Transliteration:( Ilaa Fir'awna wa Haamaana wa Qaaroona faqaaloo saahirun kazzaab )
"To the Pharaoh and Hamaan and Qarun. But they said: 'He is a magician, a liar [59]'"
This verse mentions three prominent figures who rejected Prophet Musa (peace be upon him): Pharaoh, the tyrant king; Hamaan, his chief minister; and Qarun, a wealthy man from the same lineage as Musa.
While Pharaoh and Hamaan opposed Musa out of political arrogance and fear of losing power, Qarun’s rejection began with his refusal to pay Zakaat—the obligatory charity.
From this, we learn two significant lessons:
Disagreement with even one command of religion—especially one as foundational as Zakaat—can lead a person towards disbelief. Qarun initially opposed only the obligation of charity, but that eventually led to his complete rejection of Prophethood.
Rejecting a single pillar of Islam is as serious as rejecting the entire faith, because Islam is a complete and integrated system. Faith demands full submission, not selective acceptance.
Though Qarun was from Bani Isra’il, he is grouped here with the hardened enemies of Allah—Pharaoh and Hamaan—showing that wealth, lineage, or proximity to prophets does not save one who rejects divine commands.
Calling Prophet Musa "a magician and a liar" was the typical response of the arrogant disbelievers, attempting to undermine truth with slander when they could not refute his miracles and message.
The tafsir of Surah Muminun verse 24 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Muminun ayat 23 which provides the complete commentary from verse 23 through 27.
(40:24) to Pharaoh and Haman[36] and Korah. They said: “(He is) a sorcerer, an utter liar.”[38]
36. “A manifest authority”: With such clear signs as left no doubt that he had been sent by Allah, and he had Allah, Lord of the worlds’ power at his back. From a careful study of the details of the Prophet Moses’ story, as given in the Quran, it becomes obvious as to what were those signs which are being described here as a clear authority of his appointment as a Prophet by Allah. In the first place, even this was strange that a person who, a few years earlier, had fled the country after killing a man of Pharaoh’s nation and whose warrants of arrest had been issued, should make a sudden appearance directly in the packed court of Pharaoh, with a staff in hand, and should boldly and fearlessly address the king and his nobles and demand that they should acknowledge him as the representative of Allah, Lord of the worlds, and should act according to what he says, and none dares to lay his hands on him. Whereas the nation to which Moses belonged, had been so suppressed under slavery that if he had been apprehended immediately on the charge of murder, no one would have voiced even a protest, not to speak of rising in rebellion. This shows that Pharaoh and his courtiers had been aweinspired just at the appearance of the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), even before they witnessed the miracles of the staff and the shining hand, and they had realized in the very beginning that he had some greater power behind him, Then each of the wonderful miracles that he performed, one after the other, was enough to bring about the conviction that it was not a manifestation of magic but of divine power. After all, what power of magic could cause a staff to change into a serpent, or cause a whole country to suffer from famine, or cause different sorts of disasters to strike vast areas of the land on a sudden notice by Moses and be removed on a notice by him? That is why, according to the Quran, Pharaoh and all the responsible people of his kingdom had been convinced in their hearts, whether they might be refusing to profess with the tongue, that Moses had indeed been appointed a Prophet by Allah. For details, see (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayats 106-117); (Surah TaHa, Ayats 56 78); (Surah Ash-Shuara, Ayats 30-51); (Surah An-Naml, Ayats 10-13).
37. For a reply to the critics’ objections about Haman, see (Surah Al-Qasas, ayat 6) note 8.
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