Plagues of Egypt

Edit

PLAGUES OF EGYPT. 
The following references occur to the ten plagues of Egypt in the Qur'an. Surah viii. 127—135: "Already had we chastised the people of Pharaoh with dearth and scarcity of fruits, that haply they might take warning: and when good fell to their lot they said,' This is our due.' But if ill befell them, they regarded Moses and his partizans as (the birds) of ill omen. Yet, was not their evil omen from God? But most of them knew it not. And they said,- 'Whatever sign thou bring us for our enchantment, we will not believe on them. And we sent upon them the flood and the locusts and the qummal (lice) and the frogs and the blood, - clear signs - but they behaved proudly, and were a sinful people. And when any plague fell upon them, they said, 'O Moses! pray for us to thy Lord, according to that which he hath covenanted with thee: Truly if thou take off the plague from us, we will surely believe thee, and will surely send the children of Israel with thee,' But when we had taken off the plague from them, and the time which God had granted them had expired, behold! they broke their promise. Therefore we took vengeance on them and drowned them in the sea, because they treated our signs as falsehoods and were heedless of them. And we gave to the people who had been brought so low, the eastern and the western lands, which we had blessed as an heritage: and the good word of thy Lord was fulfilled on the children of Israel because they had borne up with patience; and we destroyed the works and the structures of Pharaoh and his people: And we brought the children of Israel across the sea, and they came to a people who gave themselves up to their idols. They said, 'O Moses! make us a god, as they have gods.' He said, 'Verily, ye are an ignorant people: for the worship they practice will be destroyed, and that which they do is vanity!'" 
In the Surah xvii. 103—104, they are referred to as "nine clear signs," which some commentators understand to be the commandments of Moses. 
"We heretofore gave to Moses nine clear signs. Ask thou, therefore, the children of Israel how it was when he came unto them, and Pharaoh said to him 'Verily, I deem thee, O Moses, a man enchanted." 
"Said Moses, 'Thou knowest that none hath sent down these clear signs but the Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth; and I surely deem thee, O Pharaoh, a person lost.' "

Based on <a href="https://www.juancole.com/library/books/encyclopedias/dictionary-of-islam-hughes ">Hughes, Dictionary of Islam</a>

Cancel