Transliteration:( Falamma jaaa'ahum bil haqqi min 'indinaa qaaluq tulooo abnaaa'al lazeena aamanoo ma'ahoo wastahyoo nisaaa'ahum; wa maa kaidul kaafireena illaa fee dalaal )
"And when he brought to them the truth from, they said: 'Slay the sons of those who believe [60] with him and keep their women alive [61]'. And the design of the infidels is nothing but a wasteful effort."
This verse recounts how, when Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) presented the truth from Allah, Pharaoh and his supporters reacted with brutality and oppression. They commanded that the sons of those who believed in Musa be killed, and their women be left alive to humiliate and weaken them.
This specific command is attributed to Pharaoh, and not necessarily Qarun, who—although a disbeliever—was not directly involved in this particular scheme of mass infanticide.
The verse highlights how tyrants often resort to cruelty when they cannot refute the truth with reason. By targeting the innocent, Pharaoh hoped to intimidate the followers of Musa and block the spread of faith.
The killing of male children was not a new policy for Pharaoh. Even before the birth of Musa, he had thousands of male infants from Bani Isra’il murdered based on a dream that foretold the birth of a child who would overthrow him.
Ironically, Musa was raised in Pharaoh’s own palace, proving the futility of his first plan.
Now, Pharaoh revived the same brutal tactic, but this time with a different goal—not to prevent Musa's birth, but to stop people from believing in him. Thus, although the action was the same, the intention had changed—once out of fear, now out of religious hatred.
Yet the verse ends by asserting a powerful truth:
“The design of the infidels is nothing but a wasteful effort.”
All such schemes against truth, no matter how cunning or cruel, are doomed to fail in the face of divine will.
The tafsir of Surah Muminun verse 25 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Muminun ayat 23 which provides the complete commentary from verse 23 through 27.
(40:25) When Moses brought them the Truth from Us they said: “Kill the sons of all the believers who have joined him, but spare the women.”[39] The guile of the unbelievers always ends in vain.[40]
39. As already mentioned in (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayat 127), Pharaoh’s courtiers had said to him: Will you leave Moses and his people free to spread disorder in the land? And he himself had said: I will have their sons slain and let their daughters live. This verse states that this order was at last issued from Pharaoh’s court. It was, in fact, meant to so terrify the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) himself and his supporters and followers that they should abandon him out of fear.
40. Another meaning of this sentence can be: Whatever the disbelievers had plotted, was aimed at deviation, tyranny and antagonism to the truth. That is, even after being convinced of the truth in their hearts, they continued to show stubbornness and did not hesitate to adopt any mean device whatsoever in order to defeat and frustrate the truth.
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