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The man ‘Fir’aun’ ‘Pharaoh’
does not cease to amaze me. I keep wondering what had plunged him into the
ignorance of thinking he was anything close to ‘God.’
I should probably not be
worrying myself about this man who is the greatest sinner of all times.
Subhaanal Laah! How very bad his situation is to have won such a title.
Unlike some people whom
Allah subhaanahu wata aa’laa blessed with some special spiritual power like
Prophet Sulaiman (peace be upon him) who could command the wind and the
shayaatu’in (devils) by the permission of Allah as Allah tells us in Surah
Al-Ambiyaa (The Prophets), Chapter 21 ayah 81-82;
‘And to Sulaiman we
subjected the wind strongly raging, running by his command towards the land
which We had blessed. And of everything We are the All-Knower. And of the
Shayaatu’in were some who dived for him and did other works besides that; and
it was We who guarded them.’
Prophet Sulaiman (peace be
upon him) acknowledged and worshipped the source of his power. And consider
someone like Prophet Musa (peace be upon him) whom Allah (glorified be He above
all else) blessed with miracles as we are told by Allah in various places in
the Qur’an.
And talk about Prophet
Issah (peace be upon him) who could heal the blind and all by Allah’s
permission and aren’t all the prophets blessed with numerous miracles. Even some
men are able to do their own magic like the magicians Fir’aun hired to his
defence.
Fir’aun on the other hand
as we are made to understand in the Qur’an by Allah, was totally spiritually
powerless! He could not do even magic! It baffles me that such a man, due to
his physical possessions and powers only, could be this arrogant to claim to be
‘God.’ Subhaanal Laah! Subhaanal Laah! What was he thinking?
Cutting the story of he
and our noble Prophet Musa’s story short, I will like to share the part of his
arrogance that mesmerizes me even more and causes me to truly wonder about him.
Allah (glorified be He above all else) says in Surah Al-Qasas, (the Narration),
Chapter 28, ayah 37-38 that;
‘Musa
said: ‘My Lord knows best him who came with guidance from Him, and whose will
be the happy end in the Hereafter. Verily, the wrongdoers will not be
successful.’ Fir’aun said: ‘O chiefs! I
know not that you have a god other than me. So kindle for me fire, O Haman! To bake
bricks out of clay and set up for me a lofty tower in order that I may look at
the God of Musa; and verily, I think that he is one of the liars.’
Indeed, gloried is Allah
above all that is associated with Him. He is One and Only. He begets not
neither was He begotten. Just listen to Fir’aun and you will know what I am
wondering about. I have highlighted part of his speech for emphasis. Imagine
that he dared to question his chiefs about having a god besides him? He didn’t
even know how they came into existence. He didn’t even know how they function!
Yet, He expected to take credit for something he knew too well that he had not
contributed to.
And then, for him to be
able to see that ‘God’ that Prophet Musa was talking about, he had to use a
tower. He could not do it just like that; like suddenly vanish in search of
that ‘God’ or even command that ‘God’ to just come to his presence. And even
funnier is the case that he could not just command the tower to just appear!
Subhaanal Laah! When Allah wills for something to be done, He says to it; ‘Be’
and ‘It is.’ This man Fir’aun, had to call on another man; Haman, for help in
order to be able to build that so called tower. Praise Allah! We definitely
have to worship Him however we can. To Him belongs the dominion of the Heavens
and the Earth.
And let’s look at
ourselves. Aren’t we somehow trekking this path of Shaitaan? The little
authority we have, we want to put it in everyone’s nose. We want to show
everyone that we are the super powers for some minute and insignificant
physical power that we have? Let us ponder brothers and sisters. It is
arrogance without thought that sent Fir’aun as far as he went.
Allah, the Owner of the
Day of Judgment, gives us another example of a display of Fir’auns lack of
power in Surah Al-A’raf, (The Heights), Chapter 7 ayah 106-121 that;
‘(Fir’aun)
said: ‘If you have come with a sign, show it forth, if you are one of those who
tell the truth. Then he (Musa) threw his stick and behold! It was a serpent,
manifest! And he drew out his hand, and behold it was white (with radiance) for
the beholders. The chiefs of the people of Fir’aun said; ‘This is indeed a
well-versed sorcerer.’ He wants to get you out of your land, so what do you
advise?’ They said; ‘Put him and his brother off for a time and send callers to the cities to collect –
that they bring to you all well versed sorcerers.’ And so the sorcerers came to
Fir’aun. They said; ‘Indeed there
will be a reward for us if we are the victors.’ He said; ‘Yes, and moreover you will be of the
nearest to me.’ They said; ‘O Musa! Either you throw first or shall we have
the first throw?’ He said: ‘Throw you first.’ So when they threw, they
bewitched the eyes of the people and struck terror into them, and they
displayed a great magic. And We revealed to Musa; ‘Throw your stick,’ and
behold! It swallowed up straight away all the falsehood which they showed. Thus
truth was confirmed and all that they did was made of no effect. So they were
defeated there and returned disgraced. And the sorcerers fell down prostrate.
They said; ‘We believe in the Lord of all that exists.’
You know! Let us all say alhamdu
lil Laah for making us Muslims and it should not be just a lip service to the
Creator but we should mean it and act it. Look at Fir’aun! He had to summon the
best of his sorcerers to fight his fight for him. He did not even know how their
sorcery is done? Yet he dared to compare himself to the Supreme Being.
Subhaanal Laah!
And weren’t the situation
of those sorcerers pitiful until they accepted the truth? Imagine subjecting
yourself to a human being who does not even know what you know just because of
what you will get from him of worldly things. And how dare Fir’aun! He actually
saw his bringing those sorcerers near to himself as a great favour for them.
For surety, there is no deity worthy of worship save Allah.
The question we should be
asking ourselves is; ‘Do we sometimes find ourselves in this kind of situation?’
A situation where we have sold our very souls to the world and those who
possess some physical things in it that we want so much that we are prevented
from worshipping our Creator? Think and Reflect!
And when Allah caused the
sea to separate for the noble Prophet and the children of Israel, Fir’aun came
running with his people to enjoy what he did not contribute to. Now, I keep
wondering; ‘What made him think that the one who had separated the sea will
just let him ride on it to harm the people He had rescued from him?’ It is
really interesting, isn’t it? But of course such was the arrogance and
ignorance of Fir’aun. May Allah take away any of his traits that we have.
Ameen. Allah tells us in Surah Yunus (Jonah), Chapter 10 ayah 90-91 that;
‘And
We took the Children of Israel across the sea, and Fir’aun with his hosts
followed them in oppression and enmity, till when drowning overtook him, he
said: ‘I believe that none has the right to be worshipped but He in Whom the
Children of Israel believe, and I am one of the Muslims.’
Subhaanal Laah! So, at the
verge of his own destruction, he remembers that there is indeed a God to whom
he must submit? But aren’t some of us doing the same? We wait for a calamity to
befall us before we turn in remembrance of Allah and just when it is over, we
become rebels of Allah. May Allah save us from ourselves. Ameen.
But Allah, the Lord of the A'alameen, all
that exists, had told him in the next verse that;
‘Now
you believe while you refused to believe before and you were one of the
evildoers.’
May Allah repel you and I
and everyone else from attitudes such as that of Fir’aun. Ameen thumma ameen.
TAKE HEED WHILES YOU STILL
BREATHE!!!
By Rubaba Mmahajia Rahma
Sabtiu
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