(Go to Pharaoh)

This is a transition to the objective for which the preceding introductions were prepared. It is separated from the commands that came before it to signify its primacy; meaning: Go to him with what you have seen of Our greatest signs, invite him to My worship, and warn him of My vengeance.

His saying—Exalted is He—(Indeed, he has transgressed) is a justification for the command or for the necessity of what has been commanded; meaning: he has exceeded the bounds in arrogance, defiance, and tyranny, to the point of daring to commit the enormity of claiming lordship.

Wahb ibn Munabbih said: God—Exalted is He—said to Moses, peace be upon him: "Draw near." He kept drawing him near until he braced his back against the trunk of a tree, whereupon he became steady, the trembling left him, he gathered his hand onto his staff, and humbled his head and neck. Then, after He had reminded him of His blessing upon him, He said to him: "Go forth with My message, for you are under My eye and in My hearing; I am with you with My support and My victory. I have clothed you in a shield of My authority through which you shall attain the strength for My command. You are a great soldier among My soldiers; I have sent you to a weak creature of My creation who has become ungrateful for My blessing, felt secure against My plotting, and whom the world has deluded until he denied My right, disavowed My lordship, worshipped other than Me, and claimed not to know Me. I swear by My Might, were it not for the excuse and the proof that I have placed between Me and My creation, I would have seized him with the seizing of a Tyrant, at whose anger the heavens, the earth, the mountains, and the seas would rage. If I commanded the sky, it would pelt him; if I commanded the earth, it would swallow him; if I commanded the seas, they would drown him; and if I commanded the mountains, they would crush him. But he has become insignificant to Me, has fallen from My sight, My forbearance has encompassed him, and I have remained needless, having what I have—for indeed, I am the All-Sufficient, there is no sufficiency other than Mine. So convey My message to him, invite him to My worship, My oneness, and the sincerity of My name; remind him of My days, warn him of My vengeance and My might, and inform him that nothing can withstand My anger. Say to him, amidst that, a gentle word, perhaps he may remember or fear. Inform him that I am swifter to pardon and forgiveness than I am to anger and punishment. Let not what I have clothed him in of the garments of the world frighten you, for his forelock is in My hand; he does not blink, nor speak, nor breathe except by My permission. Say to him: 'Respond to your Lord, for He is Vast in forgiveness. He has granted you respite for four hundred years, during all of which you have been warring against Him, imitating Him, pretending to be Him, and turning His servants away from His path, while He sends down the sky for you and makes the earth grow for you, and you have neither fallen ill, nor grown old, nor become impoverished, nor been overcome. If He had willed to do that to you, He would have done so, but He is Possessor of patience and great forbearance.'" [In a long discourse].

In some narrations, it is mentioned that when God—Exalted is He—commanded him, peace be upon him, to go to Pharaoh, he remained silent for seven days—and it is said, longer—until an angel came to him and said: "Carry out what your Lord has commanded you." There is some doubt regarding the authenticity of this.