يَٰمُوسَىٰٓ إِنَّهُۥٓ أَنَا ٱللَّهُ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ · وَأَلْقِ عَصَاكَ فَلَمَّا رَءَاهَا تَهْتَزُّ كَأَنَّهَا جَآنٌّ وَلَّىٰ مُدْبِرًا وَلَمْ يُعَقِّبْ يَٰمُوسَىٰ لَا تَخَفْ إِنِّى لَا يَخَافُ لَدَىَّ ٱلْمُرْسَلُونَ · إِلَّا مَن ظَلَمَ ثُمَّ بَدَّلَ حُسْنًۢا بَعْدَ سُوٓءٍ فَإِنِّى غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
yā Mūsā innahū ana'llāhu'l-ʿazīzu'l-ḥakīm · wa alqi ʿaṣāk, fa-lammā raʾāhā tahtazzu ka-annahā jānnun wallā mudbiran wa lam yuʿaqqib, yā Mūsā lā takhaf innī lā yakhāfu ladayya'l-mursalūn · illā man ẓalama thumma baddala ḥusnan baʿda sūʾin fa-innī ghafūrun raḥīm
"'O Moses! It is I: God, the Mighty, the Wise. Cast down your staff!' When he saw it writhing as though it were a serpent, he turned and fled without looking back. 'O Moses! Do not fear; in My presence the messengers do not fear. Except one who has done wrong and then, after evil, has turned it to good — for I am much-forgiving, most merciful.'"
These two verbs were treated in al-Qaṣaṣ at 28/31: wallā mudbiran wa lam yuʿaqqib — he fled without turning to look behind him. The root ع-ق-ب: the heel; taʿqīb — to go after someone, to turn back and look. I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it.
Verse 11 sets an exception upon the sentence in verse 10: innī lā yakhāfu ladayya'l-mursalūn — "in My presence the messengers do not fear" — illā man ẓalama…
What the clause attaches to has been debated in the classical commentaries, and the disagreement is not concealed:
| Reading | What the exception attaches to | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A disjunctive (munqaṭiʿ) exception — not from the messengers but from people in general | The messengers do not fear; as for others, the one who does wrong fears, but if he repents he is forgiven |
| 2 | A connected (muttaṣil) exception — to a lapse within the messengers' own lives | If a messenger has had a lapse, his fear is lifted once he turns it to good |
I record one indication, not a preference: in the narrative of al-Qaṣaṣ, Moses says in his own words innī ẓalamtu nafsī ("I have wronged myself") — treated in al-Qaṣaṣ at 28/16. The same root (ظ-ل-م) occurs here, in the clause of exception. This is a verbal overlap between the two sūras that can be verified; it is an indication in support of the second reading, but it is not a proof.
And the structure of the verse is worth recording, and I give this as my own reading: the sentence is built in three steps — wrongdoing (ẓalama), exchange (baddala), forgiveness (ghafūrun raḥīm). The middle step is not erasure but exchange: baddala ḥusnan baʿda sūʾin — "he turned it to good after evil." The past is not treated as though it had not happened; something is set on top of it.
بَدَّلَ — root ب-د-ل, Form II: to put something else in the place of a thing. Tabdīl — causing an exchange of places. The verb conveys not the erasure of a thing but the filling of its place.