Qala firAAawnu wama rabbu alAAalameen (surah Shuara: 23)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(26:23) Pharaoh said, *19 "And what is this Lord of all Creation?" *20

Qaala Fir`awnu wa maa Rabbul `aalameen

*19) Here the details that Prophet Moses went before Pharaoh as the Messenger of the Lord of the universe and conveyed to him His message, have been omitted, and only the conversation that took place between them has. been related.
*20) This question of Pharaoh concerned the assertion of Moses that he had been sent by the Lord, Master and Ruler of all Creation with the message that he should let the Israelites go with him. This was a political message. It implied that the One, Whom Moses claimed to represent, possessed authority and sovereign rights over all the people of the world including Pharaoh and that he was not only encroaching upon his sphere of sovereignty as Supreme Ruler, but was also sending him the Command that he should hand over a section of his subjects to the representative appointed by Him, so that he should take them out of his kingdom. That is why Pharaoh asked, "Who is this Master and Ruler of aII Creation who is sending such a command to the king of Egypt through an ordinary subject of his kingdom?"