[20].Surah Taha [Tâ-Hâ]: Ayat 49-52

Ayat 49. Firaun (Pharaoh) said: "Who then, O Mûsa (Moses), is the Lord of you two?"

Ayat 50. [Mûsa (Moses)] said: "Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright."

Ayat 51. [Firaun (Pharaoh)] said: "What about the generations of old?"

Ayat 52. [Mûsa (Moses)] said: "The knowledge thereof is with my Lord, in a Record. My Lord is neither unaware nor He forgets,"

[Tafseer] Notice how subtly Pharaoh rejects the implication in Moses's speech, in which Moses had referred to "thy Lord" (verse 47). Pharaoh implicitly repudiates the suggestion that the Allah who had sent Moses and Aaron could possibly be Pharaoh's Lord. He asks insolently, "Who is this Lord of yours, of Whom ye speak as having sent you?" The answer of Moses is straightforward, dignified, and illuminating. He will not dispute about "my Lord" or "your Lord", the God of Israel, or the God of Egypt. He and his brother were proud to serve "our Lord," but He was the universal Lord and Cherisher, the One and Only God, Who had created all beings and all things. It was from Him that each created thing derived its form and nature, including such free will and power as man had got. He, Pharaoh, was subject to the same condition. In order that the free will should be rightly exercised, Allah had given guidance through His Messengers, and His Signs. Moses and Aaron stood as such Messengers, with such Signs. Will Pharaoh now understand and do right? But Pharaoh was not the man to accept teaching from the despised Israeliteone; two, who in his eyes was a renegade from the higher Egyptian civilisation. "If, he says in effect, "there is only one God, to Whom all things are referred, this is a new religion. What of the religion of our ancestors? Were they wrong in worshipping the Egyptian gods? And if they were wrong, are they in misery now? He wanted to trap Moses into scathing denunciations of his ancestors, which would at once have deprived him of the sympathy or the hearing of the Egyptian crowd. Moses did not fall into the trap. He remembered the injunction given to him to speak mildly (20:44). He speaks mildly, but does not in any way whittle down the truth. He said in effect: 'Allah's knowledge is perfect, as if, with men, it were a record. For men may make mistakes or may not remember, but Allah never makes mistakes and never forgets. But Allah is not only All-Knowing: He is also All-Good. Look around you: the whole earth is spread out like a carpet. Men go to and fro in it freely. He sends abundance of water from the skies, which comes down in Nile floods and fertilises the whole soil of Egypt , and feeds men and animals.

Hazrat Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah [SAWW](PBUH) said, "Almighty Allah says, `I am the One Who is most free from want of partners. He who does a thing for the sake of someone else beside Me, I discard him and his polytheism.''

[Muslim Book 42, Chapter 06, Hadith # 7114] 

Lesson : as mentioned above in Surah Taha Ayat 50."Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature," "He who does a thing for the sake of someone else beside Me'' here means to do something virtuous for mere show for worldly benefit, or to gain the reputation of being pious. "I discard him and his polytheism'' means that "I nullify his good deeds and deprive him of the reward.'' In this Hadith any virtue done for the sake of mere show has been likened to Shirk to make its viciousness and harm obvious. However, this is Ash-Shirk Al-Asghar, and those who commit it will not be forbidden access to Jannah. They will, after the punishment in Hell, ultimately enter Jannah. Whereas, those who are guilty of Ash-Shirk Al-Akbar and sheer Shirk will abide in Hell forever.