They will finally confess when they are flung into the Fire. Allah, the Exalted, says: “Whenever a host is cast into it, its keepers will ask, ‘Did no warner come to you?’ They will reply, ‘Indeed, a warner did come to us, but we denied him and said, ‘Allah has sent down nothing; you are only in gross error.’’” (al-Mulk 67:8–9). In other words, they said to the messengers, “You are misguided,” thereby accusing them of falsehood and misguiding others.

Such is the wisdom behind sending the messengers: to establish the proof against people and to guide those whom Allah wills to guide. Through the messengers Allah guides whom He pleases, and through them He establishes the proof against those who are obstinate, deny the truth, and disbelieve.

“As We sent to Pharaoh a messenger”—that messenger was Moses, peace be upon him, while Pharaoh was the tyrannical king of Egypt who claimed divinity. The title “Pharaoh” is applied to every ruler of Egypt, but here it refers to the one who declared, “I am your supreme lord” (al-Naziʿat 79:24).

Pharaoh disobeyed the messenger—Moses—and rejected him, as Allah recounts in His Book what transpired between Moses and Pharaoh and how Pharaoh and his people ultimately fared.

“So We seized him,” that is, Allah punished Pharaoh by drowning him and his people in the sea and then consigning them to the Fire: “Because of their sins they were drowned, then were made to enter a Fire” (Nuh 71:25).