(10:88) Moses prayed: *86 'Our Lord! You bestowed upon Pharaoh and his nobles splendour *87 and riches *88 in the world. Our Lord! Have You done this that they may lead people astray from Your path? Our Lord! Obliterate their riches and harden their hearts that they may not believe until they observe the painful chastisement. *89

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*86). These verses are related to the early period of Moses' (peace be on him) mission whereas the prayer itself probably belongs to his last days in Egypt. The intervening period spans several years, the detailed events of which have not been mentioned here. At other places in the Qur'an, however, there are references to the events that took place in that intervening period.
*87). This alludes to the pomp and splendour and the glamour of cultural refinement because of which people had become enamoured of them and their life-style, and which had created in the former an irrepressible urge to ape the ways of the latter.
*88). This refers to the abundance of material resources which are available to the unbelievers to execute their plans, whereas the believers, insofar as they lack those resources, are forced to defer the execution of their plans.
*89). This prayer, as we have pointed out earlier (see n. 86 above), was made by the Prophet Moses (peace be on him) during his very last days in Egypt. Moses resorted to this prayer when, although Pharaoh and his nobles had witnessed a series of signs betokening the truth, and even though Moses (peace be on him) had made the truth all too patently clear to them, they still obdurately persisted in their hostility to it. Moses' prayer that God may 'obliterate their riches and harden their hearts' is a prayer that Prophets are wont to make at a time when they are faced with opposition like that mentioned above. The prayer is substantially in accord with God 's own judgement against those who obdurately oppose the truth - that they may never be enabled to have faith.