فَلَمَّا كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمُ ٱلْعَذَابَ إِذَا هُمْ يَنكُثُونَ
But when We removed from them the affliction, at once they broke their word.
Translation · Saheeh International
Tafsir
Ibn Kathīr (abridged)
Musa was sent with the Message of Tawhid to Fir`awn and His Chiefs
Here Allah tells us about His servant and Messenger Musa, peace be upon him, and how He sent him to Fir`awn and his chiefs. That is, his governors, ministers, leaders and followers among the Egyptians and the Children of Israel. Allah sent him to call them to worship Allah alone, with no partner or associate, and to forbid them from worshipping anything other than Him. He sent him with mighty signs, such as his hand and his staff, other signs such as the flood, locusts, Qummal, frogs and blood, and the loss of their crops and lives. Yet despite all that they remained arrogant and stubbornly refused to follow him; they rejected his message and made fun of it, and laughed at the one who had brought it.
وَمَا نُرِيِهِم مِّنْ ءَايَةٍ إِلاَّ هِىَ أَكْبَرُ مِنْ أُخْتِهَا
(And not an Ayah We showed them but it was greater than its fellow preceding it,) but despite that they would not give up their sin, misguidance, ignorance and confusion. Every time one of these signs came to them, they would go and implore Musa, saying,
يأَيُّهَ السَّاحِرُ
("O you sorcerer!...") meaning, expert or knowledgeable one -- this was the view of Ibn Jarir. The scholars of that time were the sorcerers or magicians, and magic was not regarded as something reprehensible by them at that time, so this was not a slight on their part. They were in a state of need, so it would not have been appropriate for them to insult him. This was a way of honoring him, as they thought. On each occasion, they promised Musa that if the torment was lifted from them, they would believe in him and let the Children of Israel go with him, but on each occasion they went back on their word. This is like the Ayat:
Read it in an app that guards your attention.
Sadd blocks distracting apps around the five prayers. Every deliberate bypass costs you a written niyyah — and, if you choose, a real ṣadaqah. The Qur'ān, prayer times, qibla and tasbīḥ all work offline.
Download Sadd — free →