Quran Universe
7:110

يُرِيدُ أَن يُخۡرِجَكُم مِّنۡ أَرۡضِكُمۡۖ فَمَاذَا تَأۡمُرُونَ

Yureedu an yukhrijakum min ardikum famatha tamuroona

Who wants to expel you from your land [through magic], so what do you instruct?"

Word by word
  1. يُرِيدُHe wants
  2. أَنto
  3. يُخۡرِجَكُمdrive you out
  4. مِّنۡfrom
  5. أَرۡضِكُمۡۖyour land
  6. فَمَاذَاso what
  7. تَأۡمُرُونَ(do) you instruct
Al-A'raf · 7:110Makkah

They turned a call to worship into a threat to land.

Fear of losing position, dressed up as defense

The court's fear
Musa's callworship your Lordfree the oppressed
heard as
he wants your landso what do you advise?
What they were protecting
our homelandthe stated reason
our gripthe real fear

The chiefs told the people that Musa wanted to drive them out of their land through magic. Ibn Kathir says they feared he would win people over and prevail over them. Citing 28:6, he notes that what they feared is exactly what came to them.

A new colleague suggests a fairer way to share the workload. Instead of asking if it is fair, you hear: they are after my role. You start talking about them in the break room. Fear of losing a position can make good advice sound like an attack.

Anyone who changes things here is a threat to me.

Before I fight a change, I should check if I am only guarding my own place.

Try this

Think of one change at work or home you resisted. Ask: was it bad, or just bad for my ego?

Related28:6
Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 7:109)

The chiefs of the people of Fir'awn said: "This is indeed a well-versed sorcerer. (109)"He wants to get you out of your land, so what do you advise? (110)

Fir'awn's People say that Musa is a Magician!

The chiefs and noblemen of the people of Fir'awn agreed with Fir'awn's statement about Musa. After Fir'awn felt safe and returned to his throne, he said to the chiefs of his people,

إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَسَاحِرٌ عَلِيمٌ

(This is indeed a well-versed sorcerer) and they agreed. They held counsel to decide what they should do about Musa. They conspired to extinguish the light that he brought and bring down his word. They plotted to portray Musa as a liar and fake. They feared that he might lure people to his side by his magic, they claimed, and thus prevail over them and drive them away from their land. What they feared occured, just as Allah said,

وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا يَحْذَرُونَ

(And We let Fir'awn and Haman and their hosts receive from them that which they feared.)[28:6]

After they conferred about Musa, they agreed on a plot, as Allah said about them,