Quran Universe
23:47

فَقَالُوٓاْ أَنُؤۡمِنُ لِبَشَرَيۡنِ مِثۡلِنَا وَقَوۡمُهُمَا لَنَا عَٰبِدُونَ

Faqaloo anuminu libasharayni mithlina waqawmuhuma lana AAabidoona

They said, "Should we believe two men like ourselves while their people are for us in servitude?"

Word by word
  1. فَقَالُوٓاْThen they said
  2. أَنُؤۡمِنُShall we believe
  3. لِبَشَرَيۡنِ(in) two men
  4. مِثۡلِنَاlike ourselves
  5. وَقَوۡمُهُمَاwhile their people
  6. لَنَاfor us
  7. عَٰبِدُونَ(are) slaves
Al-Mu'minun · 23:47Makkah

Their people serve us, so why follow them?

Looking down on the messenger's people

Their logic
two men like us
and
their peopleour servants
so
beneath us
Judging by rank
who is lowersocial status
who is rightthe only measure

Pharaoh's chiefs said: should we believe two men like ourselves, while their people serve us in humility? The Children of Israel were their laborers. To accept Musa would mean taking guidance from the class they ruled.

The cleaner who prays on time. The delivery driver who says bismillah. The refugee neighbor who is more generous than you. Guidance does not care about the org chart.

I learn from people above me, not below.

Truth can come from anyone, especially those I overlook.

Try this

Learn one thing today from someone you would normally consider beneath your notice.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 23:45)

Then We sent Musa and his brother Harun, with Our Ayat and manifest authority (45)To Fir'awn and his chiefs, but they behaved insolently and they were people self-exalting (by disobeying their Lord)(46)They said: "Shall we believe in two men like ourselves, and their people are obedient to us with humility! (47)So, they denied them both and became of those who were destroyed (48)And indeed We gave Musa the Scripture, that they may be guided (49)

The Story of Musa, Peace Be upon Him, And Fir'awn

Allah tells us that He sent Musa, peace be upon him, and his brother Harun to Fir'awn and his chiefs with decisive evidence and definitive proof, but Fir'awn and his people were too arrogant to follow them and obey their commands because they were human beings, just as previous nations had denied the Message of the human Messengers. They were of a similar mentality, so Allah destroyed Fir'awn and his chiefs, drowning them all in one day. He revealed the Book to Musa, i.e., the Tawrah, in which were rulings, commands and prohibitions, after He had destroyed Fir'awn and the Egyptians and seized them with a punishment of the All-Mighty, All-Capable to carry out what He wills. After Allah revealed the Tawrah, Allah did not destroy any nation with an overwhelming calamity; instead, He commanded the believers to fight the disbelievers, as He says:

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ مِن بَعْدِ مَا أَهْلَكْنَا الْقُرُونَ الْأُولَىٰ بَصَائِرَ لِلنَّاسِ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً لَّعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ

(And indeed We gave Musa – after We had destroyed the generations of old – the Scripture as an enlightenment for mankind, and a guidance and a mercy, that they might remember.)(28:43)