Tafsir of Ash-Shu`ara' 26:29

"He said": (Turning away from argumentation to threats, as is the habit of the defeated and stubborn): "If you take a god other than me, I will surely make you one of the imprisoned."

Therein lies an exaggeration in repelling him from the claim of messengership, for he desired of him what he desired and was not satisfied with Musa (peace be upon him) merely abandoning the claim or refraining from approaching him. It also contains further arrogance, as he implied that Musa (peace be upon him) was taking him as a god at that moment, and that taking another as a god after him was doubtful. He exaggerated the intimidation, given the hypothetical occurrence of that, by confirming the verb with what he confirmed, and avoiding the more concise "I will imprison you" (la-asjunannaka). This is because the "al" in "the imprisoned" (al-masjunin) is for reference (lil-‘ahd), as if he were saying: "I will make you one of those whose conditions you know within my prisons." It is said that the accursed one used to cast them into a deep abyss—it is said to have been five hundred cubits deep—containing snakes and scorpions, until they perished.

Some have stated that the question here and in Surah Taha concerns the description, while the story and the gathering are one and the same; the variation in the expressions is due to the demands of each context. It is necessary to posit that what actually occurred is the common denominator between all those expressions. Thus, the problem of differing expressions despite the unity of the story and the gathering is resolved. However, determining the common denominator that can validly be expressed by each of those phrases requires precise consideration, accompanied by further grace and guidance.

Furthermore, scholars have differed as to whether the accursed one knew that the world has a Lord, Who is Allah, the Almighty and Exalted, or not. Some said he knew this, based on the evidence: "You have surely known that none has sent these down except the Lord of the heavens and the earth." Some inferred this from his request for the definition of "essence" (mahiyyah), assuming that therein lay an admission of the principle of existence. They argued that his claim to divinity and his statement: "I am your Lord, the Most High," were merely terror tactics for his people whom he belittled, not a matter of genuine belief. How could he believe he was the Lord of the worlds while knowing by necessity that he came into existence after not being, that thousands of years had passed for the world while he was not in it, and that he had nothing but the kingdom of Egypt? It is for this reason that Shu'ayb said to Musa (peace be upon them), when he came to him in Madyan: "Fear not; you have escaped from the wrongdoing people."

Others have said: He was ignorant of Allah, the Exalted, and furthermore, he did not believe himself to be the creator of the heavens and the earth and what is within them. Rather, he was a Dahri (materialist), denying the Creator, the Glorified, believing in the necessity of existence by essence for the celestial spheres, and that their motions were the causes for the occurrence of events. He believed that whoever possessed a region and governed its affairs by an ascending force deserved worship from its people and was a lord to them. That is why he restricted his divinity and lordship, and did not generalize them, saying: "I have not known for you any god other than me," and "I am your Lord, the Most High." It is suggested he may have been of the Hululiyyah (incarnationists) who hold that the Lord, the Glorified and Exalted, indwells in certain beings, and he believed in His, the Almighty's, indwelling within himself; thus, he called himself a god. It is also said that he claimed divinity for himself and for others—meaning those he worshipped besides Allah, the Almighty and Exalted—as is indicated by the manifest wording of His saying: "And you and your gods." This, and what preceded it, is far-fetched.

The most likely, and what most of the manifest evidence demands, is that the accursed one knew of Allah, the Almighty and Exalted, and that He, the Glorified, is the Creator of the world, but his wretchedness overwhelmed him and his reign deceived him, so he manifested to his people the opposite of what he knew. They submitted to him due to the extent of their ignorance and the scantiness of their intellect. It is not far-fetched that there may be people among the masses who submit to such myths without knowing they contradict axioms. A trustworthy person informed me that two men from Najd, before the emergence of the Wahhabi movement among them, were in a field when a long-legged bird—the likes of which they had never seen in that land—passed by and landed near them. One said to the other: "What is this?" The other replied: "Do not raise your voice; this is our Lord." The first one, believing that delirium, said: "Glory be to Him, how long are his shanks and how great are his wings!"

As for those among them who have intellect and for whom the falsehood of such things is not hidden, it is possible they agreed outwardly due to an excess of fear of Pharaoh or an excess of desire for the worldly goods he possessed. We observe many intelligent people and corrupt scholars agreeing with tyrannical kings in their intellectual and practical falsehoods out of love for the base world or fear of a perceived calamity. It is also possible that they believed it in reality through some form of rationalization, even if it were corrupt, such as the claim of incarnation (hulul) and the like. Those who criticize the one who says "I am the Truth" (Ana al-Haqq) and the one who says "There is nothing in the cloak but Allah" assume that those who believe in their truthfulness are like those who believed in Pharaoh’s truthfulness in his saying: "I am your Lord, the Most High."

The accursed one’s question to Musa (peace be upon him)—recounted in his statement: "And what is the Lord of the worlds?"—was because of his denial of the apparent reality that the worlds had a Lord other than him. Musa (peace be upon him)'s answer to him was not intended to refute what he claimed outwardly, but to guide his people to the Truth that is worthy of acceptance. For this reason, he did not limit the address in the answers to him. The astonishment understood from his saying: "Do you not listen?" was due to his [Pharaoh's] apparent claim that he (Musa) was asserting the opposite of an established matter, namely, the divinity of himself [Pharaoh]. When he was overcome by the fear that his people might submit to what Musa (peace be upon him) said, he went to extremes to turn them away from accepting the Truth by saying: "Your messenger who has been sent to you is surely mad." When he saw that this did not avail in stopping Musa (peace be upon him) from manifesting the Truth and refuting the falsehood he was propagating, he defended his false claim with threats and severe warnings, saying: "If you take a god other than me, I will surely make you one of the imprisoned." Perhaps his (peace be upon him)'s answers point to the refutation of the belief in something like hulul (incarnation), in that it involves preference without a preferrer, and that it necessitates the state of being a created subject (marbubiyyah) due to the change inherent in it. After this statement, in my view, is the statement of some that he, the accursed, was a materialist (Dahri), up to what you heard just now. The astonishment [by Pharaoh] was for his belief—in reality—that he [Musa] was claiming the opposite of an established matter, which is the divinity of himself [Pharaoh], may he be cursed. And Allah, the Exalted, knows best. And when he (peace be upon him) saw the rudeness of Pharaoh...