the companions of the Fire. (43)

“You will soon remember what I am telling you now, and I entrust my affair to Allah; surely Allah is All-Seeing of His servants.” (44)

So Allah warded off from him the evil of their scheming, while the terrible punishment surrounded Pharaoh’s people— (45)

the Fire, to which they are exposed morning and evening; and on the Day the Hour is established it will be said, “Admit Pharaoh’s people to the most severe torment.” (46)

(Ghāfir 40:41–46)

He was calling them to worship the Lord of the heavens and the earth—the One who says to a thing, “Be,” and it is—whereas they were calling him to worship Pharaoh, the ignorant, misguided, and accursed. Hence he protested: “My people, why is it that I invite you to salvation while you invite me to the Fire? You call me to disbelieve in Allah and to associate with Him that of which I have no knowledge, whereas I call you to the Almighty, the All-Forgiving.” He then made plain the futility of worshipping anything besides Allah—whether partners or idols—explaining that such objects possess no power either to benefit or to harm. (2)

He said: “There is no doubt that whatever you are calling me to has no claim—neither in this world nor in the Hereafter—whereas our return is to Allah, and it is the transgressors who are the companions of the Fire.” That is, these objects exercise no control and wield no authority in this life, so how could they possess any on the Day of Final Decision? Allah, by contrast, is the Creator and Provider of both the righteous and the wicked; He gives life, causes death, and will resurrect His servants, admitting the obedient to the Garden and consigning the disobedient to the Fire.

He then threatened them, should they persist in their obstinacy, saying: “You will soon remember what I am telling you now, and I consign my affair to Allah; surely Allah is All-Seeing of His servants.”

Allah says: “So Allah protected him from the evil of what they plotted,” meaning that through his rejection of their falsehood he was spared the punishment that struck them for their disbelief and for turning others from the path of Allah by means of the illusions and impossibilities with which they deceived their common folk and rabble. (3)

Thus the verse continues: “and the terrible punishment surrounded Pharaoh’s people—the Fire, to which they are exposed morning and evening; and on the Day the Hour is established it will be said, ‘Admit Pharaoh’s people to the most severe torment.’” Their spirits, while in the Barzakh, are shown the Fire morning and evening, and on the Day when the Hour is set up it will be said, “Admit Pharaoh’s people to the most severe torment.” We have already discussed in the Tafsīr the proof that this verse provides for the punishment of the grave, and praise belongs to Allah. (4)

In sum, Allah Most High did not destroy them until He had established the evidence against them, sent His messenger to them, dispelled their doubts, and left them with no argument to present. He alternated between threats and promises, as He says:

“We certainly afflicted Pharaoh’s people with years of drought and shortage of fruit, so that they might take heed. But whenever any good came to them they said, ‘This is ours by right,’ and if a calamity struck them they ascribed evil omens to Moses and those with him. Indeed, their omen is with Allah, though most of them do not know. They said, ‘Whatever sign you bring to bewitch us with, we will never believe in you.’ So We sent upon them the flood, locusts, lice, frogs, and blood—distinct signs; yet they acted arrogantly and were a criminal people.” (al-Aʿrāf 7:130–133)