Al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah - Ibn Kathir - (2/56)

Al-Bidayah wa an-NihayahIbn Kathir

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“Gabriel told me, ‘O Muhammad, if only you had seen me while I was forcing him under and shoving silt into his mouth, fearing that Allah’s mercy might reach him and He forgive him’—meaning Pharaoh.(1)

Several of the early generations, such as Ibrāhīm al-Taymī, Qatādah, and Maymūn ibn Mihrān, transmitted this report in mursal form, and it is said that al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Qays once cited it in a sermon. In another wording Gabriel says, ‘No one have I ever hated as I hate Pharaoh. When he proclaimed, “I am your Lord Most High,” I kept stuffing mud into his mouth after he uttered those words.’

Concerning the Almighty’s words—“Now? When you had previously disobeyed and were among the corrupters”—this is a rhetorical rebuke that makes clear Allah’s refusal to accept Pharaoh’s last-minute declaration. Allah knows best: had he been returned to worldly life he would only have gone back to his former ways, just as Allah says of the disbelievers when they behold the Fire:

“If only we could be sent back, we would never deny the signs of our Lord and would be among the believers.”

But Allah responds: “No! What they used to conceal has now been laid bare to them, and even if they were sent back, they would return to what they had been forbidden—indeed, they are liars.” (al-Anʿām 6:27–28)

The Most High also says: “Today We shall preserve your body so that you may be a sign for those who come after you.” Ibn ʿAbbās and others said that some of the Children of Israel doubted Pharaoh’s death; some even claimed, “He will never die.” Allah therefore commanded the sea to cast his corpse upon a height—some say upon the very surface of the water, others upon a mound of land—still clad in the coat of mail they recognized among his garments, so that they might be certain of his demise and know Allah’s power over him. Hence the words: “Today We shall preserve your body,” that is, together with the armor by which you were known, “so that you may become”—you yourself—“a sign for those who come after you,” namely the Children of Israel, as proof of Allah’s might in destroying him. For this reason some of the early scholars read the verse as: “so that you may be a sign for those whom We create.”(3)

It is also possible that the meaning is: We will preserve you along with your armor so that your armor will serve as a marker for those after you among the Children of Israel, enabling them to recognize you and be certain that you perished. Allah knows best.

Pharaoh and his troops were destroyed on the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ. Imām al-Bukhārī relates in his Ṣaḥīḥ: Muḥammad ibn Bashshār(4) narrated to us; Ghundar narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us from Abū Bishr from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When the Prophet ﷺ arrived in Madinah, the Jews were fasting on the day of ʿĀshūrāʾ.(5) They said, “It is the day on which Moses prevailed over Pharaoh.” He said—

(1) It was narrated by al-Ṭabarānī in al-Awsat (no. 5823) with Qays ibn al-Rabīʿ in its chain; it was deemed reliable by Shuʿba and al-Thawrī but weakened by several scholars. The authentic recension is a mawqūf report on Ibn ʿAbbās, as noted above. (2) An-Najwah: that which rises above the ground. (3) In the margin of edition A: with the letter qāf, i.e. “and that there may be for your Creator a sign like His other signs.” This is the reading of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (al-Bahr al-Muḥīṭ, 5/189). (4) He is Muḥammad ibn Bashshār ibn ʿUthmān al-ʿAbdī al-Baṣrī, Abū Bakr. His epithet was Bundār, because he used to “collect” the ḥadīth of his native town. (5) In the Ṭ edition: “the day of Ashura.”

رسول الله ﷺ : "قال لي جِبْريْلُ: يا مُحَمد لَوْ رَأَيْتَنِي وَأَنا أغُطّهُ وَأَدُسُّ مِنَ الحالِ في فِيْهِ مَخَافَةَ أنْ تُدْرِكَهُ رَحْمَةُ اللهِ فَيَغْفِر لَهُ" . يعني: فرعون (١) . وقد أرسله غير واحد من السّلف كإبراهيم التيمي، وقتادة، وميمون بن مهران، ويقال: إن الضحاك بن قيس خطب به الناس. وفي بعض الروايات أنّ جبريل قال: ما بغضت أحدًا بغضي لفرعون حين قال: أنا ربكم الأعلى، ولقد جَعَلت أدسُّ في فيه الطين حين قال ما قال. وقوله تعالى: ﴿آلْآنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ قَبْلُ وَكُنْتَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ﴾ استفهام إنكارٍ، ونصّ على عدم قبوله تعالى منه ذلك، لأنه -والله أعلم- لو رُدَّ إلى الدنيا كما كان لعادَ إلى ما كان عليه، كما أخبر تعالى عن الكفار إذا عايَنُوا النارَ وشاهدوها أنَّهم يقولون: ﴿يَالَيْتَنَا نُرَدُّ وَلَا نُكَذِّبَ بِآيَاتِ رَبِّنَا وَنَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ﴾ قال الله تعالى: ﴿بَلْ بَدَا لَهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يُخْفُونَ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَلَوْ رُدُّوا لَعَادُوا لِمَا نُهُوا عَنْهُ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ﴾ [الأنعام: ٢٧ - ٢٨] وقوله: ﴿فَالْيَوْمَ نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ لِتَكُونَ لِمَنْ خَلْفَكَ آيَةً﴾ قال ابن عباس وغير واحد: شكَّ بعضُ بني إسرائيل في موت فرعون، حتى قال بعضهم: إنه لا يموت، فأمر الله البحر فرفعه على مرتفع. قيل: على وجه الماء، وقيل: على نَجْوَةٍ (٢) من الأرض وعليه درعُه التي يعرفونها من ملابسه ليتحقّقوا بذلك هلاكه، ويعلموا قدرة الله عليه. ولهذا قال: ﴿فَالْيَوْمَ نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ﴾ أي: مصاحبًا درعك المعروفة بك ﴿لِتَكُونَ﴾ أي أنت آية ﴿لِمَنْ خَلْفَكَ﴾ أي من بني إسرائيل، دليلًا على قدرة الله الذي أهلكه. ولهذا قرأ بعض السلف: ﴿لِتَكُونَ لِمَنْ خَلْقَكَ آيَةً﴾ (٣) . ويحتمل أن يكون المراد ننجّيك مصاحبًا درعك لتكون درعُك علامةً لمن وراءك من بني إسرائيل على معرفتك وأنّك هُلِكْت. والله أعلم. وقد كان هلاكه وجنوده في يوم عاشوراء، كما قال الإمام البخاري في "صحيحه" : حَدَّثَنَا محمد بن بشار (٤) ، حَدَّثَنَا غُندَر، حَدَّثَنَا شعبة، عن أبي بشير، عن سعيد بن جُبير، عن ابن عباس قال: قدم النبي ﷺ المدينة واليهودُ تصوم عاشوراء (٥) فقالوا: هذا يوم ظهر فيه موسى على فرعون، قال

(١) ورواه الطبراني في "الأوسط" رقم (٥٨٢٣) وفي سنده قيس بن الربيع، وثقه شعبة والثوري، وضعفه جماعة، والصحيح وقفه على ابن عباس كما مر. (٢) النجوة: ما ارتفع من الأرض. (٣) في حاشية أ: بالقاف، أي: ولتكون لخالقك آية كسائر آياته. وهي قراءة علي بن أبي طالب ﵁ . البحر المحيط (٥/ ١٨٩). (٤) هو محمد بن بشار بن عثمان العبدي البصري أبو بكر، لقبه بندار، لأنه كان بندار حديث بلده، أي جمع حديث بلده. (٥) في ط: يوم عاشوراء.