34. Bayyinat means three things:
(1) The clear signs which pointed to the Messengers’ being appointed by Allah.
(2) The convincing arguments which were a clear proof of their teachings being based on the truth.
(3) The clear guidance and instructions about the problems and affairs of life which could enable every reasonable person to see that such pure teachings could not be given by an impostor.
35. For the other details of the story of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), see (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayats 49-61); (Surah An-Nisa, Ayat 164); (Surah Al-Maidah, Ayats 20-26); (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayats 103-162); (Surah Yunus, Ayats 7, 5- 92); (Surah Houd, Ayats 17, 96-97), 110); Introduction to Surah Yusuf; (Surah Ibrahim, Ayats 5-8); (Surah Bani-Israil, Ayats 101-104); (Surah Al-Kahf, Ayats 60-82); (Surah Maryam, Ayats 51-53); (Surah TaHa, Ayats 9-98); (Surah AlMuminun, Ayats 45-49); (Surah Ash-Shuara, Ayats 10-68); (Surah An-Naml, Ayats 7-14); Introduction to Surah Al- Qasas and (Surah Al-Qasas, Ayats 3-44); (Surah Al-Ahzab, Ayats 69); (Surah As-Saff, Ayats 114-122) and the E.Ns thereof.
36. “A manifest authority”: With such clear signs as left no doubt that he had been sent by Allah, and he had Allah, Lord of the worlds’ power at his back. From a careful study of the details of the Prophet Moses’ story, as given in the Quran, it becomes obvious as to what were those signs which are being described here as a clear authority of his appointment as a Prophet by Allah. In the first place, even this was strange that a person who, a few years earlier, had fled the country after killing a man of Pharaoh’s nation and whose warrants of arrest had been issued, should make a sudden appearance directly in the packed court of Pharaoh, with a staff in hand, and should boldly and fearlessly address the king and his nobles and demand that they should acknowledge him as the representative of Allah, Lord of the worlds, and should act according to what he says, and none dares to lay his hands on him. Whereas the nation to which Moses belonged, had been so suppressed under slavery that if he had been apprehended immediately on the charge of murder, no one would have voiced even a protest, not to speak of rising in rebellion. This shows that Pharaoh and his courtiers had been aweinspired just at the appearance of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), even before they witnessed the miracles of the staff and the shining hand, and they had realized in the very beginning that he had some greater power behind him, Then each of the wonderful miracles that he performed, one after the other, was enough to bring about the conviction that it was not a manifestation of magic but of divine power. After all, what power of magic could cause a staff to change into a serpent, or cause a whole country to suffer from famine, or cause different sorts of disasters to strike vast areas of the land on a sudden notice by Moses and be removed on a notice by him? That is why, according to the Quran, Pharaoh and all the responsible people of his kingdom had been convinced in their hearts, whether they might be refusing to profess with the tongue, that Moses had indeed been appointed a Prophet by Allah. (For details, see (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayats 106-117); (Surah TaHa, Ayats 56 78); (Surah Ash-Shuara, Ayats 30-51); (Surah An-Naml, Ayats 10-13).
36. “A manifest authority”: With such clear signs as left no doubt that he had been sent by Allah, and he had Allah, Lord of the worlds’ power at his back. From a careful study of the details of the Prophet Moses’ story, as given in the Quran, it becomes obvious as to what were those signs which are being described here as a clear authority of his appointment as a Prophet by Allah. In the first place, even this was strange that a person who, a few years earlier, had fled the country after killing a man of Pharaoh’s nation and whose warrants of arrest had been issued, should make a sudden appearance directly in the packed court of Pharaoh, with a staff in hand, and should boldly and fearlessly address the king and his nobles and demand that they should acknowledge him as the representative of Allah, Lord of the worlds, and should act according to what he says, and none dares to lay his hands on him. Whereas the nation to which Moses belonged, had been so suppressed under slavery that if he had been apprehended immediately on the charge of murder, no one would have voiced even a protest, not to speak of rising in rebellion. This shows that Pharaoh and his courtiers had been aweinspired just at the appearance of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), even before they witnessed the miracles of the staff and the shining hand, and they had realized in the very beginning that he had some greater power behind him, Then each of the wonderful miracles that he performed, one after the other, was enough to bring about the conviction that it was not a manifestation of magic but of divine power. After all, what power of magic could cause a staff to change into a serpent, or cause a whole country to suffer from famine, or cause different sorts of disasters to strike vast areas of the land on a sudden notice by Moses and be removed on a notice by him? That is why, according to the Quran, Pharaoh and all the responsible people of his kingdom had been convinced in their hearts, whether they might be refusing to profess with the tongue, that Moses had indeed been appointed a Prophet by Allah. (For details, see (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayats 106-117); (Surah TaHa, Ayats 56 78); (Surah Ash-Shuara, Ayats 30-51); (Surah An-Naml, Ayats 10-13).
37. For a reply to the critics’ objections about Haman, see (E.N. 8 of Surah Al-Qasas).
39. As already mentioned in (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayat 127), Pharaoh’s courtiers had said to him: Will you leave Moses and his people free to spread disorder in the land? And he himself had said: I will have their sons slain and let their daughters live. This verse states that this order was at last issued from Pharaoh’s court. It was, in fact, meant to so terrify the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) himself and his supporters and followers that they should abandon him out of fear.
40. Another meaning of this sentence can be: Whatever the disbelievers had plotted, was aimed at deviation, tyranny and antagonism to the truth. That is, even after being convinced of the truth in their hearts, they continued to show stubbornness and did not hesitate to adopt any mean device whatsoever in order to defeat and frustrate the truth.
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.
44. Here, there are two equal probabilities and there is no ground for preferring one to the other. The first probability is that the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) might himself be present in the court at the time and Pharaoh might have expressed his intention to kill him in his presence, and the Prophet might have given this direct answer there and then, addressing him and his courtiers. The other probability is that Pharaoh might have expressed this intention in the absence of Moses in a meeting with the responsible people of his government and a report of this conversation might have been conveyed to the Prophet by some of the believers, whereupon he might have said these words in some gathering of his followers. Whatever be the case, it is apparent from the words that the threat of Pharaoh could not cause any state of fear in Moses’ heart and with trust in Allah he flung his threat back at Pharaoh. The context in which this event has been related in the Quran by itself shows that the same also was the reply from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to those wicked people who, being fearless of the Day of Reckoning, were devising plots to kill him.