سورة الأعراف

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): A Jew said to Imam Ali (peace be upon him): "You had not yet buried your Prophet when you fell into disagreement about him!" He said: "We disagreed about what came from him, not about his person; but as for you, your feet had not yet dried from the sea when you said to your prophet: اجْعَلْ لَنا إِلهاً کَما لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ قالَ إِنَّکُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ [Make for us a god like the gods they have. He said: Indeed, you are a people who are ignorant]."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Indeed Allah decreed disagreement upon His creation, and it was a matter He had already decreed in His knowledge, just as He decreed it upon the nations before you. These are the ways (sunan) and patterns (amthal) which He causes to run among people, and they ran upon us as they ran upon those before us. And he (peace be upon him) said: "There is no altering the creation of Allah" (Rum/30). And Allah decreed upon Musa (peace be upon him), while he was with his people showing them the signs and the warnings, then they passed by a people who were worshipping idols. They said: "یا مُوسَی اجْعَلْ لَنا إِلهاً کَما لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ قالَ إِنَّکُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ [O Musa, make for us a god like the gods they have. He said: Indeed, you are a people who are ignorant]."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ جاوَزْنا بِبَنی إِسْرائیلَ الْبَحْرَ [And We made the Children of Israel cross the sea]; when Allah drowned Pharaoh and his companions, and Musa and his companions crossed the sea, Musa's companions came upon a people who were worshipping idols. They said to Musa: "یا مُوسَی اجْعَلْ لَنا إِلهاً کَما لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ فَقَالَ مُوسَی إِنَّکُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ [O Musa, make for us a god like the gods they have. Musa said: Indeed, you are a people who are ignorant] — these people turn away from the truth, and what they do is false." Musa (peace be upon him) said to them: [then] he said: "Shall I seek for you a god other than Allah, while He has favoured you over the worlds [and the people of your age]?!" ... And in these was a great trial from your Lord for you.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): When Musa took the staff in his hand and Pharaoh came back to himself, he wanted to acknowledge him. Haman rose up before Pharaoh and said: "While you consider yourself a god who is worshipped, are you now becoming the follower of a slave?" The people gathered together and said: "This is a skilled sorcerer." So on an appointed day they gathered all the sorcerers. When they cast their ropes and staffs upon the ground, Musa (peace be upon him) also cast his staff on the ground and it swallowed all of them. At that time there were among the sorcerers seventy-two skilled and senior masters, all of whom fell down in prostration before Musa (peace be upon him). Then they said to Pharaoh: "This work of Musa (peace be upon him) is not sorcery, for if it had been sorcery it could not have swallowed our ropes and staffs." Then Musa (peace be upon him) led the people of Bani Israil out of that place, wishing to bring them across the sea. So Allah saved Musa (peace be upon him) and those who were with him, and drowned Pharaoh and his companions in the sea. When Musa entered the sea, Pharaoh and his troops pursued them. Pharaoh was afraid to enter the sea, so Jibra'il (peace be upon him) appeared in the form of a mare, while Pharaoh was mounted on a stallion. When Pharaoh's people saw the black mare, they followed it and entered the sea, and as a result they drowned in the sea. Allah the Exalted commanded the sea, and it cast Pharaoh's dead body upon the shore, so that no one would suppose that he was absent and still alive. Then Allah sent revelation to Musa (peace be upon him) to bring the people of Bani Israil back to Sham. When he brought them across the sea, he passed by a people who had idols which they worshipped; Bani Israil said to Musa (peace be upon him): "یا مُوسَی اجْعَلْ لَنا إِلهاً کَما لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ فَقَالَ مُوسَی إِنَّکُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ [O Musa, make for us a god just as they have gods. Musa said: Indeed you are a people who are ignorant]."

