"And (remember) when We divided the sea for you...

"And (remember) when We divided the sea for you, and delivered you and drowned Pharaoh's people while you were looking on." The Rescue from Pharaoh! In the previous verse the miraculous rescue of the Israelites from the tyrannical grips of the Egyptian monarch, the Pharaoh, was briefly pointed out. The present verse is, in fact, an explanatory statement of that rescue, which itself is a sign of the great bounties of Allah upon the Children of Israel.

It says: "And (remember) when We divided the sea for you,..." "...and delivered you and drowned Pharaoh's people while you were looking on." The incident of the drowning of Pharaoh and his horsemen in the sea, and the rescue of the children of Israel from their cruel clutches is expressed in several Suras of the Qur'an, including: Surah Al-'A'raf, No.

7, verse 136 -Surah Al-' Anfal, No.8, verse 54 -Surah Al-' Asra', No.17 , verse 103- Surah Ash-Shu'ara', No.26, verses 63 & 66 -Surah Az-Zukhruf, No.43, verse 55- and Surah Ad-Dukhan, No.44, from verses 17 onwards.

More or less all the details of that happening are stated in the above Suras, but by the verse under discussion the story is hinted at only from the point of the favour and grace of Allah upon the Children of Israel in order to attract them to the invitation of Islam, the new religion of salvation, and to invoke them to accept it.

As you will read the explanation of this subject in detail through the aforementioned Suras, Moses (as), after a long time of preaching and inviting Pharaoh and his people to the Divine Faith and showing them numerous miracles and receiving no positive response from them, was commissioned that he and the Children of Israel move from Egypt at midnight. But when he reached the seashore, he realized that Pharaoh and his horsemen were closely pursuing them. The Israelites were terribly afraid.

They had the frightful sea in front of them and at their heels the forceful army of the Pharaoh, whom they could not challenge, threatened them. At that time Moses (as) was commanded to strike the water of the sea with his Rod and he obeyed. Then several dry paths appeared in the sea on which Moses (as) and his people passed.

When they crossed the sea from between the walls of water and arrived on the other side of the sea safely, Pharaoh and his army, who were following them, entered the same paths. They reached the midst of the sea when the walls of water came together and all of them drowned.