Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Baqarah Verse 49

Mufti Taqi Usmani

(Remember) when We delivered you from the people of Pharaoh! They had been inflicting on you grievous torment, slaughtering your sons and leaving your women alive. In all that, there was a great trial from your Lord.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

˹Remember˺ how We delivered you from the people of Pharaoh, who afflicted you with dreadful torment, slaughtering your sons and keeping your women. That was a severe test from your Lord.

Ruwwad Translation Center

And [remember] when We saved you from Pharaoh’s people, who were inflicting dreadful torment upon you: slaughtering your sons and sparing your women. That was a great trial from your Lord.

A. J. Arberry

And when We delivered you from the folk of Pharaoh who were visiting you with evil chastisement, slaughtering your sons, and sparing your women; and in that was a grievous trial from your Lord.

Abdul Haleem

Remember when We saved you from Pharaoh’s people, who subjected you to terrible torment, slaughtering your sons and sparing only your women- this was a great trial from your Lord-

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And recall what time We delivered you from the house of Fir'awn imposing upon you evil torment, slaughtering your sons and letting your women live; and therein was a trial, from your Lord, Mighty.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And remember, We delivered you from the people of Pharaoh; They set you hard tasks and punishments, slaughtered your sons and let your women-folk live; therein was a tremendous trial from your Lord.

Abul Ala Maududi

Recall the time when We delivered you from the slavery of Pharaoh's people. They had inflicted a dreadful torment on you: they killed your sons and let your daughters live. And in this there was a hard trial for you from your your Lord.

Ahmed Ali

Remember, We saved you from the Pharaoh's people who wronged and oppressed you and slew your sons but spared your women: In this was a great favour from your Lord.

Ahmed Raza Khan

(And remember) When We rescued you from Firaun’s people, for they were inflicting you with a dreadful torment, slaying your sons and sparing your daughters; that was a tremendous trial from your Lord (or a great reward).

Ali Quli Qarai

[Remember] when We delivered you from Pharaoh’s clan who inflicted a terrible torment on you, and slaughtered your sons and spared your women, and in that there was a great test from your Lord.

Ali Ünal

And (remember) that We saved you from the clan (the court and military aristocracy) of the Pharaoh, afflicting you with the most evil suffering (by enslaving you to such laborious tasks as construction, transportation and farming ), slaughtering your sons and letting live your womenfolk (for further humiliation and suffering). In that was a grievous trial from your Lord.

Amatul Rahman Omar

And (recall) when We delivered you from the people of Pharaoh who subjected you to the worst torment. They went on slaying your sons and sparing your women to make them immodest, and indeed that was a great ordeal from your Lord.

English Literal

And when/where We saved/rescued you, from Pharaoh`s family, they burden/impose upon you (with) the torture`s evil (worst), they slaughter your sons and they shame your women, and in that (is) a great test from your Lord.

Faridul Haque

(And remember) When We rescued you from Firaun’s people, for they were inflicting you with a dreadful torment, slaying your sons and sparing your daughters; that was a tremendous trial from your Lord (or a great reward).

Hamid S. Aziz

When We saved you from Pharaoh´s people who sought to wreak evil and woe on you, slaughtering your sons and letting your women live; in that was a great trial for you from your Lord.

Hilali & Khan

And (remember) when We delivered you from Fir'aun's (Pharaoh) people, who were afflicting you with a horrible torment, killing your sons and sparing your women, and therein was a mighty trial from your Lord.

Maulana Mohammad Ali

And when We delivered you from Pharaoh´s people, who subjected you to severe torment, killing your sons and sparing your women, and in this there was a great trial from your Lord.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And when We delivered you from Firon's people, who subjected you to severe torment, killing your sons and sparing your women, and in this there was a great trial from your Lord.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

And (remember) when We did deliver you from Pharaoh's folk, who were afflicting you with dreadful torment, slaying your sons and sparing your women: that was a tremendous trial from your Lord.

Muhammad Sarwar

(Children of Israel, recall My favor) of saving you from the Pharaoh's people who afflicted you with the worst kind of cruelty, slaying your sons and sparing your women. Your suffering was indeed a great trial from your Lord.

Qaribullah & Darwish

(Remember) how We saved you from Pharaoh's people who had oppressed you cruelly, slaying your sons and sparing your women. Surely, that was a great trial from your Lord.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And (remember) when We delivered you from Fir`awn's (Pharaoh) people, who were afflicting you with a horrible torment, killing your sons and sparing your women, and therein was a mighty trial from your Lord.

Wahiduddin Khan

Remember when We delivered you from Pharaoh's people, who subjected you to grievous torment, slaying your sons and sparing only your daughters, surely in that there was a great trial for you from your Lord,

Talal Itani

And recall that We delivered you from the people of Pharaoh. They inflicted on you terrible persecution, killing your sons and sparing your women. Therein was a tremendous trial from your Lord.

