Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:133

(So We sent upon them) as a punishment for their crimes, especially their aforementioned statement, (the flood), meaning that which surrounded them and covered their places and their crops, whether it be rain or a torrent. It is a noun derived from al-tawāf (circling). It is said: It is originally an infinitive like nuqsān (diminution), and it is a name for everything incidental that surrounds from all sides and becomes widespread, such as abundant water, widespread slaughter, or destructive death. It is most commonly associated with a flood of water, and it has been interpreted as such here in several narrations from Ibn Abbas.

It was reported from ‘Aṭā’ and Mujāhid that it is interpreted as death. Ibn Jarīr and others recorded this from ‘Ā’ishah—may Allah be pleased with her—as a marfū‘ (attributed) report. It was reported from Wahb ibn Munabbih that it is the plague in the language of Yemen, and from Abū Qilābah that it is smallpox—and they were the first to be punished by it—and these two statements lead back to the aforementioned marfū‘ report.

(And the locusts), which is the well-known insect; the singular is jarādah. It was so named because it strips (jarada) whatever is on the earth. It is one of the soldiers of Allah the Almighty, which He empowers over whom He wills of His servants. Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Mājah, al-Ṭabarānī, and others recorded from Abū Zuhayr al-Numayrī, in a marfū‘ form, a prohibition against fighting them, citing the aforementioned reason. Al-Bayhaqī mentioned that if this is authentic, it is intended for when they do not pose a threat of destroying crops; if they do pose such a threat, it is permissible to repel them by whatever means of fighting and killing are possible, or it is intended as an indication of the impossibility of resisting them through such means. Abū Dāwūd and those with him recorded from Salmān, who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was asked about locusts and said: "They are the most numerous of Allah’s soldiers; I do not eat them, nor do I forbid them." The claim that they are created from the sins of the sons of Adam is subject to interpretation.

(And the lice) – with a ḍammah on the qāf and a shaddah on the mīm. It is said: This refers to al-dubā, which are small locusts that are not called locusts until their wings have grown. This was narrated by Ibn Abbas, Mujāhid, Qatādah, and al-Suddī. It is also said: It refers to ticks (qirdān), the plural of the well-known tick. It is also said: It refers to tiny ants. From Ḥabīb ibn Abī Thābit, it is beetles (ju‘lān). From Ibn Zayd: Some people claimed they are fleas. From Sa‘īd ibn Jubayr: They are weevils (sūs), which is the creature found in wheat and other grains. It is also called qamlan (with a fatḥah and a sukūn), and al-Ḥasan recited it as such.

(And the frogs) – the plural of ḍifdi‘, like zubrij, ja‘far, jundub, or dirham. This is the well-known aquatic creature.

(And the blood) – it is well-known.

It is narrated that when Moses (peace be upon him) saw the stubbornness and persistence of Pharaoh and his people, he prayed and said: "O Lord, Pharaoh has acted arrogantly in the land, and his people have broken the covenant. O Lord, seize them with a punishment that will be a vengeance upon them, a sermon for my people, and a sign and a lesson for those who come after them." So Allah the Almighty sent upon them rain for eight days in intense darkness, such that no one could leave their house. The water entered their homes until they stood in it up to their throats, while not a single drop entered the houses of the Children of Israel, though they were intertwined with their houses. The water flooded their land and stagnated, preventing them from farming and moving about. This water lasted upon them for seven days, from Saturday to Saturday. They said: "O Moses, pray to your Lord for us to remove this from us, and we will believe in you and send the Children of Israel with you." So he prayed to his Lord, and He removed it from them, and grass and vegetation grew of a kind they had never known before.

They then said: "This water was nothing but a blessing for us," and they did not believe. So Allah the Almighty sent the locusts upon them, and they ate their crops, fruits, doors, roofs, garments, and possessions, until they even ate the iron nails in the doors. The Children of Israel were not affected by any of this. They cried out and lamented to Moses (peace be upon him) and said to him what they had said before. So he (peace be upon him) went out to the desert and gestured with his staff towards the east and the west, and they returned to the areas from which they came. It is also said: A wind came and cast them into the sea. Yet they did not believe.

So Allah empowered the lice upon them, and they ate what the locusts had left behind. They would enter between the garment of one of them and his skin and suck his blood. If one wanted to eat food, it would be filled with lice. Ibn al-Musayyib said: They were afflicted with weevils; a man would take ten loads of grain to the mill and would return with only three measures of it. They attacked their eyebrows, eyelashes, and all their hair, and did to their skin what smallpox does, depriving them of sleep and rest. They panicked and turned to Moses (peace be upon him), and he prayed for it to be removed from them. Then they said: "We are now certain that you are a sorcerer."

So Allah sent the frogs upon them, and their houses, courtyards, possessions, and vessels were filled with them. No one would uncover a vessel without finding them in it. A man would sit amidst the frogs, and they would reach his throat. If he tried to speak, a frog would jump and enter his mouth. They would jump into their cooking pots, ruining their food and extinguishing their fires. When one of them lay down, they would climb upon him until they were in heaps, and he could not turn over. If he wanted to eat, they would beat him to his mouth. They would not knead dough without it being filled with them. They panicked and turned to him (peace be upon him) and beseeched him. He took their covenants and pledges and prayed, and Allah the Almighty removed that from them. But they broke the covenant.

So Allah the Almighty sent the blood upon them, and the Nile flowed with pure blood for them, and their water turned into blood. Pharaoh would bring a Copt and an Israelite together to one vessel, and what was in front of the Israelite would be water, while what was in front of the Copt would be blood. They would go to a jug containing water, and it would pour out as blood for the Copt and water for the Israelite. A woman from Pharaoh’s family would come to a woman from the Children of Israel and say, "Give me a drink of water," and she would pour it from her water skin for her, but it would turn into blood in the vessel. She would even say, "Put it in your mouth, then spit it into my mouth," and she would do that, but it would turn into blood.

Ibn Aslam said: The blood that was empowered over them was nosebleeds.

(Signs) is a state (ḥāl) describing the aforementioned things.

(Distinct) meaning: clear, such that no sane person could doubt they are divine signs, not magic as they claim. Or, it means separated from one another, separated by time to test their state. Between every two of them was a month, and the duration of each one was a month, as Ibn al-Mundhir recorded from Ibn Abbas. Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded from Zayd ibn Aslam who said: The nine signs were over nine years, one sign in each year. Aḥmad in al-Zuhd and others recorded from Nawf al-Shāmī who said: Moses (peace be upon him) remained among the people of Pharaoh after defeating the sorcerers for twenty years, showing them the signs: the locusts, the lice, etc., but they refused to submit. In a narration by Abū al-Shaykh from Ibn Abbas, he remained—peace be upon him—after he was victorious for forty years, showing them what was mentioned. I saw in the Musāmarāt of Shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabī—may his secret be sanctified—that Moses (peace be upon him) remained warning the people of Pharaoh for sixteen months until they were drowned. Thus, they entered into the Fire, and they did not benefit from the signs they had seen.

(So they acted arrogantly) regarding believing in them.

(And they were a criminal people.)