Al-Shu'ara: (67) "Indeed in that..."

(Indeed in that) is an indication of what was mentioned of the story. The sense of distance [implied by the demonstrative dhalika] is for the glorification of the status of that which is indicated. It has also been said: it is for the distance of the span of time in view of the beginning of the story.

(Is a sign), meaning a great sign that necessitates belief in Moses, peace be upon him, and affirming that which he brought. It is intended by this, as has been said, the turning of the staff into a serpent, the emergence of his hand, peace be upon him, white to the beholders, and the splitting of the sea. It is singular because the thing signified is unified.

(But most of them were not believers)

(But most of them were not believers), meaning most of the people of Pharaoh whom Moses, peace be upon him, was commanded to come to, namely the Copts, according to what Abu Hayyan considered likely. This is because, of them, none believed except the believer from the family of Pharaoh, Asiya the wife of Pharaoh, some of the magicians—according to the view that some of them were Copts, as is held by the People of the Book, which is what the apparent words of some of us necessitate—and the old woman who showed Moses the grave of Joseph, peace be upon him, on the night of the departure from Egypt so that he might carry his bones with him.

It is also said that the intended meaning of "the sign" is what occurred in the sea regarding the salvation of Moses, peace be upon him, and those with him, and the drowning of the others. The pronoun "them" in "most of them" refers to the people present after the drowning and salvation—from the people of Pharaoh who did not go out with him due to an excuse, and from the Children of Israel. The faith denied of them is the certain, definitive belief that admits no removal at all. That is: Most of the people present after the realization and appearance of this great sign were not believers with a certain, definitive belief that admits no removal. For as for those remaining in Egypt from among the Copts, not one of them believed at all, and most of the Children of Israel were not certain—hence they asked for a cow to worship and worshipped the calf, so it cannot be said of them that they were believers in the aforementioned sense. It suffices for the faith of the few, which is indicated by the concept (the mafhum), that the believing minority were from the Children of Israel.

Since the intended meaning is "most of them were not believers after the realization of the two signs of drowning and salvation," it is not correct to make the pronoun refer to the Copts except by specifying the believing minority and the disbelieving majority among them after the realization of the two signs. What was mentioned regarding the believing minority among them is not as such, for the faith of those mentioned was at the beginning of the mission. Furthermore, the old woman was from the Children of Israel, as came in a tradition extracted by Al-Firyabi, ‘Abd ibn Humayd, Ibn Abi Hatim, and Al-Hakim—who authenticated it—from Abu Musa as a marfu’ (elevated) hadith. Indeed, Ibn ‘Abd al-Hakam extracted from the way of Al-Kalbi, from Abu Salih, from Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), that she was Sharih, daughter of Asher, son of Jacob, peace be upon him; thus she is the daughter of Joseph’s brother, peace be upon him, making her closer to Israel than Moses, peace be upon him.

It has been answered that he who returns the pronoun to the Copts is not obliged to interpret the "sign" as the drowning and salvation; rather, he says: The intended meaning is the miracles of the staff, the hand, and the splitting of the sea. He says: The belief of the minority after the realization of some of these is sufficient, because of the unity of what is signified in the realization of the concept. As for returning the pronoun to the people present after the drowning and salvation—from the Children of Israel and the people of Pharaoh who did not go out with him—that is contrary to the apparent meaning (khilaf al-zahir). Likewise is the case with interpreting "faith" as mentioned, and making the majority of the Children of Israel—those specified by the salvation—unbelievers. Even if there occurred from them, upon the manifestation of some signs, that which is not becoming of believers to issue, they did not persist upon it. Al-Khatib extracted in Al-Muttafaq wa al-Muftariq from Abu al-Darda’ that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was clapping his hands and wondering at the Children of Israel and their obstinacy. When they reached the sea and their enemy arrived, they came to Moses (peace be upon him) and said: "The enemy has reached us, so what have you been commanded?" He said: "I am commanded to alight here; either my Lord will open [a way] for me and defeat them, or He will split this sea for me." A party of them went until they entered the sea. Then Allah Almighty revealed to Moses to strike the sea with his staff. He struck it, and it trembled as the Throne trembles. He struck it a second time, and the same happened. Then he struck it a third time, and it split open. They said: "This is without the authority of Moses." So they crossed the sea, and no people were heard of who had greater sin and yet were faster in repentance than them.

