Thus did Moses supplicate against Pharaoh and his chiefs, asking that their wealth be obliterated and that their hearts be hardened so they would not believe “until they behold the painful punishment” —that is, at a moment when faith will no longer profit them and will only bring regret. Concerning this, Allah said to the two of them, Moses and Aaron: “He said, ‘Your supplication has been answered,’” an explicit instance of the Almighty answering the plea of His Interlocutor and his brother Aaron, peace be upon them.

Among the supporting reports is the ḥadīth recorded by Imām Aḥmad. Sulaymān ibn Ḥarb related to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah, from ʿAlī ibn Zayd, from Yūsuf ibn Mihrān, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared, “When Pharaoh said, ‘I believe that there is no deity save the One in whom the Children of Israel believe,’ Gabriel said to me: ‘If only you had seen me scooping up mud from the sea and ramming it into his mouth, lest some mercy reach him.’” Al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Jarīr, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim also transmitted this narration through Ḥammād ibn Salamah, and al-Tirmidhī graded it ḥasan.

Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī likewise reported—through Shuʿbah, from ʿAdī ibn Thābit and ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās—that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Gabriel told me, ‘Had you but seen me scooping up mud from the sea and thrusting it into Pharaoh’s mouth, for fear that mercy might reach him.’” Al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Jarīr transmitted it via Shuʿbah’s route; al-Tirmidhī judged it “ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ gharīb,” while Ibn Jarīr, in one version, reported it as mawqūf.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim narrated: Abū Saʿīd al-Ashajj told us; Abū Khālid al-Aḥmar, from ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yaʿlā al-Thaqafī, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When Allah drowned Pharaoh, he pointed with his finger and raised his voice, declaring, “I believe that there is no deity but the One in whom the Children of Israel believe.” Gabriel feared that Allah’s mercy might outstrip His wrath concerning him, so he began to scoop up mud with his wings and strike it against Pharaoh’s face, pushing him under. Ibn Jarīr likewise reported this through Abū Khālid’s chain.

Ibn Jarīr further recorded the story through Kathīr ibn Zādhān—an obscure narrator—from Abū Ḥāzim, from Abū Hurayrah, who said