Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:137

{The people who were oppressed} They are the Children of Israel, whom Pharaoh and his people used to oppress.

{And the land} The land of Egypt and the Levant. The Children of Israel took possession of it after the Pharaohs and the Amalekites, and they disposed of its regions and its eastern and western sides as they wished.

{In which We have placed blessings} With fertility and abundance of provisions.

{The most excellent word of your Lord} His saying: {And We wanted to confer a favor upon those who were oppressed in the land...} up to His saying: {...what they used to fear} (Al-Qaṣaṣ: 5-6). "Al-Ḥusnā" (the most excellent) is the feminine form of "al-aḥsan" (the best), acting as an adjective for "the word." The meaning of "tammat" (was fulfilled/completed) upon the Children of Israel is that it passed over them and continued, derived from the expression "tamma ʿalā al-amr" (he persisted in the matter) when one continues in it.

{Because they were patient} Due to their patience. This is sufficient as an incitement to patience and as proof that whoever meets affliction with panic, God entrusts him to it, while whoever meets it with patience and expectation of victory, God guarantees him relief. Al-Ḥasan said: "I am amazed at one who panics—how he panics—when he has heard His word," and he recited the verse. The meaning of "panics" here is to be light-headed with anxiety and lack of patience, failing to possess the gravity of those who are patient. ʿĀṣim read in one narration: {And the most excellent words of your Lord were fulfilled}, similar to {of the greatest signs of his Lord} (An-Najm: 18).

{What Pharaoh and his people were producing} What they were doing and constructing in terms of buildings and the building of palaces.

{And what they were erecting} From gardens, as in: {It is He who brought into being... gardens trellised} (Al-Anʿām: 141). Or, what they were raising of structures built high into the sky, like the tower of Hāmān and others. It is read as "yaʿrishūn" with both a kasra and a ḍamma. Al-Yazīdī mentioned that the kasra is more eloquent. It reached me that some people read it as "yaghrisūn" (planting), from planting trees, but I do not consider it anything other than a scribal error on their part.

{And We led the Children of Israel across the sea; then they came upon a people devoted to some idols of theirs. They said, "O Moses, make for us a god just as they have gods." He said, "Indeed, you are a people who are ignorant. Indeed, those [people]—destroyed is that which they are in, and void is that which they have been doing." He said, "Shall I seek for you a god other than God, while He has preferred you over the worlds?"}