Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (And 'Ad and Pharaoh and the brothers of Lut)

Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (And 'Ad and Pharaoh and the brothers of Lut)

Allah the Exalted said: [Q:13], likewise, 'Ad: Allah sent Hud to them, but they denied him, so Allah the Mighty and Majestic destroyed them with the wind. Allah sent [Al-Dhariyat:41-42].

And they used to boast of their strength, saying: [Fussilat:15], so Allah the Mighty and Majestic showed them His power and destroyed them with the gentle wind, which has no visible body, and yet it destroyed them utterly.
[Q:13], to whom Allah sent His Prophet Musa (peace be upon him). He was known for his tyranny, stubbornness, and arrogance, to the extent that he belittled his people,And he said to them: claiming to be their Lord,He said: [An-Nazi'at:24], so they obeyed him. Then Musa (peace and blessings be upon him) came to them with clear signs; but they denied him. Allah the Exalted showed them a sign, while they took pride in what contradicted what Musa brought, which was sorcery. They gathered all the sorcerers in Egypt for Musa (peace and blessings be upon him), and they assembled and threw their ropes and staffs, casting sorcery over them so that people saw these ropes and staffs as if they were snakes and vipers, and the people were terrified,As Allah the Exalted said: [Al-A'raf:116], until Musa (peace and blessings be upon him) felt fear in his heart when he saw that the entire space around him was full of vipers trying to devour whatever they encountered. So Allah the Exalted revealed to Musa [Al-A'raf:117], so he threw his staff, and it devoured all these snakes. This is among the signs of Allah, for the snake—as is known—is not of that size, yet it eats this as if it were vanishing into smoke when it consumes these ropes and staffs. The sorcerers saw something that astonished them, and they could not control themselves except to believe.
And with that complete faith, the sorcerers were cast down prostrating,And consider His saying, the Exalted: [Al-A'raf:120], and it did not say: "they prostrated," as if something compelled them to prostrate, as if they prostrated without their own choice, due to the power of the great sign they saw. And with this clear, evident sign of the truthfulness of Musa (peace and blessings be upon him), Pharaoh did not believe,And he said: [Ash-Shu'ara:54-55], so he intended to attack Musa and the believers with him. So Allah commanded Musa to leave Egypt toward the east, toward the Red Sea; so he obeyed the command of Allah, leaving Egypt toward this direction. Then Pharaoh followed them with his soldiers, full of anger, intending to destroy Musa and his people,When they reached the sea, the people of Musa said to him: [Ash-Shu'ara:61-62], meaning: We will not be overtaken. [Ash-Shu'ara:62], so Allah revealed to him to strike the sea, which was a long distance across, with his staff. So he struck the sea, and the sea split into twelve paths, and the pieces of water became like mountains. And these paths, which were wet with water and slippery mud, became a dry path by the permission of Allah in an instant. So Musa and his people entered, crossing from Africa to Asia, by way of the sea. When they had all entered and exited toward the eastern side, Pharaoh and his people entered. When they had all entered, Allah commanded the sea, and it closed over them.

When Pharaoh realized he was about to drown, he declared: [Yunus:90],And note that he did not say: (I believe in Allah), he said: I believe in the One in whom the Children of Israel believed. Why? To humiliate himself; for he used to deny the Children of Israel and attack them, so at the time of death he acknowledged that he followed them and that he was one of their followers,Meaning: that he walked behind them. But what was said to him? [Yunus:91], do you believe in the One in whom the Children of Israel believed, and that you are among the Muslims? [Yunus:91], so his repentance was not accepted; because he did not repent except when death approached him, and repentance after the approach of death is of no benefit,As Allah the Exalted said: [An-Nisa:18], repentance is of no benefit when death approaches. We ask Allah the Exalted to grant us and you repentance before death.

But Allah said: [Yunus:92], We will save you with your body, not with your soul. The soul had departed from the body; but the body remained floating on the water. Why?Allah explained the wisdom: [Yunus:92]; because the Children of Israel had been terrified by Pharaoh. If it had not become clear to them that he drowned with his own body, their suspicions would have gone in every direction, perhaps he did not drown! Perhaps he will emerge from another side! So Allah reassured the eyes of the Children of Israel by having them see his body drowned in the water: [Yunus:92].