“O chief minister, hardship has afflicted us and our family, and we have brought goods of little value. Give us full measure and be charitable to us. Indeed, Allah rewards those who give charity.”
The Pharaoh who lived in Joseph’s time greatly honoured his parents and household when they arrived, while knowing their religion. A survey of human history also supports this. Denial of the Creator has never been the prevailing belief of any nation. Rather, the religion of unbelievers outside the prophetic message was to associate partners with Allah. Only some people denied the Creator. Their scholars were among the polytheistic Sabian philosophers who venerated temples, heavenly bodies, and idols. All the transmitted accounts of their history and lives indicate this.
But the Pharaoh of Moses’s time:
“Made fools of his people, and they obeyed him.”
It was he—not the earlier Pharaohs—who told them:
“I know of no god for you other than myself.”
Then, afterwards, he told them:
“I am your supreme lord.”
“So Allah seized him in exemplary punishment for the last and the first.”
That is, punishment for the first statement and punishment for the last. Inwardly, Pharaoh knew that the Creator existed; he merely acted arrogantly, like Iblīs, and denied His existence. Hence Moses said to him:
“You certainly know that none but the Lord of the heavens and the earth has sent down these signs as clear proofs.”
When he denied the Creator, he continued worshipping the deities he already worshipped. Allah Most High did not describe him as associating partners with Him, but rather as denying the Creator and worshipping other deities. Those among them who deny the Creator are arrogant: they often worship deities, yet never worship Allah.
Such a person says, “This world is necessarily existent in itself, and some of its parts exert an influence upon others.” He also says that he has benefited only through worshipping heavenly bodies, idols, and the like. Thus, the underlying meaning of the doctrine of these advocates of union who claim affiliation with Islam is the doctrine of Pharaoh.