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Fatwa CenterBut no one believed Moosa, except [some] youths among his people
Question
aslmaulakaum some people say that this verse 10:83 and this verse 7:120-126 are contradicting each other. I have seen quite a few replies, but i wanted to see you view on it.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.
Scholars of Tafseer held different opinions regarding the reference of the pronoun "his" in this verse which means {But no one believed Moosa (Moses), except [some] youths among his people....}. [Quran 10:83] Some argued that it refers to Prophet Moosa 
; thus, the verse means 'from the people of Prophet Moosa .’
At-Tabari 
considered it the preponderant view. He wrote, “In my view, the preponderant opinion regarding the interpretation of this verse is that of Mujaahid. That is, the ‘descendants’ to which the verse refers are the descendants of the Children of Israel to whom Prophet Moosa was sent, but they perished before believing in him and his prophethood because of the long period of time. Then, some of their descendants witnessed the prophethood of Moosa and believed in him, as the verse underlined.”
Based on this interpretation of the verse, only few of the descendants of the Children of Israel believed in Prophet Moosa despite the outstanding miracles and strong arguments with which Prophet Moosa was supported. The rest of them, however, did not believe in Prophet Moosa fearing the persecution and tyranny of Pharaoh. This indicates that Pharaoh and his people (i.e. the people of ancient Egypt) did not believe in Prophet Moosa as well. However, this does not contradict the fact that few Egyptians believed in Prophet Moosa such as the magicians, Pharaoh’s wife, and the believing man – who kept his faith a secret as mentioned in the Quran.
The second opinion is that the pronoun refers to Pharaoh; in this case, the verse refers to the descendants of the people of ancient Egypt – and not the Children of Israel - including the magicians as some reports that were cited on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbaas 
highlighted. Ibn Hayyaan wrote in his Tafseer book entitled Al-Bahr Al-Muheet, “It is said that the pronoun in this verse refers to descendants of the people of Pharaoh. It has been reported that Pharaoh’s wife, his treasurer and his wife, and some youths from his people believed in Prophet Moosa . Ibn ‘Abbaas added, “The magicians, as well, believed in Prophet Moosa ; as they were from Pharaoh’s people. As-Suddi said, ‘Those who believed in Prophet Moosa were seventy households from Pharaoh’s people…”
Based on that view, there is no problem in understanding the verse according to that interpretation.
Allaah Knows best.
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