Al-A'raf: (132-133) And they said, "No matter what sign you bring us..."

Know that in the previous verse, the Almighty recounted how, due to their ignorance, they attributed the occurrences of this world not to God's decree and predestination. In this verse, He recounts another type of their ignorance and misguidance: their failure to distinguish between miracles and sorcery. They considered all the signs—such as the staff turning into a serpent—to be mere sorcery on their part. They told Moses: "We will never accept anything from you."

There are several issues in this verse:

Issue 1: The word {مهما} (Mahma)

There are two opinions regarding the word {مهما}:

1. The first opinion (Al-Khalil and the Basrans): Its origin is (mā mā). The first mā is the conditional particle (mā al-jazā’), and the second is added for emphasis, similar to other conditional particles like immā (if) or mimmā (from whatever). God says: {فَإِمَّا تَثْقَفَنَّهُمْ} (If you come upon them). This is like saying in (if) you come upon them. They then replaced the alif of the first mā with hā to avoid repeating the sound, resulting in {مهما}.
2. The second opinion (Al-Kisa'i): The origin is {مه} (meaning "stop" or "refrain"), which entered upon the conditional mā. It is as if they said: "Refrain from whatever sign you bring us, and it will be such and such."

Issue 2: The sequence of plagues and their response

Ibn Abbas narrated that when the people said to Moses, "No matter what sign you bring us from your Lord, it is sorcery in our view, and we will never believe in it," Moses (peace be upon him) was a stern man. Consequently, he supplicated against them, and God answered him by sending the continuous flood day and night, for seven days (a sabt to a sabt). A man could not see the sun or the moon and could not leave his house. Drowning befell them. They cried out to Pharaoh and sought his help. Pharaoh sent to Moses, saying: "Remove this affliction from us, for Egypt has become one vast sea. If you remove this affliction, we will believe in you." God then removed the rain and sent winds that dried the earth, causing vegetation to grow such as they had never seen before. They said: "This [drought] we suffered was better for us, but we did not realize it." They then swore: "By God, we will not believe you, nor will we send the Children of Israel with you."

They broke their covenant. God then sent the locusts, which ate the vegetation. The matter became severe until their swarms, when flying, covered the sun, and when they fell upon each other on the ground, they formed layers a cubit thick, consuming the plants. The people of Egypt cried out. Moses supplicated, and God sent a wind that carried the locusts and cast them into the sea. The Egyptians looked at the remaining fodder and crops, thinking it would suffice them, and said: "What remains is enough for us; we will not believe you."

God then sent the lice upon them, for seven days. Not a single green twig remained in their land that the lice had not eaten. They cried out, and Moses supplicated his Lord. God sent a hot wind that burned the lice and carried them away to the sea. Yet, they did not believe.

After that, God sent the frogs. They emerged from the sea like pitch darkness, entering clothes and food. A man might fall down with a cubit's depth of frogs on his head. They cried out to Moses and swore by his God: "If you remove this affliction, we will surely believe you." Moses supplicated God, and God caused the frogs to die. He sent rain that carried them away to the sea. Then, they revealed their disbelief and corruption.

God sent the blood upon them. Their rivers flowed as blood, and they had no access to fresh water, while the Children of Israel found pure, sweet water. This reached a point of extreme distress for them. Pharaoh and the nobles of his people rode to the rivers of the Children of Israel. When a man scooped up water, it turned to blood in his hand. They remained for seven days in humiliation, drinking only blood. Then Pharaoh said: {لَئِن كَشَفْتَ عَنَّا الرِّجْزَ} (If you remove the plague from us) until the end of the verse. This is the preferred view among most commentators, although there are differences regarding most of these plagues.

Al-Zajjaj said: Al-Tūfān refers to anything abundant and encompassing the people, like a flood that covers many cities—it is called tūfān. Likewise, widespread killing is tūfān, and sweeping death is tūfān.

Al-Akhfash said: It is derived from tāfa (to circle/circulate), because it circles around something until it encompasses it. He said its singular form, by grammatical rule, is ṭūfānah.

Al-Mubarrid said: Al-Tūfān is a verbal noun (masdar) like rujḥān (heaviness) or nuqṣān (deficiency), so there is no need to seek a singular form for it.

