He said: Pharaoh had married a woman from among the women of the Children of Israel, called Asiyah bint Muzahim. When she saw what Pharaoh had done to the hairdresser, she said, “How can I endure what Pharaoh is doing, when I am a Muslim and he is a disbeliever?”

As she was thus deliberating within herself, Pharaoh entered upon her and sat near her. She said, “O Pharaoh, you are the worst and most vile of all creatures. You set upon the hairdresser and killed her.” He said, “Perhaps you have been afflicted by the same madness that afflicted her.” She replied, “There is no madness in me. My God, her God, your god, and the God of the heavens and the earth are One, with no partner.” 192/A Pharaoh then tore off her garments, beat her, and summoned her parents. When they came, he said to them, “Do you not see that the madness which afflicted the hairdresser has afflicted her?”

She said, “I seek refuge in Allah from that. I bear witness that my Lord, your lord, and the Lord of the heavens and the earth are One, with no partner.” Her father said to her, “O Asiyah, are you not among the finest women of the Amalekites, while your husband is the god of the Amalekites?” (1) She replied, “I seek refuge in Allah from that. If what he claims is true, then tell him to crown me with a crown having the sun before it, the moon behind it, and the stars around it.”

Pharaoh said to them, “Leave me.” Then he stretched her between four stakes and tortured her. Allah opened for her a gate to Paradise, thereby easing for her what Pharaoh was doing to her. At that point, she said:

“My Lord, build for me, near You, a house in Paradise; save me from Pharaoh and his deeds; and save me from the wrongdoing people.”

Surah al-Tahrim, 11

Then Allah took her soul and admitted her into Paradise. (2)

“Those who transgressed throughout the lands, spreading much corruption therein. So your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment. Indeed, your Lord is ever watchful.”

Those who transgressed throughout the lands refers to ‘Ad, Thamud, and Pharaoh. They committed acts of disobedience in the land and behaved tyrannically.

“Spreading much corruption therein. So your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment.” Qatadah said: This means a kind of punishment which He poured upon them. The scholars of language said: This is metaphorical, because the whip represents for them the utmost degree of punishment; thus, it came to be applied to every kind of punishment. Al-Zajjaj said: He made the scourge with which He struck them to be the punishment itself.

“Indeed, your Lord is ever watchful.” Ibn ‘Abbas said: This means that He sees, hears, and beholds.

Al-Kalbi said: The path of the servants passes over it; no one escapes Him. Muqatil said: It is the passageway of people; al-mirsad and al-marsad mean the road.

It was also said: The return of all creatures is to His judgment and command, and to Him is their final destination.

Al-Hasan and ‘Ikrimah said: He watches the deeds of the children of Adam.