Tafsir of Az-Zukhruf 43:51

"And Pharaoh called out among his people, saying, 'O my people, does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me, and these rivers flowing beneath me?'"

Meaning: He raised his voice himself among his people with this statement. Perhaps he gathered the notables of the Copts in his palace after the torment had been lifted, and called out among them with this [claim] so that his words would spread to all the Copts, and to instill in their souls the fear that they might believe in Musa, peace be upon him, and forsake him.

It is permissible for the attribution of the calling to him to be metaphorical, meaning he ordered the calling to be made in the markets, the alleys, and the gatherings of the people. This is like saying, "The Amir built the city." The verb nada (called out) is a conjunction linked to an implied faja’a (he surprised them), and it is treated as an intransitive verb, though it is transitive. It remains as in the saying: "He strikes them in their hocks," signifying the firm establishment of the calling among them.

"The kingdom of Egypt" refers to his control and governance over it. He did not mean Egypt itself [alone], but rather it and what follows it, from Alexandria to Aswan, as mentioned in al-Bahr. The "rivers" are the canals that flow from the blessed Nile, such as the King’s River, the Damietta River, and the Tinnis River. Perhaps the Tulun River was among them at that time, but it vanished, and Ahmad ibn Tulun, the King of Egypt in Islam, renovated it.

By saying "beneath me," he meant "under my command." Many have said that rivers emerged from the Nile and flowed beneath his palace while he looked down upon them. It is said: He had a great elevated throne, and rivers he had diverted from the Nile flowed beneath it. Qatadah said: He had gardens and orchards before him in which rivers flowed. Ad-Dahhak interpreted "the rivers" as the commanders, leaders, and tyrants; the meaning of them flowing beneath him being that they marched under his banner and carried out his commands. This is a very distant interpretation, as are the interpretations of those who translated it as "wealth" or "horses," claiming that a horse is called a "sea" and a "river." Rather, these three interpretations belong to the esoteric exegesis, so they should not be heeded.

The waw in "and these rivers" is either a conjunction linking the rivers to the kingdom, in which case the sentence "flowing beneath me" is a circumstantial qualifier (hal) for them; or it is for the situation (al-hal), where "these" is the subject, "rivers" is an adjective or an explanatory apposition, and the sentence "flowing" is the predicate. The sentence "these rivers..." is a circumstantial qualifier for the speaker [Pharaoh]. It is also permitted that it is a conjunction, where "these rivers flowing..." is a nominal sentence (subject and predicate) linked to the noun of laysa (not) and its predicate.

Regarding his words: "Do you not then see?" This implies an object, meaning: "Do you not see that?" i.e., what has been mentioned. It is also permissible to treat it as an intransitive verb, the meaning being: "Do you not have sight or insight?" Isa recited tubsirun with a kasra on the nun, where the ya [of the first person] is the object, and it is omitted. Fahd ibn al-Qasr recited yubsirun (with the third-person ya), as mentioned in al-Kamil by al-Hudhayli and as-Saji, citing Ya'qub, and mentioned by Ibn Khalawayh.

It is not hidden how far removed the cursed one's pride in the kingdom of Egypt was from his claim of divinity. It is narrated about al-Rashid that when he recited this verse, he said: "I will appoint my lowest slave to rule it," meaning Egypt. So he appointed al-Khasib, who was in charge of his ritual ablution. It is also narrated about Abdullah ibn Tahir that he was appointed over it, so he set out towards it; when he approached it and his eyes fell upon it, he said: "Is this the village that Pharaoh boasted of until he said: 'Does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me?' By Allah, it is of less value to me than to even enter it," so he turned his reins away.