the light of perfection.

(And remind them of the days of Allah) meaning: of His blessings and His afflictions. This is as narrated from Ibn Abbas—may Allah be pleased with them both—and it is the interpretation chosen by al-Tabari because it is most appropriate for the context and most consistent with the discourse that will follow, if Allah wills. The conjunction is attached to "bring forth," and it is also permissible that the sentence is a new inception (mustanifah). The shift from the first person ("Our signs") to the third person ("days of Allah") by attributing the days to the Majestic Name is to signal the magnitude of their significance and to intimate, as some have said, that the dealings contained therein are not restricted to the addressee and his people, as the attribution to the first-person pronoun might otherwise imply. The essence of the meaning is: Exhort them through encouragement and intimidation, promises and threats.

From Ibn Abbas also, as well as al-Rabi’, Muqatil, and Ibn Zayd, it is said that the "days of Allah" refers to His, the Almighty’s, battles and His vengeance upon past nations. Included in this are the "days" of the Arabs for their wars and epic encounters, such as the Day of Dhu Qar, the Day of al-Fijar, the Day of Quda, and others. Al-Zamakhshari favored this due to common usage, noting that the Arabs employed this term for major events. Al-Tabarsi cited for this the verse of ‘Amr ibn Kulthum: “And days of ours—illustrious and long—in which we disobeyed the King when we were called.” Al-Shihab also cited for this meaning: "And our days are famous among our enemy."

Al-Nasa’i, Abdullah ibn Ahmad in the Zawa’id al-Musnad, al-Bayhaqi in Shu’ab al-Iman, and others narrated from Ubayy ibn Ka’b that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—interpreted "the days" in the verse as the blessings and bounties of Allah. Ibn al-Mundhir narrated this from Ibn Abbas and Mujahid. Abu Hayyan considered the verse of ‘Amr to be of this category. The most apparent interpretation is what we mentioned from al-Tabarsi.

You know that if the Hadith is authentic, the legal ruling must follow it. However, Shaykh al-Islam—in his preference for the interpretation narrated from Ibn Abbas first, over what was narrated second—mentioned what the Prophet, peace be upon him, undertook in the task of compliance: reminding them of both the times of ease and adversity, as will be recited henceforth, which renders the authenticity of the Hadith [as the sole definition] remote. The argument that vengeance for one group constitutes a blessing for another—as the saying goes, "One people's calamity is another's benefit"—is something that no person of intellect in this context should pay heed to. Indeed, His saying, "Remember the blessing of Allah upon you," is manifest in interpreting the "days" as blessings, and what necessitates other than that, you will hear in it opinions that do not require it in certain interpretations.

Some have claimed that "his people" refers to the Copts, and "the darkness and the light" refer to disbelief and faith, and nothing else. It is also said that his people were the Copts and the Children of Israel, and that he was sent to them both, except that he was sent to the Copts to acknowledge the oneness of Allah Almighty and that they should not associate anything with Him, and to the Children of Israel with that and with the obligations of the branches of the Law. It is also said: They were only the Children of Israel, but the intended meaning of "darkness and light," if they were all believers, is the darkness of the humiliation of servitude and the light of the honor of the Religion and the manifestation of the command of Allah Almighty. We say: We ask Allah Almighty to bring us and the people of these opinions out of the darkness of ignorance into the light of knowledge.

(Indeed in that)—meaning in the reminder of the days of Allah, or in the days themselves—(are signs)—great or many—indicating the oneness of Allah, His power, His knowledge, and His wisdom. In the first case, the signs are the days themselves, and the meaning of the reminder being a vessel for them is that it is the locus of their manifestation. In the second case, it is likewise, except that the particle fi (in) is for abstraction, or it is [a vessel] for each of the blessings and afflictions; the object referred to is the totality containing them, viewed as a whole. It is permissible that the "days" in the previous mention refers to the events themselves which encompass blessings and calamities; so if the reference is to them and the signs are loaded onto the blessings and calamities, the matter of [them being] a vessel is evident.

(For every patient)—frequently patient with His trials—(grateful)—frequently grateful for His bounties, Exalted and Majestic is He. It is said: The intended meaning is "for every believer." According to the first [view], the two descriptions refer to two meanings; according to the second, they refer to one meaning by way of metonymy, like [calling someone] "one who is alive, standing, erect, and having clear skin" to describe a human being. The expression of the believer with these two qualities is to signify that patience and gratitude are the hallmarks of a believer, pointing to what is in his inner self. The intention, as it is said, is for everyone who is worthy of the perfection of patience and gratitude, or faith, and whose state arrives at that—not merely one who is characterized by it in actuality—because the speech is a justification for the command to remind, [a reminder] which leads to that rank. For whoever remembers what has been poured out or descended upon him or upon those before him—whether blessing or calamity—and becomes aware of the consequence of patience and gratitude or faith, he hardly parts from it.

The specification of the signs for the "patient and grateful" is because such a person is the one who benefits from them, not because they are hidden from others, for the clarification is attained for all. The precedence of patience over gratitude is because patience is the key to relief, which then necessitates gratitude. It is said: Because it is of the category of "abstentions" (turuk); it is said, "I reined in (sabartu) the beast" if you hold it back without fodder. Gratitude is not so, for it is, as al-Raghib said, the conception of the blessing and its manifestation. It is said it is the inversion of al-kashr, i.e., revealing. It is said its origin is from the expression "a grateful eye" (‘ayn shukra), meaning full; thus, gratitude is being filled with the remembrance of the Bestower. It is of three types: gratitude of the heart, the tongue, and the limbs. It is mentioned that fulfilling the gratitude due to Allah Almighty is difficult, and therefore He, the Almighty, did not praise anyone of His saints with gratitude except for two: Noah and Abraham, peace be upon them both. It may be that the division of gratitude regarding blessings and the non-division of patience regarding calamities is a reason for the order [of mention]. It is also said that this is because the object of patience—namely, calamity—precedes the object of gratitude—namely, blessings.