7-127 And the chiefs of Pharaoh’s people said: Wilt thou leave Moses and his people to make mischief in the land and forsake thee and thy gods? He said: We will slay their sons and spare their women, and surely we are dominant over them.
وَقالَ المَلَأُ مِن قَومِ فِرعَونَ أَتَذَرُ موسىٰ وَقَومَهُ لِيُفسِدوا فِي الأَرضِ وَيَذَرَكَ وَآلِهَتَكَ ۚ قالَ سَنُقَتِّلُ أَبناءَهُم وَنَستَحيي نِساءَهُم وَإِنّا فَوقَهُم قاهِرونَ (۱۲۷)
7-128 Moses said to his people: Ask help from Allah and be patient. Surely the land is Allah’s — He gives it for an inheritance to such of His servants as He pleases. And the end is for those who keep their duty.a
قالَ موسىٰ لِقَومِهِ استَعينوا بِاللَّهِ وَاصبِروا ۖ إِنَّ الأَرضَ لِلَّهِ يورِثُها مَن يَشاءُ مِن عِبادِهِ ۖ وَالعاقِبَةُ لِلمُتَّقينَ (۱۲۸)
7-128a: The remedy for the difficulties of Muslims from the history of Israelites: The past events that have been narrated in the Quran, and in particular the events that befell the Israelites, there is a prophecy about the history of Islam. All the circumstances faced by the Israelites were to be faced by the Muslims as well. Accordingly, after narrating the events of the Israelites, the prescription given to them through Moses is also the remedy for the difficulties of the Muslims. Bani Israel was in the bondage of another nation who were their masters. The ruling nation was progressively making the Israelites weaker by pursuing strategies that were eroding their cultural identity. They were forced to perform menial labor. Their sons were killed, and the daughters were allowed to live so that this nation may slowly become extinct. This was the situation with the Muslim nation at the turn of the nineteenth century with minor differences created by the progress of civilization since those ancient times. The Muslims in the world generally, but particularly in India, were subservient to another nation. This other nation was their ruler, and its plan of action to keep them down was so firm that the subservient nation was helpless before it. The best virtues of the subservient nation were slowly getting erased. They were selling their religion and belief to satisfy their greed for worldly goods. The virtue of bravery and manliness became seriously eroded. Love of Islam and a sense of honor for their religion was progressively getting worn down. Their worldly grandeur and glory had departed since long, but whatever was left was finally finished by the First World War. If in the time of Pharaoh, the Israelite boys were killed, there was a metaphorical killing of the Muslim boys by the steady erosion of the important virtues of bravery and manliness which amounts to the killing of the sons of the nation. Physical adornment and decoration, worldly wealth and riches, infatuation with worldly entertainments are those feminine attributes which were inculcated in Muslim youth and are the metaphorical equivalent of نستحی نساءھم (sparing the women to live).
The question is what was the remedy for these difficulties? If it is true that the conditions faced by Muslims was similar to the ones faced by Bani Israel under Pharaoh then the remedy that Allah had prescribed through the tongue of Moses was also the most efficacious remedy for the Muslim nation. This remedy was استَعينوا بِاللَّهِ وَاصبِروا (Ask help from Allah and be patient). The leaders of the time considered this to be an absurd and nonsensical suggestion and paid no attention to it. They relied instead on the strength of their biceps to overcome the master nation with noncooperation, and if that did not work then by taking up arms. Going against the clear words of God is purposely putting the nation on the path of destruction. Despite the excesses of Pharaoh, despite the killing of the male children of Bani Israel, despite stopping them from worshipping God, Bani Israel, a nation in bondage, was not given a command by God to wage war against Pharaoh. Instead, the command that was given was to ask help from Allah and to be patient. This is the remedy for Muslims when they are in a similar condition. Like the Bani Israel, the Muslims were in a state of bondage at the turn of the nineteenth century. It was not possible for them to fight and free themselves from the ruling nation. Instead by turning to God, humbly prostrating before Him, and considering the power of Allah as the remedy for their weakness, the Muslims could have freed themselves. Not a single word of the Quran can be presented in support of giving permission to a subservient nation to fight the governing nation. In reality, this will not be a fight but suicide. National leaders and Islamic religious scholars should find the solution from the Quran given the objective conditions that prevail at the time. It is by seeking assistance from Allah and being patient that the virtues will be created which will allow the nation to stay alive. As far as those people are concerned who today appear to us to be the enemies of Islam, Allah has the power to create conditions to destroy them and He also has the power to take them out of the circle of Islam’s enemies and enter them in the circle of friends عَسَى اللَّهُ أَن يَجعَلَ بَينَكُم وَبَينَ الَّذينَ عادَيتُم مِنهُم مَوَدَّةً (It may be that Allah will bring about friendship between you and those of them whom you hold as enemies) (60:7). Our duty is to reform ourselves and present the beauty and goodness of Islam openly before others. This is the way that the Quran has clearly given us. Muslims cannot come out of their condition of humiliation and tribulations if they do not look to the Quran for solutions.
7-129 They said: We were persecuted before thou camest to us and since thou hast come to us. He said: It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you rulers in the land, then He will see how you act.a
قالوا أوذينا مِن قَبلِ أَن تَأتِيَنا وَمِن بَعدِ ما جِئتَنا ۚ قالَ عَسىٰ رَبُّكُم أَن يُهلِكَ عَدُوَّكُم وَيَستَخلِفَكُم فِي الأَرضِ فَيَنظُرَ كَيفَ تَعمَلونَ (۱۲۹)
7-129a: The way to attain a kingdom: What is informed in this entire statement is that when a nation subjects a people to extreme cruelty, the kingdom is taken from it and given to another nation. In spite of all the persecution that the Bani Israel was suffering, and despite the fact that the Bani Israel were in a state of severe subservience and their masters were very powerful and the Bani Israel were fewer and were forced to perform menial labor and had no influence in the government, the faith of Moses was so strong that he stated that their enemy would certainly be destroyed and they would become rulers, but then Allah will also see how they act. If they resorted to being cruel to the people, the kingdom will be taken away from them. In the tribulation of the companions of Moses, a sketch of what was to befall the Muslims is portrayed and the two conditions are very similar with only minor variations.
Bayan-ul-Quran 