In Surah 10, as Muhammad depicts Moses in a role that resembles Muhammad's role in Mecca, and Pharaoh in a role that resembles Aby Sufyan, after the incident in which Moses faces the sorcerers is mentioned, v. 83 says "But none believed in Moses except the offspring of his people."
However, in 7:120, the sorcerers fell down prostrate and surah 7 goes on to record both Pharaohs claim that they had believed Moses, and their own claim that they believed in the revelations that their Lord had sent, and their appeal to God to let us die as Muslims. Obviously, in surah 7, the sorcerers become believers. Here in 10:83, though, None believed in Moses except the offspring of his people, because of the fear of Pharaoh and his chiefs.
The only possible way I see to deny a contradiction here is to posit that the narrative in 10:82 is suddenly interrupted, so that all of v. 83 is a parenthetical comment on how things stood up to the point when Moses threw down his staff. But nowhere in surah 10 is the narrative-thread of the contest-scene between Moses and the sorcerers resumed; when the narrative about Moses resumes in v. 84, Moses is speaking to his people, not to the sorcerers. No one with only surah 10 to depend on would conclude that the sorcerers ever became believers; the conclusion drawn from 10:83 would be that no one except the offspring of Moses' people believed in Moses.
(It would seem that I am not the first person to notice this; apparently some Islamic commentators have proposed that the "his" in 10:83 refers to offspring of /Pharaoh's/ people, but considering the flow of the sentence that seems a bit desperate.)
So it would seem that either this is a contradiction, or surah 10:81-86 is not a perspicuous text.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
However, in 7:120, the sorcerers fell down prostrate and surah 7 goes on to record both Pharaohs claim that they had believed Moses, and their own claim that they believed in the revelations that their Lord had sent, and their appeal to God to let us die as Muslims. Obviously, in surah 7, the sorcerers become believers. Here in 10:83, though, None believed in Moses except the offspring of his people, because of the fear of Pharaoh and his chiefs.
The only possible way I see to deny a contradiction here is to posit that the narrative in 10:82 is suddenly interrupted, so that all of v. 83 is a parenthetical comment on how things stood up to the point when Moses threw down his staff. But nowhere in surah 10 is the narrative-thread of the contest-scene between Moses and the sorcerers resumed; when the narrative about Moses resumes in v. 84, Moses is speaking to his people, not to the sorcerers. No one with only surah 10 to depend on would conclude that the sorcerers ever became believers; the conclusion drawn from 10:83 would be that no one except the offspring of Moses' people believed in Moses.
(It would seem that I am not the first person to notice this; apparently some Islamic commentators have proposed that the "his" in 10:83 refers to offspring of /Pharaoh's/ people, but considering the flow of the sentence that seems a bit desperate.)
So it would seem that either this is a contradiction, or surah 10:81-86 is not a perspicuous text.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
