244 – ‘Abd Allah narrated to us; he said: Saʿid ibn Yaʿqub al-Talqani narrated to us; he said: Harun ibn Musa narrated to us; he said: Musa ibn ʿUbaydah, from Muhammad ibn Kaʿb al-Qurazi, reported:

When Pharaoh said to his people, “I know of no deity for you other than myself” (Qasas 28:38), Gabriel spread out the wings of chastisement in wrath for the sake of Allah, Exalted is He. Allah then revealed to him: “O Gabriel, only those who fear being outstripped hasten to punish.”

The narrator continued: So after that utterance Allah granted Pharaoh a respite of forty years, until he went on to say, “I am your Lord Most High” (al-Naziʿat 79:24). Concerning this Allah says, “So Allah seized him with the exemplary punishment of the latter and the first” (al-Naziʿat 79:25)—that is, for his first claim and for his last. Thereafter Allah drowned him and his troops.