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qālū ʾarjih wa-ʾakhāhu wa-ʾarsil fī l-madāʾini ḥāshirīna
They said, ‘Put him and his brother off for a while, and send heralds to the cities,
— Ali Quli Qarai
7Al-A'rāfالأعرافVerse 111 of 206
The Heights7. Al-A'rāfالأعراف
Al A‘rāf
The Heights
MeccanVerse 111 of 206
Surah al-‘Araf – Verses 111-112
111 . “They said (unto Pharaoh): ‘Keep him and his brother in suspense (for a while); and send men to the cities to collect (sorcerers),”
112 . “To bring you every knowing (expert) sorcerer’.”
In their consultation, however, the attitude of all of them was that they told him to keep Moses and Aaron (as) in suspense in order to collect sorcerers. The verse says as follows:
This device was for the reason that they would call all knowledgeable skillful experts of the time in sorcery to be gathered and to be brought to the presence of Pharaoh. The verse says:
Since haste in slaying Moses and Aaron, regarding Moses’ two surprising miracles, would cause the attraction of the attention of many people to him, and the feature of his ‘prophethood’ might be strengthened with the feature of ‘martyrdom and being oppressed’, at first they thought that they would frustrate his deeds by means of some extraordinary actions of their sorcerers, and defame him. After that, they should slay him so that the story of Moses and Aaron could disappear from the minds of people forever.