Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:103

{After them} The pronoun refers to the messengers in His saying: {And their messengers certainly came to them} (Al-Aʿrāf: 101), or to the nations.

{But they wronged} Meaning: they disbelieved in Our signs. Wrongdoing (ẓulm) is treated as equivalent to disbelief (kufr) because they belong to the same valley, as in: {Indeed, associating [others with Him] is a great injustice} (Luqmān: 13). Alternatively, it means they wronged people because of these signs when they threatened them, obstructed them from them, and harmed those who believed in them. Furthermore, since belief in them was obligatory, their disbelief in them—replacing belief with disbelief—constituted wrongdoing. Thus, it is said: {they wronged them [the signs]}, meaning they disbelieved in them, placing disbelief where it did not belong, for that is the place of belief.

It is said to the kings of Egypt: "Pharaohs," just as it is said to the kings of Persia: "Chosroes." It is as if he said: "O King of Egypt." His name was Qābūs; it is also said: al-Walīd ibn Muṣʿab ibn al-Rayyān.

{...worthy of not saying about Allah except the truth} There are four readings for this:

1. The famous one: {wa ḥaqīqun ʿalayya an lā aqūla} (And it is incumbent upon me that I do not say...).
2. The reading of Nāfiʿ: {wa ḥaqīqun an lā aqūla}.
3. The reading of ʿAbd Allāh: {wa ḥaqīqun an lā aqūla}.
4. The reading of Ubayy: {wa ḥaqīqun bi-an lā aqūla}.

The famous reading presents a difficulty, which can be resolved in four ways:

• First: It is a case of syntactic inversion (qalb) where there is no risk of confusion, like the verse: "And the spears suffer from the red ḍiyāṭirah (tyrants)," meaning the ḍiyāṭirah suffer from the spears.
• Second: What is binding upon you is also binding upon it. Since speaking the truth was incumbent upon him, he was incumbent upon speaking the truth—meaning he was bound to it.
• Third: The word {ḥaqīq} (worthy/incumbent) is imbued with the meaning of ḥarīṣ (eager), just as hayyajanī (excited me) was imbued with the meaning of dhakkaranī (reminded me) in the Kitāb of Sībawayh.
• Fourth (and the most profound regarding the subtleties of the Qur'an): That Moses is immersed in describing himself as truthful in that situation, especially since it is narrated that the enemy of Allah, Pharaoh, said to him when he said: {I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds}, "You have lied." So he says: "I am ḥaqīq (worthy/bound) to speak the truth," meaning: It is incumbent upon the truth that I be the one to speak it and uphold it, and it (the truth) would not be satisfied with anyone but someone like me to articulate it.

{So send with me the Children of Israel} Release them so they may go with me, returning to the Holy Land, which is their homeland and the birthplace of their forefathers. This is because when Joseph (peace be upon him) died and the tribes passed away, Pharaoh overcame their descendants and enslaved them. Allah saved them through Moses (peace be upon him). Between the day Joseph entered Egypt and the day Moses entered it, there were four hundred years.

{He said, "If you have come with a sign, then bring it, if you should be of the truthful." So he threw his staff, and suddenly it was a serpent manifest. And he drew out his hand; and suddenly it was white to the observers.}