Whenever faith is interpreted as mentioned, and the negation of faith is deemed correct for those from whom issued that which indicates a lack of firmness, it becomes permissible to return the pronoun to the Children of Israel, for most of them were not firm in it. The apparent wording of some of them suggests returning it to them, but that is of no consequence.

Sheikh al-Islam pursued a path in interpreting this verse which I think he was unique in treading. He said: "Indeed in that," meaning in all that was detailed regarding what issued from Moses, peace be upon him, and appeared at his hands of overwhelming miracles, and what Pharaoh and his people did of words and deeds, and what was done to them of torment and punishment, "is a sign," meaning a sign—a great sign that can hardly be described—that necessitates that those who take heed should consider it, and compare the affair of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) with the affair of Moses, peace be upon him, and the state of themselves with the state of those destroyed, and avoid engaging in what they were engaging in of disbelief, sins, and opposing the Messenger, and believe in Allah Almighty and obey His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) so that there does not befall them what befell those.

Or, "Indeed, in what was detailed in the story," from the perspective of his—peace be upon him—narrating it just as it is without having heard it from anyone, "is a great sign" that this is by way of true revelation, necessitating belief in Allah Almighty alone and obedience to His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). "And most of them," meaning most of these who heard their story from him, peace and blessings be upon him, "were not believers," not by comparing his affair—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—with the affair of Moses, peace be upon him, and the state of themselves with the state of those deniers who were destroyed, nor by reflecting upon his—peace and blessings be upon him—narration of their story without having heard it from anyone, even though both ways lead to belief definitively.

The meaning of (But most of them were not believers) is "Most of them were not believers," on the basis that kana (were) is pleonastic (za’ida), as is the opinion of Sibawayh. Thus it would be like His saying, "And most of the people, even if you desire, will not be believers." It is a report from Him, Almighty is He, about what will be the state of the polytheists after hearing the signs that articulate the story, confirming what passed of His saying, "And no fresh reminder comes to them from the Most Merciful except that they turn away from it. So they have denied," etc. The preference for the nominal sentence is to indicate their persistence upon the lack of belief and their continuation upon it.

It is permissible to make kana mean "became," as in His saying, "And he was of the disbelievers." So the meaning is: "And most of them did not become believers," despite what they heard of the great sign necessitating belief by the two ways mentioned. Thus, the report of non-becoming before the occurrence is to indicate the perfection of its realization and establishment, like His saying: "The command of Allah has come, so do not be impatient for it."

He claimed that this interpretation is what the elegance of the noble arrangement necessitates from the opening of the noble surah to the end of the seven stories, indeed to the end of the noble surah, in a manifest necessity. Then he said: As for what was said that the pronoun "their" refers to the people of the era of Pharaoh from the Copts and others, and that the meaning is "And most of the people of Egypt were not believers," given that none of them believed except Asiya, the believer of the family of Pharaoh, and the old woman who pointed out the grave of Joseph, peace be upon him, and that the Children of Israel after they were saved asked for a cow to worship and took the calf and said, "We will not believe you until we see Allah outright"—this is far from the truth. How could it not be, when the drift of every story of the stories mentioned in the noble surah, except for the story of Abraham, peace be upon him, is only to clarify the state of a specific group that grew arrogant against the command of their Lord and disobeyed His messengers, as is articulated by prefacing the stories with their denial of the messengers, after they witnessed what was in their hands of great signs that necessitated faith from them and restrained them from disbelief and disobedience? Yet they persisted upon what they were upon of denial, so Allah Almighty punished them for that with worldly punishment and cut off their descendants entirely. So how is it possible to inform about them that most of them were not believers, especially after reporting their destruction, and counting the believers among them first, and excluding them from them last, without them having shared in anything of the crimes that were narrated about them? [This is] something the Revelation must be purified from such examples. And the returning of the pronoun "their" in the story of Abraham, peace be upon him, to his people is also a path to which there is no access, for it is apparent that they only increased in arrogance and disbelief by what they heard from him, until they dared to commit that great act which they did to him. So how can it be expressed regarding them that most of them were not believers, when only Lot believed in him, and Allah saved them to the Levant? So reflect upon this.

