Killing of the Copt
Killing of the Copt by Prophet Moses (a) is a narrative featured among the Quranic stories. Moses (a) resided in the palace of Pharaoh.[1] One day, a dispute broke out in the city between a man from the Children of Israel and a Copt.[2] Moses (a) intervened to help the Israelite and struck the Copt, which resulted in his death.[3] News of the Copt's death spread throughout the city, and Pharaoh's people pursued Moses (a). Moses (a) then left Egypt.[4] This event is recounted in Qur'an 28:15–16 and Qur'an 26:20.[5]
Certain Sunni commentators interpret the killing of the Copt by Moses (a) as evidence against the absolute infallibility of the prophets, specifically regarding Moses (a).[6] They argue that if the Copt deserved death,[7] there would be no reason for Moses (a) to characterize the act as "Satan's doing"[8] or "wronging oneself."[9] Conversely, if the man did not deserve death, the act would be inconsistent with the concept of infallibility.[10] Therefore, it has been said that Moses (a) committed a minor sin because he acted to kill the Copt before divine permission and sought forgiveness for this reason.[11] It has been suggested that a strike delivered without lethal intent constitutes a minor sin resulting in accidental killing, for which the Shari'a prescribes a expiation.[12]
Shia commentators maintain that prophets are infallible and protected from all sins, whether major or minor.[13] In their view, God had commanded Moses to kill the Copt, and he deserved to be killed,[14] but it would have been better for Moses (a) to postpone this action.[15] because in those circumstances, killing the Copt was not in accordance with expediency and led to his departure from Egypt.[16] By hastening in this act, Moses committed the abandoning of the better, and for this reason he sought forgiveness,[17] and God extended His grace to him.[18]
According to 'Allama Tabataba'i, Moses (a) killed the Copt before receiving his prophetic mission and before the enactment of the prohibition against homicide. Furthermore, as the victim was a disbeliever, his life was not deemed inviolable.[19] Moses's (a) confession was not an admission of the sin of murder, but rather of an action that was not in accordance with expediency.[20] Nasir Makarim Shirazi similarly argues that since Pharaoh's people had slaughtered thousands of Israelite infants, their blood was not considered inviolable by the Bani Israel.[21]
In a narration attributed to Imam al-Rida (a), Moses's (a) statement "this is Satan's doing" is said to refer to the quarrel between the Copt and the Israelite, while the phrase "I have wronged myself" is said to refer to Moses being placed in difficult circumstances.[22]
Notes
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 16, p. 17; Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i namūna, vol. 16, p. 49.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i namūna, vol. 16, p. 54.
- ↑ Qur'an 28:15.
- ↑ Rāwandī, Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ, pp. 154–155.
- ↑ Qur'an 28:15–16; Qur'an 26:20.
- ↑ Cited in Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 24, p. 585.
- ↑ Fāḍil Miqdād, Lawāmiʿ al-ilāhiyya, p. 259.
- ↑ Qur'an 28:15.
- ↑ Qur'an 28:16.
- ↑ Fāḍil Miqdād, Lawāmiʿ al-ilāhiyya, p. 259.
- ↑ Zamakhsharī, al-Kashshāf, vol. 3, p. 398.
- ↑ Ālūsī, Rūḥ al-maʿānī, vol. 10, p. 264.
- ↑ Sayyid Murtaḍā, Tanzīh al-anbiyāʾ, p. 67.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 8, p. 137; Fāḍil Miqdād, al-Lawāmiʿ al-ilāhiyya, p. 259.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 8, p. 137; Fāḍil Miqdād, al-Lawāmiʿ al-ilāhiyya, p. 259.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i namūna, vol. 16, p. 55.
- ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 8, p. 137; Fāḍil Miqdād, al-Lawāmiʿ al-ilāhiyya, p. 259.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i namūna, vol. 16, p. 55.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 6, p. 278.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 6, p. 278.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i namūna, vol. 16, p. 56.
- ↑ Ṣadūq, ʿUyūn akhbār al-Riḍā, vol. 2, p. 177.
References
- Ālūsī, Maḥmūd b. ʿAbd Allāh. Rūḥ al-maʿānī fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm wa-l-sabʿ al-mathānī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1415 AH.
- Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar. Mafātīḥ al-ghayb. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1420 AH.
- Fāḍil Miqdād, Miqdād b. ʿAbd Allāh. al-Lawāmiʿ al-ilāhiyya fī l-mabāḥith al-kalāmiyya. Qom: Daftār-i Tablīghāt-i Islāmī, 1380 Sh.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i namūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1353 Sh.
- Rāwandī, Quṭb al-Dīn. Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ. Mashhad: Āstān-i Quds-i Raḍawī, 1368 Sh.
- Sayyid Murtaḍā, ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn. Tanzīh al-anbiyāʾ. Qom: al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, n.d.
- Shaykh al-Ṣadūq, Muḥammad b. ʿAlī. ʿUyūn akhbār al-Riḍā. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1404 AH.
- Shaykh al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Ḥasan. al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, n.d.
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Intishārāt-i Ismāʿīliyān, 1370 Sh.
- Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd b. ʿUmar. al-Kashshāf ʿan ḥaqāʾiq ghawāmiḍ al-tanzīl. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabī, 1407 AH.