127

Then the council of Pharaoh's folk said, to him [to Pharaoh]: 'Will you leave Moses and his people to work corruption in the land, by calling to disobedience against you, and flout you and your gods?' - he had fashioned small idols for them to worship, and had said to them, 'I am your Rabb and their Rabb', which is why he says, I am your Rabb the highest [Q. 79:24]. He said, 'We shall slaughter (read nuqattilu or naqtulu) their, new-born, sons and spare their women, keeping them alive [for us], as we did with them before. For surely we have [irresistible] power over them!', and they did this to them, and so the Children of Israel grieved.