So We took him and his soldiers
فأخذناه وجنوده
The fa' is a conjunction, and it also implies causality, meaning that because of his arrogance and that of his soldiers,
We took him and his soldiers and threw them
أخذناه وجنودَه فنبذناهم
in contrast to the arrogance, Allah the Exalted mentioned their punishment in a manner of disdain and belittlement.
We took him and his soldiers and cast them away
أخذناه وجنوده فنبذناهم
For nabdh (casting away) means throwing with force. Is what is thrown with force great or insignificant? It is insignificant, for one cannot cast away something great; it is dangerous and immense, and one is unable to do so. Only one who is easy and insignificant is cast away. For this reason, He said:
So We took him and his soldiers and threw them
فأخذناه وجنوده فنبذناهم
They
هم
Does this refer to the soldiers or to whom? To Pharaoh and the soldiers.
So We took him and his soldiers
فأخذناه وجنودَه
And these soldiers did not benefit him in any way, for with Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, there is nothing from the strength of humans that can oppose Him.
So We cast them away
فنبذناهم
"We cast them" in the sea
في اليم
the sea
اليم
He said:
"the salty sea" to distinguish it from what? From the rivers, for rivers are seas, but they are not salty. Allah the Exalted said:
And it is He who has released [simultaneously] the two seas, one fresh and sweet and one salty and bitter
وَهُوَ الَّذِي مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ هَذَا عَذْبٌ فُرَاتٌ سائغ شرابه وَهَذَا مِلْحٌ أُجَاجٌ
[Al-Furqan: 53] And He said:
He released the two seas, meeting [side by side];
مرج البحرين يلتقيان
So Allah the Exalted named the rivers and the salty seas "seas." And His saying:
"the salty sea" is an explanation of the reality in which Pharaoh and his soldiers were found, for they were found in the Sea of Qulzum or Qalzam, which is the Red Sea between Jeddah and Egypt. This is the one in which Pharaoh and his people drowned.
So We cast them into the sea
فنبذناهم في اليم
And look at the wisdom in that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, drowned them in the sea, for Pharaoh used to boast of his rivers and say to his people:
and these rivers flowing beneath me; then do you not see? (52) Or am I [not] better than this one who is insignificant and hardly makes himself clear?
وهذه الأنهار تجري من تحتي أفلا تبصرون * أم أنا خير من هذا الذي هو مَهِين ولا يكاد يبين
So he boasted of the water, and he was drowned by it. Yes.
he said, "O my people, does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me, and these rivers flowing beneath me; then do you not see?
قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ أَلَيْسَ لِي مُلْكُ مِصْرَ وَهَذِهِ الأَنْهَارُ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِي أَفَلا تُبْصِرُونَ
[Al-Zukhruf: 51] So Allah took him out of the kingdom of Egypt and destroyed him with what he had boasted of, namely the rivers, .... for the salty sea is far from the kingdom of Egypt ...
He said:
Then observe how was the end of the wrongdoers.
فانظر كيف كان عاقبة الظالمين
So look
فانظر
To whom is the address directed? Look, it means: O Muhammad! Or: O reader or listener. So the address is to everyone to whom the address is validly directed. {What do you say? The last one} Meaning: So look, O you who hear this address and to whom it is directed. And the intended meaning of "look" here is the look of consideration, which is looking with the heart, for the outcome is not looked at with the eye, except if a person follows in their footsteps, in which case he may look with his eye and his heart.
So see how was the end of the wrongdoers
فانظر كيف كان عاقبة الظالمين
how
كيف
Here it is for interrogation, and the intended meaning is magnification, meaning the magnitude of the outcome, but not magnification of elevation, rather magnification of the punishment—may Allah protect us from it.
how was the end of the wrongdoers
كيف كان عاقبة الظالمين
So it is an emphasis and magnification of the outcome, which is very bad and severe. Its grammatical position is:
how
كيف
an interrogative noun, built on fathah, in the position of an object.
Look
انظر
Look how; it does not fit to be an object, for the interrogative has the head of the sentence. If we made it an object,
Look
انظر
it would not have the head of the sentence; it would be delayed.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : .. Correct, even though it is an object.
Look
انظر
But I want the grammatical analysis
how
كيف
only.
The student: ...
The Shaykh : No, the predicate is not correct. Yes, the predicate is implied.
So look how was the end
فانظر كيف كان عاقبة
how
كيف
Here it is an interrogative noun without a suspending condition. The predicate is advanced with
Was
كان
. Is the advancement of the predicate here obligatory or permissible? It is obligatory.
how was the end of the wrongdoers
كيف كان عاقبة الظالمين
the end
عاقبة
It means the aftermath, and it is in the form of the active participle, and the intended meaning is the aftermath. And
of the wrongdoers
الظالمين
are those who diminished the rights of themselves and the rights of their Lord, for injustice in its original sense is diminishment. Allah the Exalted said:
Each of the two gardens produced its fruit and did not fall short thereof in anything. And We caused to gush forth within them a river.
كِلْتَا الْجَنَّتَيْنِ آتَتْ أُكُلَهَا وَلَمْ تَظْلِمْ مِنْهُ شَيْئًا وَفَجَّرْنَا خِلالَهُمَا نَهَرًا
[Al-Kahf: 33] Meaning: you did not diminish. And His saying:
how was the end of the wrongdoers
كيف كان عاقبة الظالمين
Does the intended meaning of "the wrongdoers" here refer to the disbelievers or not?
The student: The disbelievers.
The Shaykh : Yes, the disbelievers, for it refers to what happened to Pharaoh and his people, and they were wrongdoers with the injustice of disbelief. For injustice is divided into two types: the injustice of disbelief and the injustice of sin without disbelief. So in His saying, the Exalted:
you may have your principal - [thus] you do no wrong, nor are you wronged.
فلكم رؤوس أموالكم لا تَظلِمون ولا تُظلَمون
... the injustice of sin is intended. And in His saying, the Exalted:
And the disbelievers - they are the wrongdoers.
والكافرون هم الظالمون
the injustice of disbelief is intended. And in His saying:
And they wronged Us not - but they were [only] wronging themselves.
وما ظلمونا ولكن كانوا أنفسَهم يظلمون
it includes both matters: disbelief and what is less than it.
Then observe how was the end of the wrongdoers.
فانظر كيف كان عاقبة الظالمين
In their return to destruction, to destruction by the most trivial of things, which is water. And this is from the wisdom of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, that He takes every person by his sin, as Allah the Exalted said:
And each of them We seized for his sin
وكلًّا أخذنا بذنبه
Meaning: by what his sin entails of punishment. 'Aad were arrogant in the land and challenged, saying: Who is stronger than us in power? Allah the Exalted said:
Did they not consider that Allah who created them was greater than them in strength?
أو لم يروا أن الله الذي خلقهم هو أشد منهم قوة
And His saying:
created them
خلقهم
And He did not say that Allah ... The completion is because He is stronger than them, for the Creator is undoubtedly stronger than the created. By what were they taken? They were taken by the gentlest of things, which is the wind. Allah sent upon them the wind
Which Allah imposed upon them for seven nights and eight days in succession
سخرها عليهم سبع ليال وثمانية أيام حسوماً
... all the days of time. If Allah had willed, He would have sent it upon them in one night and destroyed them completely, but for a wisdom, He willed that they should be tormented. Originally, He took them all ... it took, for example, the extremities .... as if they were the trunks of uprooted palm trees. And this is a more severe punishment, for if it had come to them once and destroyed them, they would not have been tormented; they would have died and perished, and the matter would have ended. But this is more severe. So here, they were drowned in the sea, for they, may Allah protect us from it, ...
