Surah Ghafir Ayat 26 (40:26 Quran) With Tafsir

Ala-Maududi

(40:26) One day^[41] Pharaoh said: “Let me go and kill Moses;^[42] then let him invoke his Lord. I fear that he will change your religion or cause disruption in the land.”^[43]

41. The event which is being related here is a very important event of the Israelite history, which the Israelites themselves have totally forgotten. Both the Bible and the Talmud are without it, and no mention of it is found in the other Israelite traditions either. Only through the Quran has the world come to know that during the conflict between Pharaoh and the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) this event had taken place at some time. Anybody who reads this story, provided that he has not been blinded by prejudice against Islam and the Quran, cannot but realize that from the viewpoint of the invitation to the truth this story is very valuable, and this thing by itself also is in no way against reason that a person from among the nobles of the kingdom of Pharaoh himself might have quietly believed in his heart, having been influenced by the personality of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), his preaching and the wonderful miracles shown by him, and might not have been able to restrain himself when he saw that Pharaoh was planning to kill him. But the way the Western orientalists, in spite of their tall claims to knowledge and research, try to repudiate the self-evident truths of the Quran, on account of prejudice, can be judged from this that the author of the article “Musa” in the Encyclopaedia of Islam writes in respect of this story:

“The Kuranic story of a believer at the court of Pharaoh who wants to save Musa is not quite clear (xl, 28). Ought we to compare Jethro in the Haggada who advises clemency at Pharaoh’s court?

In other words, these so called researchers have one thing settled with them: They must find fault with everything that the Quran presents. Now, if they do not find any ground for criticizing a statement of it, they should at least say this much out of mischief that the story is not entirely clear, and also should incidentally create this doubt in the reader’s mind that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) might have heard from somewhere the story of Jethro mentioned in the Haggada taking place even before the birth of Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), and inserted it here in this form. This is the type of literary research which these people have adopted with regard to Islam and the Quran and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

42. In this sentence Pharaoh tries to give the impression as if some people were restraining him from killing the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him). Had they not stood in his way, he would have killed him long ago, whereas in fact there was no external power to restrain him; it was the fear of his own heart which was preventing him from laying his hands on the Messenger of Allah.

43. That is, I fear a revolution from him, and even if he is unable to bring it about, there is at least the danger that he will cause mischief to appear in the country by his activities. Therefore, even if he doesn’t commit a crime punishable with death, he should be put to death only for the sake of the maintenance of public order. As for this whether there is a real danger to the public order from him, the king’s satisfaction in this regard is enough. If his majesty is convinced that he is dangerous, it should be declared that he is really dangerous and punishable with death.

Here, the meaning of “changing the religion” also should be understood well, on account of which Pharaoh wanted to put the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) to death. Deen here implies the system of government, and what Pharaoh meant to say was this: I fear that he will change your king. (Ruhal-Maani, vol. xxiv, p. 56). In other words, the deen of the land was the religious, political, cultural and economic system that was prevalent in Egypt on the basis of Pharaoh’s and his family’s sovereignty, and Pharaoh was afraid that Moses’ message would change that very deen. But like the cunning and deceitful rulers of every age, he also did not say that he feared being deposed from his position of authority and, therefore, he wanted to kill Moses (peace be upon him), but he presented the case like this: O people, the danger is for you, not for me, for if Moses’ movement succeeded your deen would change. I am not worried for myself: I am worried for your sake as to what would become of you when you have been deprived of the protection of my authority. Therefore, the wicked man who poses such a danger should be put to death, for he is an enemy of the state.

Ibn-Kathir

The tafsir of Surah Muminun verse 26 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Muminun ayat 23 which provides the complete commentary from verse 23 through 27.