The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 579
PT. 9 AL-A'RĀF CH. 7 وَنَزَعَ يَدَهُ فَإِذَا هِيَ بَيْضَاءِ لِلنُّظَرِينَ And He drew forth his. 109 hand, and lo! it was white for the beholders. 1002 "26:34; 27:13; 28:33. kind occurred when a Muslim army under the well-known Muslim general, Sāriyah, was fighting the enemy in Iraq at a distance of hundreds of miles from Medina. 'Umar, the Second Khalifah, while delivering his Friday sermon at Medina, saw in a vision that the Muslim army was being over- whelmed by the superior numbers of the enemy and that a disastrous defeat was imminent. Thereupon, 'Umar suddenly discontinued his and cried out from the pulpit, saying, "O Sāriyah, take to the mountain, take to the mountain. " Sāriyah, hundreds of miles away and surrounded by the deafening noise of the battlefield, heard the voice of sermon 'Umar and obeyed it; and the Muslim army was saved from destruction (Khamis, ii. 270). The miracle of Moses mentioned in the verse under comment possessed a special significance. It may be interpreted something like this. God told Moses to throw down his rod which then appeared to him like a serpent; and when subsequently on God's bidding he took it up, lo! the rod was a mere piece of wood. Now a serpent, in the language of visions and dreams, is a symbol of the enemy, while a rod is emblematic of one's community (Ta'ṭīrul-Anām). Thus, by means of this vision, God made Moses understand that if He cast away his people from him, they 1019 would become veritable serpents. But if he kept them under his care, they would grow into a strong and well- knit community of righteous and God-fearing men. Moses had in the beginning begged to be excused from being entrusted with the onerous task of reclaiming a morally depraved people, but God told him by means of this vision that the well-being of his people depended upon his taking them in his charge, failing which they would turn into veritable serpents. Abū Jahl, the arch-enemy of Islam, was also once made to see a similar vision. It is reported that the Holy Prophet one day went to him and asked him to pay a certain sum of money which he owed to a poor man, a stranger in Mecca, but which he had so far declined to pay. On the Holy Prophet's demand, Abū Jahl, in spite of his great enmity to the Prophet, made the payment at once, and when asked by his friends the reason for his doing so, he said he saw two enraged camels on both sides of Muḥammad about to tear him to pieces if he refused to comply with his demand (Hishām). Arabia is a land of camels, so Abū Jahl was made to see camels, while Egypt being a land of magic serpents, Pharaoh was made to see a serpent. 1002. Commentary: The miracle of the white hand has