49. " and (remember) when we delivered you from the people
of pharaoh
who had afflicted you with evil torment,
slaughtering your sons and sparing your women-folk,
and in that was a great trial from your lord."
commentary :
in this verse, the qur'an points to
another great bounty out of the
bounties he bestowed on the children of israel. this favour is the
bounty of deliverance from the grips of those transgressors. this is the
greatest bounty amongst the bounties of allah on them and he
reminds them, saying:
" and (remember) when we delivered you from the
people of pharaoh..."
" ...who had afflicted you with evil torment, ..."
" ...slaughtering your sons and sparing your women-folk, ..."
they let your women-folk live as maid-servants and serve hard for them.
"...and in that was a great trial from your lord."
to illustrate the torments of pharaoh upon
the israelites, the
qur'an has particularly applied the term /yasumuna/ in the future tense
of the verb, which, in arabic, indicates the duration and continuity of
that evil torment. thus, they saw for themselves that their innocent
sons were slaughtered before their eyes and their daughters were taken
away from them to serve in the egyptians' houses as maid-servants.
that conduct caused them to tolerate and experience torture
permanently, too. they were considered as servants, workers, and
slaves of the coptic people in egypt and of the men of pharaoh.
it is a matter of importance that the qur'an counts this event as a
great and grievous trial for the children of israel and, of course,
bearing all those bitter harsh afflictions had been a hard tremendous trial.
it is also probable that the term /bala'/ ` trial ', here, has been
used with the meaning of ` punishment '. the reason is that before that
event, israelites had been enjoying an abundancy of bounties with great
power and authority. but they became ungrateful and the lord
punished them.
anyhow, the day when the children of israel were delivered from
the tyrannical clutches of the egyptian monarch, the pharaoh, was a
very important historical day in their lives on which the holy qur'an
has emphasized repeatedly.
slavery of
females, past and present
in the history of the israelites, their
bondage in egypt was indeed
a tremendous trial for them. even the egyptians' wish to spare the
lives of the israelites' females when the males were slaughtered, as the
qur'an declares, added to their bitterness. so, their rescue from that
cruelty was really counted as a bounty.
it seems that the qur'an intends to warn all human beings that
they should try to obtain their rightful freedom however hard it may be,
and protect it.
hadrat ali (a.s.) has pointed out this matter in one of his
sermons: "...real
death is in the eife of subjugation while real life is in
dying in the way of freedom..." 1
but the modern world is different from
that of the ancient in this
manner. at that time, for example, pharaoh, through his peculiar
cruelty, slaughtered the men and the sons of the people who were his
enemies and let their females remain alive to serve egyptians. while,
today, in this modern world, the spirit of manhood among males is often
slaughtered under some other circumstances, and their females are
mostly made slaves for the lustful pleasure of a group of filthy men.
sometimes, the pharaohs of the age have pity upon neither men nor
women; neither sons nor daughters; neither adults nor infants. they
have verified this statement in the massacres they have committed in
some islamic and non-islamic countries by using chemical bombs and
the likes of them. their actions are often even worst than what the
pharaohs of egypt used to do.
now, why did pharaoh decide to kill the israeli boys and let their
women-folk live ? some of the commentators believe that the reason
for that murderous decision was the dream that pharaoh dreamed. a
more appropriate answer to this question will be discussed when
commenting on sura al-qasas no. 28, verse 4. therein, you will
come to know that the reason for that murder was not only pharaoh's
dream, but he and his clique also stood in awe of the increasing number
of the children of israel and that they might become powerful and
destroy the government of pharaoh. this factor helped them make
that hostile decision.
some details about the miserable lot of the israelites under the
bondage of pharaoh and how they were rescued, are also explained in
exodus the opening chapter of the bible i.e. chapter 1.