Surah Zukhruf ayat 48 Tafsir Quran 43:48

﴿وَمَا نُرِيهِم مِّنْ آيَةٍ إِلَّا هِيَ أَكْبَرُ مِنْ أُخْتِهَا ۖ وَأَخَذْنَاهُم بِالْعَذَابِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ﴾
[ الزخرف: 48]

43:48 And We showed them not a sign except that it was greater than its sister, and We seized them with affliction that perhaps they might return [to faith].

And We never showed them a sign from among the signs of chastisement such as the flood which was when the waters of the Nile penetrated their dwellings and for seven days rose as high as their throats as they sat or the chastisement of the locusts but it was greater than the one before it the one immediately preceding it. And We seized them with chastisement that perhaps they might recant their disbelief.

And no sign did We present them with but was greater than the sign displayed before, and by consequence We made ruin seize them so that, with hearts travailed, they might hopefully turn to Us and lift their inward sight

Musa was sent with the Message of Tawhid to Fir`awn and His Chiefs Here Allah tells us about His servant and Messenger Musa, peace be upon him, and how He sent him to Fir`awn and his chiefs.
That is, his governors, ministers, leaders and followers among the Egyptians and the Children of Israel.
Allah sent him to call them to worship Allah alone, with no partner or associate, and to forbid them from worshipping anything other than Him.
He sent him with mighty signs, such as his hand and his staff, other signs such as the flood, locusts, Qummal, frogs and blood, and the loss of their crops and lives.
Yet despite all that they remained arrogant and stubbornly refused to follow him; they rejected his message and made fun of it, and laughed at the one who had brought it. وَمَا نُرِيِهِم مِّنْ ءَايَةٍ إِلاَّ هِىَ أَكْبَرُ مِنْ أُخْتِهَا ( And not an Ayah We showed them but it was greater than its fellow preceding it, ) but despite that they would not give up their sin, misguidance, ignorance and confusion.
Every time one of these signs came to them, they would go and implore Musa, saying, يأَيُّهَ السَّاحِرُ ( "O you sorcerer!..." ) meaning, expert or knowledgeable one -- this was the view of Ibn Jarir.
The scholars of that time were the sorcerers or magicians, and magic was not regarded as something reprehensible by them at that time, so this was not a slight on their part.
They were in a state of need, so it would not have been appropriate for them to insult him.
This was a way of honoring him, as they thought.
On each occasion, they promised Musa that if the torment was lifted from them, they would believe in him and let the Children of Israel go with him, but on each occasion they went back on their word.
This is like the Ayat: فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الطُّوفَانَ وَالْجَرَادَ وَالْقُمَّلَ وَالضَّفَادِعَ وَالدَّمَ ءَايَـتٍ مّفَصَّلاَتٍ فَاسْتَكْبَرُواْ وَكَانُواْ قَوْماً مُّجْرِمِينَ - وَلَمَّا وَقَعَ عَلَيْهِمُ الرِّجْزُ قَالُواْ يَمُوسَى ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ بِمَا عَهِدَ عِندَكَ لَئِن كَشَفْتَ عَنَّا الرِّجْزَ لَنُؤْمِنَنَّ لَكَ وَلَنُرْسِلَنَّ مَعَكَ بَنِى إِسْرَءِيلَ - فَلَمَّا كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمُ الرِّجْزَ إِلَى أَجَلٍ هُم بَـلِغُوهُ إِذَا هُمْ يَنكُثُونَ ( So We sent on them: the flood, the locusts, the Qummal, the frogs, and the blood; manifest signs, yet they remained arrogant, and they were of those people who were criminals.
And when the punishment struck them, they said: "O Musa! Invoke your Lord for us because of His promise to you.
If you remove the punishment from us, we indeed shall believe in you, and we shall let the Children of Israel go with you." But when We removed the punishment from them to a fixed term, which they had to reach, behold! they broke their word! ) ( 7:133-135 )

(43:48) Every Sign that We showed them was greater than its predecessor; and then We seized them with Our chastisement so that they may return (to the Right Way). *43

And We showed them not a sign meaning

*43) This implies the Signs which Allah showed them through the Prophet Moses afterwards, and these were the following:
( 1 ) A public encounter of Allah's Prophet with the magicians, who believed after their defeat.
For details, see Al-A'raf: 112-126, Ta Ha: 68-73.
AshShu'ara: 37-51.

( 2 ) A severe famine which hit the land of Egypt according to the Prophet Moses' announcement and which left the country only on his prayer.

( 3 ) Dreadful rain and hail-storms accompanied by lightning and thunder struck the country even as the Prophet had announced, which destroyed the crops and dwellings and which also was removed only on his prayer.

( 4 ) The sudden appearance of locusts in the land.
This calamity also was not removed till the Prophet prayed to Allah.

( 5 ) Lice and weavils spread throughout the country according to the announcement made by Moses, which afflicted men and animals on the one hand, and destroyed granaries on the other.
This torment also was averted when the Prophet Moses was requested to pray for its removal.

