فَجَعَلناهُم سَلَفًا وَمَثَلًا لِلآخِرينَ
Thus We made them the vanguard and an example for posterity.
EXEGESIS
Salaf: many lexicographers define salaf as predecessors.[1] According to Muṣṭafawī, the root salaf fundamentally refers to something that has already occurred and was realised in the past. In Quranic usage, salaf points to something that has already happened and is now settled as a past reality. Likewise, islāf means to make something salaf, that is, to send it forth as an already realised act, whether righteous deeds or past wrongdoing. Therefore, the key meaning of this root is not merely ‘before’ or ‘previous’, but something that has actually taken place and become established in the past.
EXPOSITION
After recounting the destruction of Pharaoh and his people, this verse concludes the section by emphasising that God made them a thing of the past – meaning that their destruction was inevitable and final, marking the end of their power. Other verses further indicate that God eradicated all traces of their legacy, leaving nothing behind, and We destroyed what Pharaoh and his people had built and what they used to erect (7:137).[2]
Some suggest that meaning of vanguard here is that Pharaoh and his people will enter the fire of hell before others.[3]
In making them an example for posterity, what is intended is that Pharaoh and his people have become a parable for all those who are exposed to the truth and reject it out of stubbornness and arrogance[4] and are then punished.[5] In another verse, God explicitly states that Pharaoh’s corpse was preserved as a sign for those who came after, So today We shall deliver your body so that you may be a sign for those who come after you (10:92).
This is in line with the fact that God’s customs do not change, Yet you will never find any change in Allah’s precedent, and you will never find any revision in Allah’s precedent (35:43).[6] See 2:66 for a similar discussion.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Some exegetes opine that salaf means example or source and thus the intended meaning in this verse is that God has made Pharaoh and his people an example to be followed by all those who came after Pharaoh and imitated him, in terms of the punishment that they shall receive.[7]
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their cry by the Red Sea. You showed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants, And against all the people of his land. For You knew that they acted proudly against them. So You made a name for Yourself, as it isthis day. And You divided the sea before them, So that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; And their persecutors You threw into the deep, As a stone into the mighty waters.[8]
- For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it ismighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.[9]
- Who led themby the right hand of Moses, With His glorious arm, Dividing the water before them To make for Himself an everlasting name.[10]
[1] Raghib, 1/420.
[2] Hadi, 3/238.
[3] Mizan, 18/166; Kashif, 6/553; Ibn Ashur, 25/273.
[4] Hadi, 3/238.
[5] Abu al-Futuh, 17/178.
[6] Atyab, 12/44.
[7] Daqaiq, 12/78; Alusi, 13/91.
[8] Nehemiah 9:9-11.
[9] Joshua 4:23-24.
[10] Isaiah 63:12.