Surah Al-Baqarah 2:50
سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ · Medinan · Verse 50 of 286
وَإِذْ فَرَقْنَا بِكُمُ ٱلْبَحْرَ فَأَنجَيْنَٰكُمْ وَأَغْرَقْنَآ ءَالَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَأَنتُمْ تَنظُرُونَ
Translation
and when We parted the sea for you, so saving you and drowning Pharaoh’s people right before your eyes.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'And when We parted the sea for you, and saved you, and drowned the people of Pharaoh while you were looking on.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the staggering miracle, the sea itself split to make a path of escape, the impossible obstacle turned into the very means of rescue, witnessed with their own eyes. Ask yourself: at the moment of total entrapment, sea ahead, army behind, the way out came through the very thing that seemed to seal their doom. The barrier became the bridge. It speaks to every situation where I feel cornered, no way forward: the God who parted the sea specialises in making a road exactly where there appears to be none. And they watched it happen. Do I believe, when I am hemmed in with no visible escape, that the One who split the sea can open a path through my own dead-end, even, perhaps, through the very thing I'm most afraid of?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:50 is discussed in 4 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
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