The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 134
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH PT. 1 when We divided the sea for وَإِذْ فَرَقْنَا بِكُمُ الْبَحْرَ فَانْجَيْنَكُمْ وَأَغْرَقْنَا And remember the time. 51 وَاذْفَرَقْنَا أَلَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَأَنْتُمْ تَنْظُرُونَ Pharaoh's you and people, you and saved "drowned while you looked on. 57 7:137; 8:55; 20:78-81; 26:64-67; 28:41; 44:25. 57. Important Words: We divided) is from) فرقنا فرق meaning, he divided or he split. means, he made parting in the hair (Aqrab). (for you) may give a number of meanings: (1) for you; (2) with you, i. e. the sea divided or receded as you proceeded, as if you were the means of dividing it; (3) because of you, i. e. in order to save you; (4) in your presence, i. e. while you were present (Kashshāf). Commentary: The incident mentioned in this verse relates to the time when, under God's command, Moses led the Israelites from Egypt to Palestine. The Israelites left secretly at night, and when Pharaoh learnt of their flight, he pursued them with his hosts in order to bring them back to bondage. The verse mentions the favour bestowed by God on the Israelites by dividing the sea for them and drowning the Egyptians. The incident is narrated in Exod. 14:21- 30. The Bible says: "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided. And the 134 children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them to the midst of the sea. . . And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. " The (sea) spoken of in the Quranic verse and mentioned in the Biblical quotation given above refers to the Red Sea through which or through an extremity of which the Israelites passed in their flight from Egypt to the Holy Land (Exod. 14). Besides the verse under comment, the Quran also speaks of this incident in 20:78, 26:64 and 44:25. Says the Quran: And We sent a revelation to Moses, saying, 'Take away My servants by night and strike for them a dry path through the sea' (20:78). Again: Then We revealed to Moses, saying, 'Strike the sea with thy rod'. Whereupon it parted and every part was like a huge sandhill, i. e. on one side was the sea itself, and on the other (from which the sea had receded) there loomed large depressions filled with water (26:64). And again: Take My servants away by