Al-Qur'an Surah Taha Verse 59

Mufti Taqi Usmani

He (Mūsā) said, “Your appointment is the festival day, and the people should be assembled at forenoon.”

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

Moses said, “Your appointment is on the Day of the Festival, and let the people be gathered mid-morning.”

Ruwwad Translation Center

Moses said, “Your appointment is the festival day; let the people be gathered at forenoon.”

A. J. Arberry

'Your tryst shall be upon the Feast Day.' said Moses. 'Let the people be mustered at the high noon.'

Abdul Haleem

He said, ‘Your meeting will be on the day of the feast, so let the people be assembled when the sun has risen high.’

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

Musa said: your appointment is the gala day, and that the people be gathered in the forenoon.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Moses said; "Your tryst is the Day of the Festival, and let the people be assembled when the sun is well up."

Abul Ala Maududi

Moses said: "The appointment to meet you is on the Day of the Feast and let all people come together before noon."

Ahmed Ali

Said (Moses): "Let your meeting be on the day of the Feast, and let people assemble in broad daylight."

Ahmed Raza Khan

Said Moosa, “Your meeting is the day of the festival, and that the people be assembled at late morning.”

Ali Quli Qarai

He said, ‘Your tryst shall be the Day of Adornment, and let the people be assembled in early forenoon.’

Ali Ünal

(Moses) said: "The meeting will be on the Day of the Festival, and let the people assemble in the forenoon."

Amatul Rahman Omar

(Moses) said, `The day of the festival will be the day of your appointment, and let the people be assembled when the sun is risen high.´

English Literal

He said: "Your appointment (is) day (of) the decoration/beauty/ornament, and that the people be gathered at sunrise/daybreak ."

Faridul Haque

Said Moosa, "Your meeting is the day of the festival, and that the people be assembled at late morning."

Hamid S. Aziz

"Then we will bring you magic like it; and we will make between us and you an appointment which we shall not fail to keep - neither we nor you - at a fair place (convenient to both or one where both have an equal chance)."

Hilali & Khan

[Musa (Moses)] said: "Your appointed meeting is the day of the festival, and let the people assemble when the sun has risen (forenoon)."

Maulana Mohammad Ali

We too can bring to thee enchantment like it, so make an appointment between us and thee, which we break not, (neither) we nor thou, (in) a central place.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

(Musa) said: Your appointment is the day of the Festival and let the people be gathered together in the early forenoon.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

(Moses) said: Your tryst shall be the day of the feast, and let the people assemble when the sun hath risen high.

Muhammad Sarwar

Moses said, "Let the contest take place on the Day of Feast so that all the people can come together during the brightness of the day."

Qaribullah & Darwish

He (Moses) replied: 'Your meeting shall be on the day of the feast, and let the people be assembled by midmorning'

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

(Musa) said: "Your appointed meeting is the day of the festival, and let the people assemble when the sun has risen (forenoon)."

Wahiduddin Khan

Moses said, "The day of the encounter will be the day of the festival, and let the people assemble when the sun has risen high."

Talal Itani

He said, “Your appointment is the day of the festival, so let the people be gathered together at mid-morning.”

Tafsir jalalayn

Said he, Moses, `Your tryst shall be the Day of Adornment -- a festive day of theirs on which they adorn themselves and [the public] assemble -- and let the people assemble, [let] the inhabitants of Egypt gather, at forenoon', the time for this [tryst], to observe what will transpire.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

قَالَ مَوْعِدُكُمْ يَوْمُ الزِّينَةِ

(Musa) said;"Your appointed meeting is the day of the festival,

That was the day of their celebration and their New Year's festivity. It was a holiday for them when they took vacation from their work and came together for a large gathering.

This day was selected so that all of the people could witness the power of Allah to do whatever He wills. They would see the miracles of the prophets and the futility of magic to contest the supernatural prophetic powers.

This is why Musa said,

وَأَن يُحْشَرَ النَّاسُ

and let the people assemble,

meaning all of them.

ضُحًى



when the sun has risen (forenoon).

meaning in the morning, just before noon.

In this way the contest will be most visible, well lit, apparent and obvious in plain view. This is the way of the Prophets. Their work is always clear and apparent. It is never something hidden, or something for sale. This is why he did not say that the meeting should be at night, but rather, it was to be held during the bright part of the day.

Ibn Abbas said,

"The day of their festivity was the day of `Ashura'."

As-Suddi, Qatadah and Ibn Zayd said,

"It was the day of their great celebration."

Sa`id bin Jubayr said,

"It was the day of their great bazaar."

These statements are not contradictory.

I say that Allah destroyed Fir`awn and his armies on a day similar to this, just as is confirmed in the Sahih.

Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam said,

"It was a flat place where all of the people were on the same level, having an equal view of the event. There was nothing there that would obstruct the view so that some people could see what others did not.