Tafsir jalalayn

And, remember, when We delivered you, your forefathers; the address here and henceforth directed to those living at the time of the our Prophet, is about how God blessed their forefathers, and is intended to remind them of God's grace so that they might believe; from the folk of Pharaoh who were visiting you with, that is, making you taste, evil chastisement, of the worst kind (the sentence here is a circumstantial qualifier referring to the person of the pronoun [suffixed] in najjaynkum, `We delivered you'); slaughtering your, newly-born, sons; this is explaining what has just been said; and sparing, retaining, your women, [doing so] because of the saying of some of their priests that a child born among the Israelites shall bring about the end of your rule [Pharaoh]; and for you therein, chastisement or deliverance, was a tremendous trial, a test or a grace, from your Lord.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

The Children of Israel were saved from Pharaoh and His Army Who drowned

Allah said to the Children of Israel, "Remember My favor on you

وَإِذْ نَجَّيْنَاكُم مِّنْ الِ فِرْعَوْنَ يَسُومُونَكُمْ سُوَءَ الْعَذَابِ

And (remember) when We delivered you from Fir`awn's (Pharaoh) people, who were afflicting you with a horrible torment,

meaning, `I - Allah - saved you from them and delivered you from their hands in the company of Musa, after they subjected you to horrible torture.'

This favor came after the cursed Pharaoh had a dream in which he saw a fire emerge from Bayt Al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), and then the fire entered the houses of the Coptics in Egypt, with the exception of the Children of Israel. Its purport was that his kingship would be toppled by a man among the Children of Israel.

It was also said that some of Pharaoh's entourage said that the Children of Israel were expecting a man among them to arise who would establish a state for them. We will mention the Hadith on this subject when we explain Surah Ta Ha, Allah willing.

After the dream, Pharaoh ordered that every newborn male among the Children of Israel be killed and that the girls be left alone. He also commanded that the Children of Israel be given tasks of hard labor and assigned the most humiliating jobs.

The torment here refers to killing the male infants.

In Surah Ibrahim this meaning is clearly mentioned,

يَسُومُونَكُمْ سُوءَ الْعَذَابِ وَيُذَبِّحُونَ أَبْنَاءكُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيُونَ نِسَاءكُمْ

Who were afflicting you with horrible torment, and were slaughtering your sons and letting your women live. (14;6)

We will explain this Ayah in the beginning of Surah Al-Qasas, Allah willing, and our reliance and trust are with Him.

The meaning of,
يَسُومُونَكُمْ
(who were afflicting you) is,

"They humiliated you," as Abu Ubaydah stated.

It was also said that it means, "They used to exaggerate in tormenting you" according to Al-Qurtubi.

As for Allah saying,

يُذَبِّحُونَ أَبْنَاءكُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيُونَ نِسَاءكُمْ

killing your sons and sparing your women,

that explains His statement,
يَسُومُونَكُمْ سُوَءَ الْعَذَابِ
(who were afflicting you with horrible torment) then it explains the meaning of the favor He gave them, as mentioned in His statement,
اذْكُرُواْ نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ
(Remember My favor which I bestowed upon you).

As for what Allah said in Surah Ibrahim,
وَذَكِّرْهُمْ بِأَيَّامِ اللّهِ
(And remind them of the annals of Allah), (14;5) meaning,

the favors and blessing He granted them,

He then said,
يَسُومُونَكُمْ سُوءَ الْعَذَابِ وَيُذَبِّحُونَ أَبْنَاءكُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيُونَ نِسَاءكُمْ
(Who were afflicting you with horrible torment, and were slaughtering your sons and letting your women live), (14;6).

So Allah mentioned saving their children from being slaughtered in order to remind them of the many favors that He granted them.

We should state here that Pharaoh (Fir`awn) is a title that was given to every disbelieving king who ruled Egypt, whether from the Amaliq (Canaanites) or otherwise, just as Caesar (Qaysar) is the title of the disbelieving kings who ruled Rome and Damascus. Also, Khosrau (Kisra) is the title of the kings who ruled Persia, while Tubba is the title of the kings of Yemen, and the kings of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) were called Negus (An-Najashi).

Allah said,

وَفِي ذَلِكُم بَلء مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ عَظِيمٌ




And therein was a mighty trial from your Lord.)

Ibn Jarir commented that this part of the Ayah means,

"Our saving your fathers from the torment that they suffered by the hand of Pharaoh, is a great blessing from your Lord."

We should mention that in the blessing there a is test, the same as with hardship, for Allah said,

وَنَبْلُوكُم بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً

And We shall make a trial of you with evil and with good. (21;35)

and,

وَبَلَوْنَـهُمْ بِالْحَسَنَـتِ وَالسَّيِّيَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ

And We tried them with good (blessings) and evil (calamities) in order that they might turn (to obey Allah). (7;168).

Allah's statement next,

وَإِذْ فَرَقْنَا بِكُمُ الْبَحْرَ فَأَنجَيْنَاكُمْ وَأَغْرَقْنَا الَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَأَنتُمْ تَنظُرُونَ