Idolatry

joe1982

Tafseer Sayyid Qutb 11:96-97


"Indeed, We sent Moses with Our signs & a manifest authority, (96)
to Pharaoh & his noble men. They, however, followed only Pharaoh’s bidding.
Pharaoh’s bidding led by no means to what is right." (97)


In the series of historical accounts given in this sūrah, the final reference is made to
Moses and Pharaoh. We have here only a very brief account with several references
to the details of the story, but no specifics are given here. The end which Pharaoh
and his people met is recorded, along with a very vivid and real scene of the Day of
Resurrection. We also have a statement of a basic Islamic principle whereby
individual responsibility cannot be overlooked simply because the individual
concerned chooses to follow his master or ruler.

The account given here opens with God’s sending Moses to Pharaoh, the great
ruler of Egypt, and the chiefs of his government. God gives Moses strength and clear
authority. “We sent Moses with Our signs and a manifest authority to Pharaoh and his
noble men.” (Verses 96-97) No details are given before the end is stated. The people
simply obeyed Pharaoh and disobeyed God, despite all the stupidity, shortsightedness
and excesses which characterized all that Pharaoh had done. “They,
however, followed only Pharaoh’s bidding. Pharaoh’s bidding led by no means to what is
right.” (Verse 97)

The people chose to follow Pharaoh blindly, without stopping to think whether he
guided them rightly or not. They degraded themselves and trampled over their own
freedom and the will with which God had endowed them.