And Allah Most High said of him and his people:

“They denied them, though their souls were convinced of their truth, out of injustice and arrogance.”

Thus, when he asked, in denial of Him:

“What is the Lord of all worlds?”

Moses said to him:

“The Lord of the heavens and the earth and everything between them, if you are certain. * He said to those around him, ‘Do you not hear?’ * He said, ‘Your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers.’ * He said, ‘Indeed, your messenger who has been sent to you is mad.’ * He said, ‘The Lord of the east and the west and everything between them, if you would understand.’”

Some have claimed that Pharaoh’s question was a request for information: that he asked about His essence, and that, since the One he asked about had no essence, Moses was unable to answer.

This is mistaken. On that supposition, his question would have been one of denial and rejection, as the other verses of the Quran show that Pharaoh denied Allah and negated His existence. He was not affirming His existence and seeking to learn His essence.

Moses therefore explained to them that He is known, and that His signs and the proofs of His lordship are too manifest and widely known for anyone to ask what He is. Such a question concerns something unknown, whereas He, glorified is He, is too well known, too manifest, and too evident to be unknown. Rather, knowledge of Him is more firmly rooted in innate human nature than knowledge of anything else that is known. To Him, glorified is He, belongs the highest description in the heavens and the earth, and He is God in heaven and on earth. The inhabitants of the heavens and the earth know Him and worship Him, although most of the inhabitants of the earth, as He says