This has been critiqued as containing flaws from several aspects: Firstly, because interpreting kana as a filler (sila) while a correct face is apparent is not correct. Here, after this, it necessitates interpreting the nominal sentence as implying continuation, that they will not be believers after the descent of this verse. If it is made to mean "became," it would require it to be the imperfect (mudari'), but it was avoided to indicate the perfection of realization. This also, while a meaning free from the need for that is possible, is not appropriate. Secondly, because returning the pronoun "their" to the people of our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is a diversion from its preceding referent mentioned in the wording, especially in the coming stories prefaced by "They denied." Thirdly, because his saying: "not by comparing his affair... with the affair of Moses..." is not free from difficulty, for the matter shared between them, may peace and blessings be upon them, is only that each of them is a prophet supported by miracles in general. As for if he looked at the specificities of the miracles, it is not hidden that there is no sharing between them. Likewise, comparing their state to the state of Pharaoh and his people is not free from [this difficulty] on this comparison. Fourthly, because His saying "Indeed in that is a sign," etc., was mentioned in this format in seven places, and it is necessary to coordinate its interpretation on one system in them as much as possible. Among this is what is in the story of the Prophet of Allah Lot, peace be upon him; mentioned therein is the state of his people, their known abominable act, and then the destruction of all of them. And [similarly] in the story of the Prophet of Allah Shu'ayb, peace be upon him; mentioned therein is the state of the People of the Thicket, their work regarding the measure and weight, and then the destruction of all of them, without specifying the aspect of disbelief of every people. Thus, it does not befit them to say: "Indeed in that is a sign necessitating the belief of the Quraysh by comparing the state of themselves with the state of those destroyed and avoiding the engagement in what they were engaging in of sins." This is on the first path. As for the second path, it also contains several flaws.

As for first and second, because of what was mentioned first and second. As for third, because each of both stories was mentioned here by way of summary and mentioned in detail in another surah, and each was mentioned according to its descent, so there is no appropriateness in saying: "And most of them were not believers" by way of reflecting upon your narration of their story without having heard it from anyone, based on the fact that they had already heard it from him, peace and blessings be upon him, in detail before the descent of the verse, while the fact of his—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—narrating that without having heard it from anyone being something that leads to their belief definitively is subject to doubt. As for fourth, because the end of this story is His saying: "And We saved... then We drowned," and likewise the end of the story of Lot, peace be upon him, is His saying: "So We saved him... then We destroyed and rained down." The prompt that comes to mind is that the indication is to the narrated thing itself, which contains the wonderful divine actions, not to its narration. As for what he said in refuting what was said, it is also nothing, because the attribution of denial to every people of the peoples to whom it was attributed is only by consideration of the majority, as is guided to by His saying in the story of the people of Noah, peace be upon him, narrating from them after He, Exalted is He, said: "The people of Noah denied the messengers," (they said, "Shall we believe you, while the lowest follow you?"), and His saying, Mighty and Majestic is He, after that, narrating from Noah, peace be upon him, what he said in answer to them, ("And I am not one to drive away the believers"). Thus, the pronoun "their" returns to the people without taking that into consideration. Similar to this is much in speech, and "the majority" in the seven places is intended to be a group described by the increase of the majority, whether the believing minority is one or more. Thus, it is not countered that "how can it be expressed regarding the people of Abraham, peace be upon him, that most of them were not believers, when only Lot, peace be upon him, believed in him?" So reflect. It is not hidden what it contains of the meager and the rich.

I choose, as Sheikh al-Islam chose, the return of the pronoun to the people of our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. The beginning of the noble surah and its end are in the discourse about them, and the consolation of him, peace and blessings be upon him, for what they said regarding his noble Book, and the prohibition—explicitly and by indication—that he should let his noble self perish in sorrow over them. All of that necessitates, with a necessity in which there is no doubt, the return of the pronoun to his people, peace and blessings be upon him. It lightens the matter of its not returning to what is linguistically closest, and the connection between the verses in this way becomes stronger.

I choose that the indication is to what the story contained, and that the meaning is that in what this story contained is a great sign indicating what your people must believe in regarding His affairs, Exalted is He, and most of them were not believers in that. The same is said for all that is to come, God willing, and all of that is on the pattern of what preceded. Likewise is the discussion regarding kana and what relates to the sentence.