28. Surah Al-Qasad
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَقَالَ
فِرْعَوْنُ
يَا أَيُّهَا
الْمَلَأُ مَا
عَلِمْتُ لَكُم
مِّنْ إِلَهٍ
غَيْرِي...
28: 38. Pharaoh said:
"O Chiefs! no god do I know for you but myself:
C3370. Pharaoh claimed, himself, to be God,-not only one god among many, but the only god: "I am your Lord Most High": 79:24.
At any rate he did not see why his people should worship any one but him.
...فَأَوْقِدْ لِي يَا هَامَانُ عَلَى الطِّينِ فَاجْعَل لِّي صَرْحًا...
therefore, o Haman! light me a (kiln to bake bricks) out of clay, and build me a lofty palace,
C3371. I understand his speech to his minister Haman to be sarcastic. But some Commentators have taken it very seriously and imagined that he actually thought of reaching the heavens by budding lofty towers.
...لَّعَلِّي أَطَّلِعُ إِلَى إِلَهِ مُوسَى...
that I may mount up to the god of Moses:
...وَإِنِّي لَأَظُنُّهُ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ ﴿٣٨﴾
but as far as I am concerned, I think (Moses) is a liar!"
وَاسْتَكْبَرَ
هُوَ وَجُنُودُهُ
فِي الْأَرْضِ
بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ...
28: 39. And he was arrogant and insolent in the land, beyond reason -- he and his hosts:
...وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا يُرْجَعُونَ ﴿٣٩﴾
they thought that they would not have to return to Us!
C3372. They did not believe in the Hereafter. They did not understand that every deed must have its inevitable consequence, good, or evil, unless the Grace of Allah intervenes to save us from ourselves!
فَأَخَذْنَاهُ
وَجُنُودَهُ
فَنَبَذْنَاهُمْ
فِي الْيَمِّ...
28: 40. So We seized him and his hosts, and We flung them into the sea:
C3373. Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the sea in their pursuit of the Israelites: see 7:130-136.
They are the type of men who lead-only to Destruction. They invite, not to Peace and Happiness, but to the Fire of Wrath, mutual Envy, and Hatred.
...فَانظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الظَّالِمِينَ ﴿٤٠﴾
now behold what was the End of those who did wrong!
وَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ
أَئِمَّةً
يَدْعُونَ إِلَى
النَّارِ...
28: 41. And We made them (but) leaders inviting to the Fire;
...وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ لَا يُنصَرُونَ ﴿٤١﴾
and on the Day of Judgment no help shall they find.
وَأَتْبَعْنَاهُمْ
فِي هَذِهِ
الدُّنْيَا
لَعْنَةً...
28: 42. In this world We made a Curse to follow them:
C3374. Power and patronage may be lauded by sycophants and selfish place-hunters; but when they are misused, and when their exposure causes their fall, they suffer ignominy even in this life. If they manage to escape exposure while alive, it often happens that they are found out after their death, and the curses of many generations follow those whose oppressions and wrong-doing spoiled the fair face of Allah's earth.
But even this is nothing to the true Punishment that will come in the Hereafter. There, true values will be restored, and some of the highest and mightiest will be in the lowest depths of degradation.
...وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ هُم مِّنَ الْمَقْبُوحِينَ ﴿٤٢﴾
and on the Day of Judgment they will be among the loathed (and despised).
Asad’s Version:
(28:38) Whereupon Pharaoh said: "O you nobles! I did not know that you could have any deity other than myself! 38 Well, then, O Haman, kindle me a fire for [baking bricks of] clay, and then build me a lofty tower, that haply I may have a look at the god of Moses 37 - although, behold, I am convinced that he is of those who [always] tell lies!"
28:39 Thus arrogantly, without the least good sense, 38 did he and his hosts behave on earth - just as if they thought that they would never have to appear before Us [for judgment]! 3 '
(28:40) And so We seized him and his hosts and cast them into the sea: and behold what happened in the end to those evildoers:
(28:41) [We destroyed them,] and We set them up as archetypes [of evil] that show the way to the fire [of hell]; 40 and [whereas] no succour will come to them on
Resurrection Day,
(28:42) We have caused a curse to follow them in this world as well; 41 and on Resurrection Day they will find themselves among those who are bereft of all good. 42
[[Asad’s notes -
37 Or: "ascend to the god of Moses". Whichever of the two meanings is given to the verb ittali'u, Pharaoh's demand for a "lofty tower" is not only an allusion to the building of one of the great pyramids (see note 6 above), but also a derisory, contemptuous reference to Moses' concept of God as an all-embracing Power, inconceivably high above all that exists.
38 Lit., "without [any] truth" or "justification" (bi-ghayr al-haqq).
39 Lit., "and they thought that they would not be brought hack to Us". There is no doubt that the ancient Egyptians did believe in a life after death, and that this belief included the concept of a divine judgment as well. Since, however, the particular Pharaoh whom Moses confronted is said to have behaved with an arrogance opposed to all good sense, the Qur'an by implication - likens his attitude to that of a person who does not believe in resurrection and in maris ultimate responsibility
before God: hence my rendering of the conjunctive particle wa at the beginning of the above clause as "just as if".
40 Lit., "archetypes (a'immah) inviting to the fire". This is the pivotal sentence of the above fragment of the story of Moses. Just as verses 15-16 are meant to draw our attention to the sin of tribal or racial prejudice (see note 15), the present reference to Pharaoh as an "archetype [of evil]" points to the fact that false pride (takabbur) and arrogance (istikbar) are truly "satanic" attitudes of mind, repeatedly exemplified in the Qur'an by Iblis's symbolic "revolt" against God (for the meaning of which see note 26 on 2:34 and note 31 on 15:41). Inasmuch as they are intrinsically evil, these "satanic" impulses lead to evil actions and, consequently, to aweakening or even a total destruction of maris spiritual potential: which, in its turn, is bound to cause suffering in the hereafter.
41 I.e., in the pejorative connotation universally given to the adjective "pharaonic". It is to be noted that the term la'nah, here rendered as "curse", primarily denotes "estrangement" (ib'ad), i.e., from all that is good and, hence, really desirable.
42 I.e., among those who by their own actions will have removed themselves from God's grace: a meaning given to the term maqbuh, in this context, by most of the classical commentators and philologists (cf Lisan al-'Arab, Taj-'Aras, etc.). ]]