Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 25 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:25

قَالَ لِمَنْ حَوْلَهُۥٓ أَلَا تَسْتَمِعُونَ

“[Pharaoh] said to those around him, "Do you not hear?"”

Saheeh International

Essence

Unable to answer Musa, Pharaoh turns to the courtiers around him and asks, with a sneer, whether they are hearing this.

A reflection

Turning to the gallery instead of the question

A televised panel debate. A quiet guest has just made a point nobody on the panel can answer. The host turns to the man beside her, the famous one, for a reply. He does not give one. He swivels his chair towards the studio audience, raises one eyebrow, and lets a slow smile spread. The audience laughs. The cameras cut away. The point is never answered, and most viewers will remember only the eyebrow.

Pharaoh does the same thing here. Musa has just answered him: the Lord of the heavens, the earth and all between. Pharaoh does not engage the answer. Qāla li-man ḥawlahu: he spoke to those around him. A-lā tastamiʿūn: do you not hear?

The concise commentaries fill in the tone. Do you not hear Musa's strange claim of a Lord besides me? A spiritual and linguistic commentary describes the move precisely. Pharaoh wanted to make his courtiers marvel at the answer and look down on the one who gave it. He hinted that merely hearing such words was enough to reject them. No reply was needed. A raised voice and a knowing look would do the work.

This is one of the oldest moves in argument. When you cannot answer the case, you address the crowd and treat the case as self-evidently absurd. It works because laughter is contagious and nobody wants to be the one not laughing.

But notice what it concedes. A man who had a reply would give it. Turning to the gallery is a sign the question has landed. Whenever you feel the pull to answer a serious point with a look at your friends, stop. Ask whether you are refuting it, or just making it socially expensive to agree with.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.