( 6 ) Frogs appeared everywhere in the country according to the warning given by Moses, which put the whole population to great distress; this calamity also did not retreat till the Prophet prayed for it.

( 7 ) The torment of blood appeared precisely as foretold by Moses, which turned the water of all canals, wells, springs, pools and cisterns into blood.
The fish died and the water smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink from it for a full week.
This evil also was averted when the Prophet Moses was asked to pray for its removal.
For details, see AIA'raf: 130-136.
An-Naml: 12 and E.N.
37 of Al-Mu'min.

Chapters 7 to 10 of Exodus also contain the details of these calamities, but it is a combination of gossip and truth.
It says that when the calamity of blood appeared, the magicians also worked a similar miracle, but when the calamity of the lice came, the magicians could not produce lice in response, and they said that it was God's work.
Even more strange than this is that when the storm of the frogs came, the magicians also brought about frogs, but in spite of that Pharaoh requested only the Prophet Moses to pray to God to take away the frogs.
The question is when the magicians could produce frogs, why didn't Pharaoh get the frogs taken away through them? And how did it become known which of the frogs were Allah's work and which of the magicians'? The same question arises about the blood.
When according to the warning of Moses water became blood everywhere, which water did the magicians turn into blood? And how was it known that the water of a particular place had turned blood by the power of the magicians? Such are the things which show that the Bible does not consist of purely Divine revelation, but the people who wrote it mixed up many things in it from their own imagination.
The pity, however, is that the authors also were people of ordinary intelligence, who did not even know how to invent a story.

 

Musa was sent with the Message of Tawhid to Fir`awn and His Chiefs Here Allah tells us about His servant and Messenger Musa, peace be upon him, and how He sent him to Fir`awn and his chiefs.
That is, his governors, ministers, leaders and followers among the Egyptians and the Children of Israel.
Allah sent him to call them to worship Allah alone, with no partner or associate, and to forbid them from worshipping anything other than Him.
He sent him with mighty signs, such as his hand and his staff, other signs such as the flood, locusts, Qummal, frogs and blood, and the loss of their crops and lives.
Yet despite all that they remained arrogant and stubbornly refused to follow him; they rejected his message and made fun of it, and laughed at the one who had brought it. وَمَا نُرِيِهِم مِّنْ ءَايَةٍ إِلاَّ هِىَ أَكْبَرُ مِنْ أُخْتِهَا ( And not an Ayah We showed them but it was greater than its fellow preceding it, ) but despite that they would not give up their sin, misguidance, ignorance and confusion.
Every time one of these signs came to them, they would go and implore Musa, saying, يأَيُّهَ السَّاحِرُ ( "O you sorcerer!..." ) meaning, expert or knowledgeable one -- this was the view of Ibn Jarir.
The scholars of that time were the sorcerers or magicians, and magic was not regarded as something reprehensible by them at that time, so this was not a slight on their part.
They were in a state of need, so it would not have been appropriate for them to insult him.
This was a way of honoring him, as they thought.
On each occasion, they promised Musa that if the torment was lifted from them, they would believe in him and let the Children of Israel go with him, but on each occasion they went back on their word.
This is like the Ayat: فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الطُّوفَانَ وَالْجَرَادَ وَالْقُمَّلَ وَالضَّفَادِعَ وَالدَّمَ ءَايَـتٍ مّفَصَّلاَتٍ فَاسْتَكْبَرُواْ وَكَانُواْ قَوْماً مُّجْرِمِينَ - وَلَمَّا وَقَعَ عَلَيْهِمُ الرِّجْزُ قَالُواْ يَمُوسَى ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ بِمَا عَهِدَ عِندَكَ لَئِن كَشَفْتَ عَنَّا الرِّجْزَ لَنُؤْمِنَنَّ لَكَ وَلَنُرْسِلَنَّ مَعَكَ بَنِى إِسْرَءِيلَ - فَلَمَّا كَشَفْنَا عَنْهُمُ الرِّجْزَ إِلَى أَجَلٍ هُم بَـلِغُوهُ إِذَا هُمْ يَنكُثُونَ ( So We sent on them: the flood, the locusts, the Qummal, the frogs, and the blood; manifest signs, yet they remained arrogant, and they were of those people who were criminals.
And when the punishment struck them, they said: "O Musa! Invoke your Lord for us because of His promise to you.
If you remove the punishment from us, we indeed shall believe in you, and we shall let the Children of Israel go with you." But when We removed the punishment from them to a fixed term, which they had to reach, behold! they broke their word! ) ( 7:133-135 )

( And every token ) sign ( that We showed them was greater than its sister (token )) that We sent before it, even so they refused to believe, ( and we grasped them with the torment ) with the flood, locusts, lice, frogs, blood, shortage of foodstuffs and years of drought, ( that haply they might turn again ) that haply they might desist from their disbelief.

And not an Ayah (sign, etc.) We showed them but it was greater than its fellow, and We seized them with torment, in order that they might turn [from their polytheism to Allah's Religion (Islamic Monotheism)].

Page 493 English transliteration