50. " and (remember) when we divided the sea for you, and delivered you
and drowned pharaoh's people while you were looking on."

commentary :

 
the rescue from pharaoh !

in the previous verse the miraculous rescue of the israelites from
the tyrannical grips of the egyptian monarch, the pharaoh, was briefly
pointed out. the present verse is, in fact, an explanatory statement of
that rescue, which itself is a sign of the great bounties of allah upon
the children of israel. it says:

" and (remember) when we divided the sea for you, ..."
"...and delivered you and drowned pharaoh's people while
you were looking on."

the incident of the drowning of pharaoh and his horsemen in the
sea, and the rescue of the children of israel from their cruel clutches is
expressed in several suras of the qur'an, including: sura al-'a`raf, no.
7, verse 136 - sura al-'anfal, no. 8, verse 54 - sura al-'asra', no. 17,
verse 103- sura ash-shu`ara', no. 26, verses 63 & 66 - sura
az-zukhruf, no. 43, verse 55- and sura ad-dukhan, no. 44, verses
from 17 on.

more or less all the details of that happening are stated in the
above suras, but by the verse under discussion the story is hinted at
only from the point of the favour and grace of allah upon the
children of israel in order to attract them to the invitation of islam, the
new religion of salvation, and to invoke them to accept it.

as you will read the explanation of this subject in detail through
the aforementioned suras, moses (a.s.), after a long time of preaching
and inviting pharaoh and his people to the divine faith and showing
them numerous miracles and receiving no positive response from them,
was commissioned that he and the children of israel move from egypt
at midnight. but when he reached the seashore, he realized that
pharaoh and his horsemen were closely pursuing them. the israelites
were terribly afraid.

they had the frightful sea in front of them and at their heels the
forceful army of the pharaoh, whom they could not challenge,
threatened them. at that time moses (a.s.) was commanded to
strike the water of the sea with his rod and he obeyed. then
several dry paths appeared in the sea on which moses (a.s.) and
his people passed. when they crossed the sea from between the
walls of water and arrived on the other side of the sea safely,
pharaoh and his army, who were following them, entered the
same paths. they reached the midst of the sea when the walls of
water came together and all of them drowned. their corpses were
floating over the sea water as the children of israel were watching
them and witnessing how helpless their enemies were in front of
their eyes.

that terrible anxiety and the horrible fear they had compared with
this miraculous rescue both deserved to be contemplated, and
demanded that they express thanksgiving to allah.

in this manner, the qur'an tells the jews that allah has granted
them his mercy so that they could rid themselves of that anxiety and
awe; then why do they repudiate the prophet of islam, allah's
messenger, and do not accept islam?

by the way, this verse teaches the human race to rely on allah
and trust in that everlasting power in their lives. they ought to try hard
and not stop in their endeavours and seek his help, because he helps
them even in their most grievous moments.

a detailed story of this miraculous event is given in the bible,
exodus; chapter 14.

1. and the lord spake unto moses, saying,

2. speak unto the children of israel, that they turn and encamp before
pi-hahiroth, between migdol and the sea, over against
baal-zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.

3. for pharaoh will say of the children of israel, they are entangled in
the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

4. and i will harden pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them;
and will be honoured upon pharaoh, and upon all his host; that
the egyptians may know that i am the lord. and they did so.

5. and it was told the king of egypt that the people fled: and the heart
of pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and
they said, why have we done this that we have let israel go from
serving us ?

6. and he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him.

7. and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of
egypt and captains over every one of them.

8. and the lord hardened the heart of pharaoh, king of egypt, and
he pursued after the children of israel and the children of israel
went out with an high hand.

9. but the egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of
pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them
encamping by the sea, beside pi-hahiroth, before baal-zephon.

10. and when pharaoh drew nigh, the children of israel lifted up their
eyes, and, behold, the egyptians marched after them; and they
were sore afraid: and the children of israel cried out unto the
lord.

11. and they said unto moses, because there were no graves in egypt,
hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness wherefore hast
thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of egypt ?

12. is not this the word that we did tell thee in egypt, saying, let us
alone, that we may serve the egyptians ? for it had been better
for us to serve the egyptians, than that we should die in the
wilderness.

13. and moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand still, and see
the salvation of the lord, which he will show to you today: for
the egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again
no more for ever.

14. the lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

15. and the lord said unto moses: wherefore criest thou unto me?
speak unto the children of israel, that they go forward.

16. but lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea,
and divide it: and the children of israel shall go on dry ground
through the midst of the sea.

17. and i, behold, i will harden the hearts of the egyptians, and they
shall follow them: and i will get honour upon pharaoh, upon all
his host, upon his chariots and upon his horsemen.

18. and the egyptians shall know that i am the lord, when i have
gotten honour upon pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his
horsemen.

19. and the angel of god, which went before the camp of israel,
removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went
from before their face, and stood behind them:

20. and it came between the camp of the egyptians and the camp of
israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by
night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the
night.

21. and moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the lord
caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and
made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

22. and the children of israel went into the midst of the sea upon the
dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right
hand and on their left.

23. and the egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of
the sea, even all pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

24. and it came to pass that in the morning watch the lord looked
unto the host of the egyptians through the pillar of the fire and of
the cloud, and troubled the host of the egyptians.

25. and took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so
that the egyptians said, let us flee from the face of israel: for the
lord fighteth for them against the egyptians.

26. and the lord said unto moses, stretch out thine hand over the sea,
that the waters may come again upon the egyptians, upon their
chariots and upon their horsemen.

27. and moses stretched forth his hand over the sea and the sea
returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the
egyptians fled against it; and the lord over-threw the egyptians
in the midst of the sea.

28. and the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the
horsemen, and all the host of pharaoh that came into the sea after
them; there remained not so much as one of them.

29. but the children of israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the
sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and
on their left.

30. thus the lord saved israel that day out of the hand of the
egyptians; and israel saw the egyptians dead upon the sea shore.

31. and israel saw that great work which the lord did upon the
egyptians: and the people feared the lord, and believed the
lord, and his servant moses.  

the above text is exactly narrated from the bible, published in
london by the british and foreign bible society, 146 queen victoria
street. then, if some signs and punctuations are not the same as those
used in the present style of english writing, it should not be taken as
being wrong or misused, but it is because of the method of writing in
the original english translated bible that we observed carefully, without
making any changes in the text. the case is also true for page 190 in
this book.