Pharaoh’s Repentance in the Face of Death

Pharaoh’s Repentance in the Face of Death

Article:

In one of his brief

writings[1],

Mr. Katz writes:

According to Sura 10:90-92, Pharaoh repented “in

the sight of death” and was saved. But Sura 4:18 says that such a thing

can’t happen.

He further writes:

10:100 does say that “no soul can believe, except

by the Will of Allah” and verse 103 affirms that “This is it fitting

on Our part that We should deliver those who believe!” And in 10:90

Pharaoh clearly confesses “I believe that there is no god except Him whom

the Children of Israel believe in: I am of those who submit.” So,

according to 100 and 103 this was a work of Allah and he will deliver him. But

4:18 says this is impossible.

But if this cannot be eternal deliverance from the

judgment, then “as it seems” maybe it is deliverance from the

drowining? i.e. physical deliverance? But this doesn’t fit either, because

Sura 17:103 makes clear that Pharaoh was indeed drowned and no repentence is

indicated in this passage.

In the following

article, the objection raised by Mr. Katz shall be answered in the light of the

Qur’an.

Let us begin with a look

at the basic verses on which Mr. Katz has objected. Yunus 10: 90 — 92

read as:

We led

the Israelites across the sea, and Pharaoh and his armies pursued them with

insolence and spite. [But We helped the believers and Pharaoh, with his

armies, was entrapped in the waters. He kept trying to save himself] till the

time when drowning became inevitable, he cried out: I believe that there is no

god except the One in whom the Israelites believe. To Him I submit. [We

declared:] “Now! And you had [always] been a rebel and a promoter of mischief,

before this. [Thus, you shall never be forgiven,] but this day, We shall

save your body, so that you be a sign for those that remain behind

you. And Indeed most of the people remain ignorant of our clear signs [spread

around them][

2].

Idiomatically, the

Arabic words ““

should more accurately be translated as “We shall save your body”, as has been

translated by N. J. Dawood. It may, however, be

mentioned here that even though, Yusuf Ali’s (or Shakir’s or Irving’s)

translation[3]

is not incorrect, yet it can cause some confusion in the minds of the readers.

The implication, however, in these translations is the same as “We shall save

your body”.

Mr. Katz has, incorrectly construed Yusuf Ali’s

translation “We shall save thee in thy body”, as referring to Pharaoh’s

deliverance (from punishment in the hereafter or drowning in this world). Yusuf

Ali did not intend these words to convey the meaning, which Mr. Katz has derived

from them. Yusuf Ali, in his introduction to Surah Yunus writes:

“… The central theme is that Allah’s wonderful

Creation must not be viewed by us as a creation of material things only, once

made and finished with. Most wonderful of all is how He reveals Himself to men

through Prophets and Scriptures; how prophets are rejected by men, and the

Message disbelieved until it is too late for repentance; and how, as in the

case of Yunus (Jonah) and his people, even the rejection (when repentance

supervenes) does not prevent Allah’s grace and mercy from working, and how far

that working is beyond man’s comprehension.”

He further writes:

“Allah revealed Himself through Noah, but Noah’s people

rejected him and perished. He spoke through Moses to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh was

stiff-necked and arrogant, and when he repented at all, it was too late. (10:

71 — 92, and C. 102)”.

It should be clear from

the above allusions that Yusuf Ali, by the phrase “Save thee in thy body”, had

not implied Pharaoh’s deliverance from punishment in this world or the

hereafter, but merely the fact that Pharaoh’s body shall be saved and preserved

from rotting in the waters and shall be brought out of the waters for people to

see him — the King, who claimed divinity[4]

— in the helpless shape of a corpse[5].

With the foregoing

clarification, the contradiction pointed-out by Mr. Katz should stand resolved.

The mere fact that the referred verses of the Qur’an do not imply Pharaoh’s

deliverance in this world (from the sea), or in the hereafter — as Mr. Katz has

incorrectly construed from Yusuf Ali’s translation — but rather the

preservation of Pharaoh’s body from rotting in the water, answers the objections

raised by Mr. Katz.

© Copyright September 2000. All Rights Reserved with the Author