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wa-qulnā min baʿdihī li-banī ʾisrāʾīla skunū l-ʾarḍa fa-ʾidhā jāʾa waʿdu l-ʾākhirati jiʾnā bikum lafīfan
After him We said to the Children of Israel, ‘Take up residence in the land, and when the occasion of the other [promise] comes, We shall gather you in mixed company.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Isra’ – Verses 103 - 104
103. “So he (Pharaoh) decided to scare them from that land; but We drowned him and those with him, all together.”
104. “And, after that, We said to the Children of Israel: ‘Settle in the land and when the promise of the Hereafter comes to pass, We shall bring you (all) assemble together.”
The Arabic term /’istifz az/ signifies ‘expelling by force’. The Qur’an has repeatedly made allusions to these methods of oppression towards the men of Allah and their eventual frustration. They put ‘Ibrahim within fire, the Lord turned the fire cold. They threw Yusuf down the well, the Lord elevated him to the rank of ‘Aziz in Egypt. They expelled the Prophet (S) from Mecca, Allah bestowed on him the government of the entire world of Islam. Such is the Divine way of treatment and the rule of Allah, Who has got suitable contrivance against the dirty tricks of the evildoers.
Therefore, the Qur’an implies in this verse that since the Pharaoh was not able to resist against the pounding reasoning and rationales of Mūsa, he took recourse to the same tricks employed by all oppressors who are illogical throughout the ages, as the verse says:
“So he (Pharaoh) decided to scare them from that land; but We drowned him and those with him, all together.”
And, thus, He implies: We told the Children of Israel, to settle down in the lands of Egypt, Damascus and Bayt-ul-Muqaddas. However, when the time of after-life arrives, We shall make you assemble, appearing in the Court of Justice altogether. The verse says:
“And, after that, We said to the Children of Israel: ‘Settle in the land and when the promise of the Hereafter comes to pass, We shall bring you (all) assemble together.”
The Arabic term /lafif/ means interrelated large groups.
What Land is the Objective of /’ard/ In These Verses?
We read in the previous verses that the Lord told the Children of Israel that now that you have conquered the enemy, you must settle down in the ‘promised land’. Does this signify the land of Egypt? (This same word, which has been stated in the previous verse that says Pharaoh wanted to expel them from that land, is mentioned in this sense with the same meaning; other verses of the Qur’an also affirm the fact that the Children of Israel became the heirs and the inheritors of them)
Or else, this is an allusion made to the ‘Holy Land’ of Palestine, for the Children of Israel went to the land of Palestine after this event and were commissioned to enter it. However, we do not consider it as a remote possibility that both lands have been the objective of it, for the Children of Israel became both the inheritors of the lands of the Pharaohs, as testified by the Qur’an, and they became the proprietors of the land of Palestine. In the meantime, does the Qur’anic phrase /wa‘d-ul-’ axirah/ signify the Hereafter? The answer to this question is apparently positive, for the sentence:
provides us with the corresponding meaning. Some commentators have also voiced another possibility.