(41–55) “The warnings certainly came to the people of Pharaoh. They rejected all Our signs, so We seized them with the seizure of One Almighty, All-Powerful. Are your disbelievers any better than those? Or do you have an exemption in the Scriptures? Or do they say, ‘We are a united host, sure to prevail’? The host will be defeated, and they will turn their backs. Rather, the Hour is their appointed time, and the Hour will be more calamitous and bitter. Indeed, the evildoers are in misguidance and blazing flames. On the Day they are dragged on their faces into the Fire: ‘Taste the touch of Saqar!’ Indeed, We have created everything according to a decree.”
That is, “The warnings certainly came to the people of Pharaoh”—meaning Pharaoh and his people. Allah sent Moses, the one to whom He spoke, to them and supported him with dazzling signs and overwhelming miracles (1). He caused them to witness lessons such as He had caused no one else to witness (2), yet they rejected all of Allah’s signs. He therefore seized them with the seizure of One Almighty, All-Powerful, drowning Pharaoh and his soldiers in the sea (3).
The purpose of relating these accounts is to warn [the people and] those who rejected Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Hence He says, “Are your disbelievers any better than those?” That is: Are these people, who rejected the best of the messengers, any better than the former deniers whose destruction and fate Allah has related? If they were better than them, it might be conceivable that they would escape the punishment and not suffer what befell those wicked people. But that is not the case: even if they are no worse than them, they are certainly no better.
“Or do you have an exemption in the Scriptures?” That is: Has Allah given you a pledge and covenant in the books He revealed to the prophets, so that you believe yourselves certain to be saved on the basis of Allah’s declaration and promise? No such thing exists. Indeed, it is impossible, both rationally and according to divine law, for their exemption to be recorded in the divine books, which embody justice and wisdom. It would not be consistent with wisdom for such obstinate people—who rejected the best of the messengers and the one most honored by Allah—to be saved. The only remaining possibility would be that they possessed sufficient might to prevail.
Allah therefore informs us that they say, “We are a united host, sure to prevail.” Allah Most High then makes their weakness clear and declares that they will be defeated: “The host will be defeated, and they will turn their backs.” It happened just as He foretold: Allah defeated their great host on the day of Badr and killed (4) enough of their champions and leaders to leave them humiliated (5). Allah granted victory to His religion, His Prophet, and His believing followers.
Nevertheless, an appointed time awaits them at which all of them will be brought together—the first and the last, those among them who were afflicted in this world and those who were allowed to enjoy its pleasures. Hence He says, “Rather, the Hour is their appointed time,” at which they will be gathered and every due right will be exacted from them with justice. “And the Hour will be more calamitous and bitter”—that is, ⦗828⦘ greater, harsher, and more terrible than anything that could be imagined or occur to the mind (6).
“Indeed, the evildoers”—those who repeatedly commit grave sins, such as associating partners with Allah and other acts of disobedience—“are in misguidance and blazing flames.” That is, they are misguided in this world, lacking both the knowledge and the deeds that would save them from punishment. On the Day of Resurrection, they will be in painful torment, amid a fire that blazes around them and burns through their bodies until it reaches their hearts.
“On the Day they are dragged on their faces into the Fire”—their faces being the noblest parts of their bodies and more sensitive to pain than any other—they will thereby be humiliated and disgraced, and it will be said to them:
“Taste the touch of Saqar!” That is: Taste the Fire’s pain, wrath, fury, and flames.
“Indeed, We have created everything according to a decree.” This encompasses every created thing and both the higher and lower realms: Allah Most High alone created them; there is no creator besides Him and no partner with Him in their creation (7).
He created them in accordance with a decree encompassed beforehand by His knowledge and recorded by His Pen, specifying their appointed times and measures, together with every attribute they contain. All of that is easy for Allah. Hence He says: