Fazl-e-Umar — Page 288
Fazle Umar 288 “So this day We will save thee in thy body alone that thou mayest be a Sign to those who come after thee. And surely many of mankind are heedless of Our Signs. ” (Ch. 10:Vs. 91-93) Divine rewards, indeed are pregnant with deep import. Pharaoh believed at a time when his faith was nothing more than a body without a soul; therefore, God rescued only his body from destruction not letting his soul benefit by it. The body was saved from destruction that it might serve as a lesson for the generations to come. It is miraculous that the Qur’an alone speaks of this fact. The Bible makes no mention of it, nor does any book of history. But in how wonderful a manner the Word of God has proved true! After the lapse of more than 3,000 years the body of Pharaoh has been discovered and it now lies in a preserved state in a museum at Cairo. The body shows Pharaoh to have been a lean, short-bodied man with a countenance expressive of anger and stupidity. How far removed is the present age from the time when Pharaoh lived; yet God Almighty not only saved his body but has also preserved it to the present age. 4) The gathering of animals “And when the beasts are gathered together. ” (Ch. 81:V. 6) Different meanings of the root word “hoshairat” are: he collected the people, he drove the people from one place to another, he banished him from his native country, the wild beasts died or were destroyed (Lane). In view of the different meanings of the root word “hoshairat” (gathered together), the verse would signify: when animals will be collected in zoos or when primitive people will be settled in organised civil communities; or when they will be compelled to leave their homelands, as the natives in Uganda and the Kenya Colony, etc. , were told to till their lands or go out; or when they will be destroyed as the Red Indians in the United States of America and the Aborigines in Australia and New Zealand etc.