﴾the Glorious﴿ may be read in two ways: al-Majīdi, with the genitive ending, and al-Majīdu, with the nominative ending. According to the first reading, it describes the Throne; according to the second, it describes the Lord, Glorified and Exalted is He. Both are correct: the Throne is glorious, and the Lord, Glorified and Exalted is He, is likewise Glorious. We say in the tashahhud: “Indeed, You are Praiseworthy, Glorious.”
﴾Doer of whatever He wills.﴿ This describes Allah Most High as the Doer of whatever He wills. Whatever He wills, Glorified is He, He does, and nothing can prevent Him from doing it. To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and no one can prevent Him from doing as He pleases within His dominion. This resembles His words Most High:
﴾Allah sends the wrongdoers astray, and Allah does whatever He wills.﴿ [Ibrāhīm: part of verse 27]
No created being, whoever they may be, can do everything they please.
Indeed, they may firmly resolve to do something, but if Allah does not will that it should occur through them, He turns them away from doing it, prevents them from it, and comes between them and its execution. The Lord, Glorious and Exalted is He, however, is the Doer of whatever He wills. When He wills something, He says to it, “Be,” and it is.
This noble verse therefore affirms Allah’s complete and perfect will over His creation and over everything connected with the actions of created beings. No human action occurs except by Allah’s will, as He, Glorified is He, says:
﴾For whoever among you wills to follow the straight path—but you cannot will unless Allah, Lord of all worlds, wills.﴿ [al-Takwīr: 28–29]
Allah, Glorified is He, explains in these verses that the will of His servants is dependent upon His own will. He likewise says:
﴾Had Allah willed, those who came after them would not have fought one another after clear proofs had come to them; but they differed: some of them believed, while others disbelieved. Had Allah willed, they would not have fought one another, but Allah does whatever He wills.﴿ [al-Baqara: part of verse 253]
Allah’s will thus encompasses both what He Himself does and what His servants do. Let me give you an example. Whether I utter these words, other words, or any of the words that preceded them, all my speech occurs by Allah’s will. Had Allah willed that I not speak, I would not have spoken and would have been incapable of speech. When He wills that I speak, I speak: a will to speak arises within my heart, and I then speak. For this reason, He, Glorified and Exalted is He, says:
﴾Doer of whatever He wills.﴿ [al-Burūj: 16]
Allah Most High then says:
﴾Has the account of the hosts reached you?﴿ [al-Burūj: 17]
The address here is directed either to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, or to anyone who may properly be addressed. The question is intended to attract attention, for when something is presented as a question, a person pays greater attention to it. “Hosts” is the plural of “host.” It is left unspecified here, but Allah explains it in His words:
﴾Pharaoh and Thamūd.﴿ [al-Burūj: 18]
That is: Has news of them reached you? The answer is yes, their news has reached us. Allah, Exalted is He, has related to us enough of the accounts of Pharaoh and Thamūd to provide a lesson for anyone who has a heart or listens attentively with a present mind.
Allah Most High mentions the story of Pharaoh in many verses and numerous surahs as a prelude to those who preceded Moses, peace be upon him. As is well known, Moses was sent to the Children of Israel. Allah, Glorified is He, related to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, more of the account of Moses, peace be upon him, than He related about anyone else. This was because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would migrate to Medina, where three Jewish tribes lived. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, therefore knew a great deal about their history, so that he would be prepared to debate them and dispute with them upon the truth and nothing concerning them would remain unknown to him.
Pharaoh was the king of Egypt. Was “Pharaoh” the proper name of a particular individual, or was it a title applied to every disbelieving ruler of Egypt? Some scholars held that it was an individual’s proper name—that the man to whom Moses, peace be upon him, was sent was named Pharaoh. Others held that it was a descriptive title for every disbelieving ruler of Egypt, just as Kisrā was used for every ruler of Persia, Heraclius for every ruler of the Romans, and the Negus for every ruler of Abyssinia, and so forth.