If this is understood, then the majority hold that this Tūfān was abundant rain, as narrated from Ibn Abbas. 'Ata' narrated from him that he said: Al-Tūfān was death. Al-Wahidi narrated with his chain of transmission a report from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that he said: (The Tūfān is death). This view is problematic because if they had all died, the sending of the other types of affliction would have served no purpose. Rather, if this report were authentic, the word death must be interpreted as the occurrence of the causes of death, such as severe rain, great torrents, and so on.

Locusts are well-known, and their singular is jarādah. A plant whose leaves have been eaten by locusts is called majrood. Al-Lihyani said: A land that has been scraped clean (jardah or majroodah) has been licked clean by locusts. When locusts strike crops, it is said the crops were jarrada. The root of all this is al-jard, which means taking something off something else by way of scraping or crushing. Hence, a garment whose pile has worn off is called jard, and a barren land with no vegetation is jardah.

They differed concerning lice. It was said they were small, wingless insects, the young of the locusts (banāt al-jarād). Sa'id ibn Jubayr said that near them was a dusty mound (kathīb a'far), which Moses (peace be upon him) struck with his staff, and it turned into lice. They infested their skin, hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows, clinging to their skin like smallpox. They cried out and sought Moses' help, and it was removed. They then said: "Now we are certain that you are a knowledgeable sorcerer. Pharaoh's pride [prevents us]; we will never believe you." Al-Hasan recited {وَالْقُمَّلَ} with a fatḥa on the qāf and sukūn on the mīm, referring to the known lice. As for the blood, we have mentioned it. The author of Al-Kashshāf mentioned that it was said God sent nosebleeds (ru'āf) upon them. It is narrated that Moses (peace be upon him) remained among them for twenty years after defeating the sorcerers, showing them these signs.

There are several interpretations for this:

1. {مُفَصَّلَاتٍ} (Detailed/Separated): Meaning they were clear and manifest, such that no rational person could doubt they were signs of God that no one else could produce.
2. {مُفَصَّلَاتٍ} (Separated by Time): Meaning there was a separation between one affliction and the next, during which their condition was tested to see if they would accept the proof or persist in opposition and imitation. Commentators said that the affliction would remain upon them from Saturday to Saturday, and between one affliction and the next, there was a month. This is the meaning of {مُفَصَّلَاتٍ}.

Al-Zajjaj said that {آيَاتٍ} (signs) is in the accusative case indicating a state (ḥāl). {فَاسْتَكْبَرُوا} means they were arrogant against worshipping God, and {وَكَانُوا قَوْمًا مُجْرِمِينَ} means they were persistent in crime and sin.

It is also narrated that these mentioned types of affliction, when they occurred, were specific to Pharaoh's people, while the Children of Israel were safe and undisturbed. Undoubtedly, each affliction in itself was a miracle, and its specificity to the Copts while sparing the Israelites was an additional miracle.

If someone asks: Since God knew the state of those people—that they would not believe in those miracles—what was the benefit of sending them sequentially and showing many of them? Also, the people of Muhammad (peace be upon him) asked for miracles but were not answered; what is the difference?

The answer:

1. According to our scholars (Ash'ari): God does what He wills and rules as He wills.
2. According to the Mu'tazila (based on promoting the best interest): Perhaps God knew that among Moses' people, some would believe upon the appearance of the excessive miracles, whereas He knew that among Muhammad's people, none would increase in disbelief and obstinacy after the appearance of the clear miracles. Thus, the difference became apparent. And God knows best.

7: {وَلَمَّا وَقَعَ عَلَيْهِمُ الرِّجْزُ قَالُوا يَا مُوسَى ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ بِمَا عَهِدَ عِندَكَ لَئِن كَشَفْتَ عَنَّا الرِّجْزَ لَنُؤْمِنَنَّ لَكَ وَلَنُرْسِلَنَّ مَعَكَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ * فَلَمَّا كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمُ الرِّجْزَ إِلَى أَجَلٍ هُم بَالِغُوهُ إِذَا هُمْ يَنكِثُونَ}

(And when the plague fell upon them, they said, "O Moses, supplicate for us to your Lord concerning what He has promised you. If you remove the plague from us, we will surely believe you and will surely let the Children of Israel go with you." *But when We removed the plague from them until a term they were to reach, behold, they would break their pledge.)