by means of the extraordinary signs that proved his veracity and showed that the One who sent him is truly God. So, if you leave him unmolested, you will remain secure, for—as the verse puts it—“If he is lying, his lie will recoil upon him,” and that will not harm you in the least. But “if he is truthful,” and you set yourselves against him, then “a portion of what he warns you of will strike you.” You already shudder at the prospect of the lightest punishment he foretells; what, then, if all of it should befall you?

Such words, in this context, represent the pinnacle of tact, foresight, and perfect reason.

He went on to say: “O my people, the dominion is yours today; you hold sway in the land.” He was warning them that this precious kingdom could be taken from them—for no polity attacks the religion of God without being stripped of its sovereignty and humbled after having been mighty. This is precisely what happened to Pharaoh’s household: they persisted in doubt, suspicion, opposition, and obstinate defiance of what Moses brought, until Allah drove them out of their power and possessions, their houses and palaces, their ease and joy. Then He cast them, dishonoured, into the sea, and after their lofty station their souls were conveyed to the lowest depths.

Therefore that truthful, devout believer—upright and rightly guided, a follower of the truth, a sincere counsellor to his people, endowed with complete intelligence—said again: “O my people, the dominion is yours today; you are dominant in the land,” meaning, you are exalted above others and rule over them. “But who will shield us from the might of Allah should it come upon us?” In other words, even if your numbers, equipment, strength, and force were multiplied many times over, none of that would avail us or repel the might of the Sovereign of all kings.

Pharaoh replied to all this: “I only show you what I see, and I only guide you to the path of rectitude.” He lied in both assertions, for deep within himself he was certain that what Moses had brought was indeed from Allah; yet he outwardly displayed the opposite, out of sheer tyranny, aggression, arrogance, and ingratitude.

Allah, Exalted is He, reports that Moses said to him: “You know full well that none has sent down these signs but the Lord of the heavens and the earth as enlightening proofs. Indeed, O Pharaoh, I think you are doomed. So he resolved to expel them from the land, but We drowned him and all who were with him. And after him We said to the Children of Israel, ‘Settle in the land, and when the promise of the Hereafter comes to pass, We shall bring you forth in mixed multitudes.’” (al-Isrāʾ 102–104)

The Most High also says: “When Our manifest signs came to them, they said, ‘This is plain sorcery.’ They denied them, though their own souls were convinced of them, wrongfully and arrogantly; so look how the end of the corrupters was.” (al-Naml 13–14)

As for Pharaoh’s claim, “I only guide you to the path of rectitude,” that too was a lie. He was nowhere near rectitude; he was steeped in folly, error, madness, and delusion. First he was among those who worshipped idols and images, and then he called his ignorant, misled people to follow him, obey him, and believe his absurd blasphemy when he claimed to be a lord. Exalted is Allah, Possessor of Majesty!