Surah Al-Baqarah 2:49
سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ · Medinan · Verse 49 of 286
وَإِذْ نَجَّيْنَٰكُم مِّنْ ءَالِ فِرْعَوْنَ يَسُومُونَكُمْ سُوٓءَ ٱلْعَذَابِ يُذَبِّحُونَ أَبْنَآءَكُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيُونَ نِسَآءَكُمْ ۚ وَفِى ذَٰلِكُم بَلَآءٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ عَظِيمٌۭ
Translation
Remember when We saved you from Pharaoh’s people, who subjected you to terrible torment, slaughtering your sons and sparing only your women- this was a great trial from your Lord-
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'And when We saved you from the people of Pharaoh, who afflicted you with the worst torment, slaughtering your sons and sparing your women. And in that was a great trial from your Lord.' al-Saadi and Ibn Kathir note the memory of oppression and rescue, and the striking framing that even the deliverance from such horror was 'bala' (a trial), testing whether the saved would be grateful. Ask yourself: the reminder is to remember the rescue, the God who broke a tyrant's grip and delivered a helpless people is the same God I deal with now. But note that even salvation is a test: will I respond to being saved with gratitude and faithfulness, or, like those repeatedly reminded here, forget it within a generation? When has God delivered me from a 'Pharaoh', an oppression, an addiction, a crisis, and did that rescue deepen my gratitude and obedience, or fade into a story I stopped telling and a Rescuer I stopped thanking?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Ashur.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:49 is discussed in 6 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Baqarah 2:49 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.