This Pharaoh was an obstinate, arrogant tyrant who claimed lordship, saying:
﴾I am your lord most high.﴿ [al-Nāziʿāt: part of verse 24]
He also claimed divinity when he said:
﴾I know of no god for you other than me.﴿ [al-Qasas: part of verse 38]
He used to ridicule Moses, peace be upon him, and the signs he brought, and openly challenged him face-to-face, saying:
﴾Indeed, Moses, I think you are bewitched.﴿ [al-Isrāʾ: part of verse 101]
He boasted before Moses and his people, saying:
﴾Pharaoh called out among his people, saying, “O my people, does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me, with these rivers flowing beneath me? Do you not see? Or am I not better than this man, who is contemptible and can scarcely express himself? Why, then, have bracelets of gold not been bestowed upon him, or angels come accompanying him?”﴿ [al-Zukhruf: 51–53]
What was the outcome? The very people most skilled in his own artifice—the magicians—rejected him. The magicians gathered all the magic at their disposal and came to confront Moses, peace be upon him. Moses, peace be upon him, had brought a sign resembling magic, but it was not magic; rather, it was one of the signs of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. He would place the staff he carried upon the ground, whereupon it would turn into a moving serpent.
All the magicians were assembled at an appointed place:
﴾We shall certainly bring you magic like it. So appoint a meeting between us and you, which neither we nor you will fail to keep, at an even place.﴿ [Tā Hā: 58]
That is, a level, open place where the people could clearly witness the magic and the magicians’ performances. Moses said to them:
﴾Your appointed time is the Day of Adornment, and let the people be assembled in the morning.﴿ [Tā Hā: 59]
The Day of Adornment was their festival day, when large crowds would gather and people would congratulate one another. They assembled at the appointed time and designated place, and the people were gathered in the morning, well into the day. The magicians cast down the ropes and staffs in their hands, and their magic made them appear to those present as though they were moving. Moses felt fear within himself because he had witnessed a formidable spectacle and an immense scheme. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, then revealed to him that he should cast down his staff, whereupon it began swallowing up their fabrications.
At that moment, the magicians knew that Moses was truthful and not a magician, for had he been a magician, he could not have defeated them with his magic. The magicians therefore believed in Moses, peace be upon him, and rejected the tyrant Pharaoh. They said:
﴾We believe in the Lord of all worlds.﴿ [al-Shuʿarāʾ: 47]
They stood against Pharaoh, challenged him, and turned upon him. In the end, Allah drowned Pharaoh in the very water of which he had boasted the day before.
As for Thamūd, Allah granted them such ability and strength that they carved splendid homes out of the mountains and built palaces upon the plains. When they rejected their messenger Sālih, peace be upon him, Allah destroyed them with a violent tremor and a blast. Every last one of them perished, and they lay lifeless in their dwellings. The accounts of Pharaoh and Thamūd contain two lessons.
The first is to console and strengthen the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. The One who had supported His messengers before him would support, aid, and strengthen him as well. This undoubtedly reinforces resolve and inspires determination in calling to Allah and conveying His messages.
The second lesson is a severe threat and warning to the Quraysh, who rejected the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and lay in wait for him. They were no mightier than Pharaoh and Thamūd, yet destruction and ruin overtook them, and the sentence of punishment fell upon them.
He, Glorified is He, says:
﴾Rather, those who disbelieve are engulfed in denial.﴿ [al-Burūj: 19]
That is, those who disbelieve in Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, are immersed in denial, as though denial surrounds them on every side. In this context, that is more emphatic than His words:
﴾Rather, those who disbelieve deny.﴿ [al-Inshiqāq: 22]
In a different context, however, “deny” may be the more emphatic expression. The Quran may employ two different expressions in two different contexts, with each being more emphatic in its own setting.
“Those who disbelieve” includes everyone who disbelieves in Allah and His Messenger, whether they are polytheists, Jews, Christians, or anyone else. This is because, following the mission of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, the Jews and Christians are not upon a religion pleasing to Allah, nor will their religions benefit them. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is the Seal of the Prophets; thus, whoever does not believe in him has no valid religion at all. Indeed, whoever disbelieves in even one messenger thereby disbelieves in all the messengers.
For example, anyone who does not believe that Noah was a messenger—even if he believes in the other prophets—has rejected the other messengers as well. The proof is Allah’s statement:
﴾The people of Noah rejected the messengers.﴿ [al-Shuʿarāʾ: 105]
Allah Most High thus explains that the people of Noah rejected all the messengers, even though they had encountered only their own messenger, Noah, peace be upon him. Likewise, anyone who rejects Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, has rejected the other messengers and prophets of Allah. If the Jews claim that they follow a religion and adhere to the Torah brought by Moses, we say to them: You disbelieve in Moses, peace be upon him, and you disbelieve in the Torah. And if the Christians—who today call themselves “Christians”—claim that they believe