Imam Askari (peace be upon him): Allah the Exalted has said: وَ اذْکُرُوا إِذْ جَعَلْنَا مَاءَ الْبَحْرِ فِرَقاً یَنْقَطِعُ بَعْضُهُ مِنْ بَعْضٍ فَأَنْجَیْنَاکُمْ هُنَاکَ وَ أَغْرَقْنَا فِرْعَوْنَ وَ قَوْمَهُ وَ أَنْتُمْ تَنْظُرُونَ إِلَیْهِمْ وَ هُمْ یَغْرَقُونَ [And remember when We made the water of the sea into parts, one severed from another, and We delivered you there and drowned Pharaoh and his people while you were looking at them as they drowned]. That was because when Musa (peace be upon him) reached the sea, Allah the Mighty and Majestic revealed to him: "Say to the Children of Israel: renew your affirmation of My Oneness, and pass over your hearts the remembrance of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), the master of My male and female servants, and repeat upon your souls the wilayah (guardianship) of Ali (peace be upon him), the brother of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and of his pure Household, and say: 'O Allah, by their rank take us across the surface of this water,' and the water will turn into land for you." Musa (peace be upon him) told them this, and they said: "You are bringing upon us something we dislike. Have we fled from Pharaoh for any reason other than fear of death? And with these words of yours you are plunging us into this deep water, and it does not show us what will befall us from this?" Then Kalib ibn Yuhanna — who was mounted on his beast, and the estuary was four farsakhs across — said to Musa (peace be upon him): "O Prophet of Allah! Has Allah commanded you that we should say this and enter the water?" He said: "Yes." He said: "And you command me to do it?" Musa (peace be upon him) said: "Yes." He stood still and renewed upon himself the affirmation of Allah's Oneness, the prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), and the wilayah of Ali (peace be upon him) and of the pure ones of the Household of them both (peace be upon them), just as he had been commanded. Then he said: "O Allah, by their rank, take me across the surface of this water." Then he drove his horse forward and moved out onto the surface of the water, and at that moment the water beneath him was like soft ground, until he reached the far side of the estuary, and he came back at a gallop. Then he said to the Children of Israel: "O Children of Israel, obey Musa (peace be upon him), for this supplication is nothing less than the key to the doors of Paradise and the locks upon the doors of the Fire and the bringer-down of sustenance, and it draws to the servants and handmaids of Allah the pleasure of the Guardian, the Creator." But they refused and said: "We walk only upon land." So Allah revealed to Musa (peace be upon him): "Strike the sea with your staff and say: 'O Allah, by the rank of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure Household, split it open.'" He did so, and it split, and the ground appeared to the far side of the estuary. Musa (peace be upon him) said: "Enter it." They said: "The ground is muddy; we fear we will sink into it." Allah said: "O Musa, say: 'O Allah, by the rank of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure Household, dry it out.'" So he said it, and Allah sent upon it the east wind (as-Saba) and it dried up. Musa (peace be upon him) said: "Enter it." They said: "O Prophet of Allah! We are twelve tribes, the descendants of twelve fathers, and if we enter, each group of us will want to get ahead of its fellow, and we cannot be safe from evil breaking out among us. If each group of us had a path of its own, we would be safe from what we fear." So Allah commanded Musa (peace be upon him) to strike the sea in accordance with their number — twelve strikes in twelve places beside that first place — and to say: "O Allah, by the rank of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure Household, make the ground plain for us and clear the water away from us." So a total of twelve paths were formed in it, and the floor of the ground was dried by the east wind. He said: "Enter it." They said: "Each group of us will enter one of these lanes and will not know what is happening to the others." Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: "Strike, with your staff, each of these walls of water between these lanes." So he struck and said: "O Allah, by the rank of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure Household, make this water into wide layers so that they may see one another through them." So wide openings appeared through which they could see one another. Then they entered, and when they had reached the far end of it, Pharaoh and his people arrived, and some of them entered; and when the last of them had entered and the first of them were about to come out, Allah the Exalted commanded the sea and it closed over them, and they were drowned, while the companions of Musa (peace be upon him) were looking at them.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): When Allah drowned Pharaoh and his companions and Musa (peace be upon him) and his companions crossed the sea, the people of Musa (peace be upon him) came upon a people who were busy worshipping idols. They said to Musa (peace be upon him): "یَا مُوسَی اجْعَل لَّنَا إِلَهًا کَمَا لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ [O Musa! Make for us a god just as they have gods]." Musa (peace be upon him) said: "إِنَّکُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ [Indeed you are an ignorant people]."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): تَجْهَلُونَ — that is, you are unaware of the blessings of your Lord which He has bestowed upon you.