Tafsir of Ta-Ha 20:47

"So go to him and say: 'We are the messengers of your Lord...'"

(So go to him): This is a command for the act of "going to him," which signifies reaching him, after having already been commanded to "go" (previously). Thus, there is no redundancy. It is a conjunctive clause to "Do not fear," considering the causal relationship implied by what follows it.

(So say: 'We are the messengers of your Lord'): They were commanded to do this to establish the truth from the very outset, so that the tyrant would know their status and base his response upon it. In the mention of the title "Lordship" (Rabb) while attributing it to the pronoun of the addressee (your Lord), there is a subtlety that is not hidden, even though the accursed one saw in this a belittlement of himself, for he claimed Lordship for his own self. Yet, this is not considered a fallacy in speech. The same applies to the Almighty's saying, "So send with us the Children of Israel," and so on, contrary to the view of the Imam.

The fa (so) in "So send" is for ordering what follows it upon what precedes it; for their status as messengers of his Lord—the Exalted—is something that necessitates their [the Children of Israel] being sent with them. The intention by "sending" is their release from captivity and bringing them out from under his oppressive hand, not tasking them to go with them to the Levant, as is indicated by His, the Glorified, saying: "And do not torment them," meaning: do not keep them in the state of torment they were previously in. For they were under the dominion of the Copts, who used them for arduous labor such as digging, construction, and transporting stones. They used to kill their sons one year and spare them the next, and they utilized their women.

Perhaps they began with the request to send the Children of Israel, rather than inviting the tyrant and his people to belief, in order to proceed gradually in the invitation. For the release of prisoners takes precedence over changing beliefs. It is also said: Because rescuing the believers from the disbelievers is more important than inviting them [the disbelievers] to faith. This—after accepting it—is based on the premise that the Children of Israel were believers in Moses (peace be upon him) inwardly, or were believers in other prophets (peace be upon them), though this requires proof.

It is also said: They began by requesting their release because it removes the obstacle to their invitation and their following [the messengers], and this is more important than inviting the Copts. This is contested by the fact that the context here is the invitation of Pharaoh and the repulsion of his tyranny, so that is the more important matter, not the invitation of the Children of Israel. Others said that the first thing they requested of him was faith, as indicated by the verse in Surah an-Nazi’at, but it was not explicitly stated here, content with what was mentioned there, just as it was not explicitly stated there, content with what was mentioned here.

His, the Almighty’s, saying: "We have come to you with a sign from your Lord," is an explanatory resumption. In it is the confirmation of what the previous speech contained regarding the claim of messengership, and a justification for the necessity of sending them. For their coming with a sign from His presence—the Almighty—is something that verifies their message, establishes it, and necessitates compliance with their command. The manifestation of the name "Lord" in the place of a pronoun, while attributing it to the pronoun of the addressee, is for the sake of emphasizing the aforementioned confirmation and justification. Qad (have/certainly) is used for verification and emphasis as well, and there is no need to labor to suggest it implies "expectation." The sign is mentioned in the singular despite its multiplicity because the intention is to prove the claim through its evidence, not to detail the multiplicity of the proofs. It is as if it were said: "We have come to you with that which proves our claim." Some said the "sign" refers to the hand; others said the staff. Both claims are as you see them.

"And peace be upon whoever follows guidance."

(47): That is, safety from torment in both abodes for whoever follows the guidance by believing in the signs of Allah—the Almighty—which lead to the Truth. "Peace" (salam) is a verbal noun meaning safety (salamah), similar to rida’ and rada’ah (nursing). The preposition ‘ala (upon) is used in the sense of lam (for), just as the reverse occurs in His, the Almighty’s, saying: "Upon them is the curse" (where ‘ala is used for the standard li). Prepositions are often exchanged for one another. This is considered eloquent here due to mushakalah (stylistic correspondence).