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wa-qāla firʿawnu dharūnī ʾaqtul mūsā wa-l-yadʿu rabbahū ʾinnī ʾakhāfu ʾan yubaddila dīnakum ʾaw ʾan yuẓhira fī l-ʾarḍi l-fasāda
And Pharaoh said, ‘Let me slay Moses, and let him invoke his Lord. Indeed I fear that he will change your religion, or bring forth corruption in our land.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Ghafir - Verse 26
26. Pharaoh said: “Leave me to slay Moses and let him call his Lord [so that He may save him]. I fear that he may change your religion or that he may cause mischief to appear in the land.”
It is the common practice of tyrannical rulers to slay the leaders of the Path of Truth and it is the policy of the arrogant to deny, menace, and humiliate. The struggle between Moses (as) and his adherents on the one side and Pharaoh and his followers on the other heightened and in order to impede the revolutionary move of Moses (as), Pharaoh made up his mind to slay him but it sounds as if his people and advisors declined. The Holy Qur’an says:
The Verse reveals that the majority of his advisors or at least some of them were against slaying Moses (as) and produced arguments to the effect that taking his miraculous acts he might cast a curse and his God might send down some torment. Yet, the arrogant Pharaoh said:
“I will slay him! Come what may!”
However, the real motive of the adherents and advisors behind such impediment is not precisely known. There are different possibilities all of which may be true: firstly, fear of Divine torment, secondly, fear of slaying Moses (as) and making a hero and martyr out of him thereby casting him in a halo of sanctity. Thus, it could increase the number of believers and adherents particularly when it happened following Moses (as) demonstrating his feats against sorcerers and his wonderful victory over them.
It is apparently so since Moses had demonstrated the twain great miracles of his, namely the walking stick and the illuminating hand, in his first meeting with Pharaoh as a consequence of which he had obtained the appellation of sorcerer. He had asked for Moses’ confrontation with his sorcerers and had set his hope on their sorcery as a consequence of which he awaited the due date of confrontation. Taking the above points into consideration, there would remain no reason for Pharaoh’s decision as to slaying Moses (as) at this time span nor would he stand in awe as to mass conversion into Moses’ (as) religion.
In short, Pharaoh and his people maintained that Moses is a “menace” but slaying him would turn him into an “uprising” which would lead to an uncontrollable effervescent and massive movement. There were a number of Pharaoh’s people who were displeased with him. They wanted Moses (as) alive so that Pharaoh might be preoccupied with him and leave them in peace to take advantage of the preoccupation and be engaged in their misappropriations. It is the usually practice that sovereigns’ retinues desire the crown’s preoccupation with certain affairs so that they could fill up their own coffers and at times provoked foreign enemies so as to stay secure from the crown’s peace of mind.
To justify his decision as to slaying Moses (as), Pharaoh produces two arguments, a religious and spiritual argument and a material and worldly one, saying:
He says:
“If I keep silence, the religion of Moses (as) will immediately profoundly penetrate the hearts of the people of Egypt, as a consequence of which the sacred religion of idolatry protecting your identity and interests will be substituted with a monotheistic religion against you!
If I stay silent today and take measures against Moses (as) after a while, he will gather many an adherent and bloody conflicts will follow which will lead to bloodshed, corruption, and unrest throughout the land. Thus, it sounds expedient that I slay him at the earliest convenience.”
It is noteworthy that from Pharaoh’s point of view, religion was nothing more than being worshipped or idolatry which aimed at fooling the masses and poisoning their minds and a means of sanctification of their tyrannical and blood thirsty rule. By corruption, he intended the creation of anti-arrogance revolution aiming to liberate the masses in bondage and eradication of the traces of idolatry and revival of monotheism. To justify their crimes and to struggle against the men of God the corrupt and tyrants have made efforts at all times to make use of unfounded pretexts the instances of which may be seen in our time.