ﱁ ﱂ ﱃ ﱄ ﱅ ﱆ ﱇ ﱈ ﱉ ﱊ ﱋ ﱌ ﱍ ﱎ ﱏ ﱐ ﱑ ﱒ ﱓ ﱔ ﱕ ﱖ ﱗ ﱘ ﱙ ﱚ ﱛ
And [recall, O Children of Israel], when Moses said to His people, "Remember the favor of Allah upon you when He saved you from the people of Pharaoh, who were afflicting you with the worst torment and were slaughtering your [newborn] sons and keeping your females alive. And in that was a great trial from your Lord.
Tafsir
Verse range: 14:6
{When He saved you} This is an adverbial phrase (ẓarf) for the "favor" (niʿma), meaning the act of bestowing favor. That is: His bestowing of favor upon you at that time.
If you ask: Is it permissible for it to be governed by (yanṣibu) "upon you" (ʿalaykum)? I say: It cannot be otherwise than one of two cases:
If it is a complement, it does not govern it. If it is not a complement—meaning "Remember the favor of God [which is] established upon you"—then it does govern it. The difference between the two is that if you say "the favor of God upon you," and you make it a complement, the sentence is incomplete unless you add a word like "abundant" or similar. Otherwise, it is a complete sentence.
It is also permissible for "When" (idh) to be a substitute (badal) for "the favor of God," meaning: "Remember the time of your salvation." This is a badal ishtimal (substitution of inclusion).
If you ask: In Surah al-Baqarah it says "slaughtering" (yadhbaḥūn), in al-Aʿrāf it says "killing" (yaqtulūn), and here it says "and slaughtering" (wa-yadhbaḥūn) with the wāw—what is the difference? I say: The difference is that where the wāw is omitted, it serves as an explanation and clarification of the "torment." Where it is included, it is because the slaughtering was the most extreme form of torment, exceeding the others so significantly that it is as if it were a separate category entirely.
If you ask: How was the action of Pharaoh’s people a "trial" (balāʾ) from their Lord? I say: It was by empowering them and granting them respite until they did what they did, as a trial from God. Another perspective is that this refers to the "salvation" itself, which is a great trial. A trial (balāʾ) can be through both blessing and affliction. God Almighty says: "And We test you with evil and with good as a trial" (Al-Anbiyāʾ: 35). Zuhayr said: He tested them both with the best of trials with which one is tested.
{And when your Lord proclaimed: "If you are grateful, I will surely increase you; but if you deny, indeed My punishment is severe."}
