87. Moses was granted these two miraculous signs in order to provide testimony
to his being a Messenger of God, the creator and sovereign of the universe.
As we have mentioned earlier, whenever the Prophets introduced themselves as
God's Message-bearers, people asked them to produce some miraculous sign, to
perform something supernatural. In response to those demands the Prophets produced
what the Qur'an terms as 'signs', and which are called 'miracles' by theologians.
Those who tend to play down the supernatural character of such signs or miracles,
and who try to explain them in terms of natural laws of causation, in fact attempt
to build a mid-way house between believing and disbelieving in the statements
of the Qur'an. Such an approach can hardly be considered reasonable. What it
does demonstrate, however, is how such people can be pulled in two opposite
directions. On the one hand, they are not inclined to believe in a Book which
abounds in narrations of a supernatural kind. On the other hand, being born
followers of their ancestral religion, they are not inclined to reject the Book
which carries supernatural narrations.
With regard to miracles, there are two basic questions that people should ask
themselves. Did God, after creating the universe and establishing a system of
natural causations therein, suspend Himself such that it is no longer possible
for Him to interfere in the workings of the universe? Or does He still hold
the reins to His realm in His owns Hands so that His command is enforced every
moment, and He does retain the power to alter the shape of things and the normal
course of events - either partially or fully, - as and when He wills?
It is impossible for those who respond in the affirmative to the first question
to accept the idea of miracles. For clearly miracles do not fit in with their
concept of God and the universe. Honesty demands that instead of indulging in
far-fetched explanations of Qur'anic statements on miracles, such people should
clearly declare that they do not believe in the Qur'an. For quite obviously
the Qur'an is explicit, even quite emphatic in affirming the former concept
of God.
As for those who, being convinced by Qur'anic arguments, respond in the affirmative
to the second question regarding God and the universe, for them there is no
difficulty in accepting miracles. Let us take the instance mentioned in verse
107, namely, that the rod of Moses turned into a serpent. Now, there are those
who believe that serpents can come into being only through one process - the
known biological process. Such people are bound to reject the statement that
Moses' rod changed into a serpent and later reverted to its original shape.
On the contrary, if you are fully convinced that it is God's command alone which
causes life to arise from lifeless matter, and that God has full power to confer
whichever kind of life He wills, the transformation of the rod into a serpent
and its subsequent reversion to its original state is no stranger than the transformation
of any other lifeless matter into a living entity. The fact that the latter
happens virtually every day whereas the former took place only a few times in
history is not enough to declare the first as incredibly, strange and the second
as 'natural'.
88. The above account raises the question as to how a destitute member of
the slave Israeli nation could pose such a serious threat to an emperor as mighty
as Pharaoh. This is especially so when one considers that Pharaoh was not only
an absolute ruler over territory which stretched in one direction from Syria
to Libya and in the other from the Mediterranean coast to Ethiopia, but was
even considered a deity deserving of worship,
One might also wonder how the transformation of Moses' rod into a serpent could
he considered an event of such magnitude as to give rise to the fear that Moses
would overthrow the entrenched empire and unseat the royal family as well as
the entire ruling class. It might further seem strange that the mere declaration
of prophethood and the demand to liberate the people of Israel caused such a
furore even though no other political question had been touched upon.
The answer here lies in the fact that Moses' claim to prophethood implied the
call to total change, obviously, including political change. For if a person
lays claim to be God's Messenger, it implies that people obey him unreservedly.
For God's Messengers are not sent to the world to obey other human beings and
live in subordination to them; they rather ask others to accept them as their
leaders and rulers. It is this which explains why Pharaoh and his coteric felt
threatened by an all-out revolution -political, economic and social - when Moses
came forth with his call.
There remains the question as to why the claim to prophethood was considered
such a potential threat when Moses enjoyed the support of none except his brother,
Aaron, and his claim was reinforced by only two miracles - those of the shining
hand and the rod which turned into a serpent. This can be explained by two things.
First, that Pharaoh and his courtiers knew very well about Moses. All were aware
of his extraordinary abilities and his inherent calibre as a leader of men.
Also, according to the traditions of the Talmud and Josephus - provided they
are authentic -Moses had also learnt the martial arts and other skills which
were available only exclusively to royalty and which were required in connection
with their political and military leadership. Moreover, he had proved his mettle
as a good general during the expedition to Ethiopia. Furthermore, during the
course of his eight years of life in Midian - rigorous years in the desert working
as a shepherd - he had purged himself of all his weaknesses because of his association
with the Pharaonic svstern. Hence. when the Pharaonic court was confronted by
a mature, serene and pious man who came forth with the claim of prophethood,
it was obviously impossible for them to give short shrift to his claim. Second,
the miracles of the rod and the shining hand overawed Pharaoh and his courtiers
to such an extent they were almost convinced that Moses did indeed enjoy the
support of some supernatural power. That they were unnerved by the very first
proof of his prophethood is borne out by the contradictions in their charges
against Moses. On the one hand they dubbed Moses a sorcerer, and on the other
hand they accused him of plotting to banish them from their own land. It is
clear that had they taken Moses for a mere sorcerer, they would not have expressed
fears of political upheaval. For sorcery has never brought about any political
change in the world.
89. The plan of Pharaoh's courtiers clearly suggests that they knew the difference between mere sorcery and a miracle. They were well aware that miracles are effective and have the capacity to bring about actual transformation whereas sorcery results merely in optic illusion. Hence, they dubbed Moses a sorcerer so as to refute his claim to prophethood. They claimed instead that the transformation of the rod into a serpent was not a miracle; that it was rather a magical performance which could be undertaken by any sorcerer. Therefore, they asked all the sorcerers of the land to come together and display how rods could be magically transformed into serpents. They believed that such a magical show would remove the awesome effect created by Moses' miracles on the people, or at least sow doubts in their minds about those miracles.
90. It would be a mistake to believe that the rod of Moses swallowed up the rods and ropes cast by the other sorcerers and which had looked like serpents. The Qur'anic statement means that the rod of Moses swallowed up the falsehood faked by them. This clearly shows that wherever Moses' rod moved, it destroyed the magical effect which had caused the transformation of their ropes and rods. One blow of Moses' rod caused every other rod to revert to a rod, and every rope to revert to a rope. (For further elaboration see Tafhim al-Qur'an, (Ta Ha 20, n. 42)