Tafsir of Yunus 10:91-92

{ آلآنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ } "Do you believe now, at this time of distress, when drowning has overtaken you and you have despaired of your own life?"

It is said: He said this when the water reached his mouth (i.e., when he was on the verge of drowning). Others say he said it after he had already drowned. As for the report that Gabriel (peace be upon him) took mud from the sea and stuffed it into his mouth, this was out of divine wrath against the disbeliever at a time when he knew his faith would not benefit him.

Regarding the addition some make—that this was done out of fear that God’s mercy might reach him—this is an invention of those who slander God and His angels. It contains two ignorances:

1. Faith is valid through the heart, like the faith of a mute person; the state of the sea does not prevent it.
2. Whoever dislikes the faith of a disbeliever and desires his remaining in disbelief is himself a disbeliever, for contentment with disbelief is disbelief.

{ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ } Meaning: From those who were astray and led others away from the faith, as in the verse: "Those who disbelieved and averted others from the way of God, We increased them in punishment upon punishment for the corruption they used to cause" (An-Nahl: 88).

It is narrated that Gabriel (peace be upon him) brought him a legal inquiry: "What is the opinion of the Prince regarding a servant who grew up in a man’s wealth and favor, then denied his favor, rejected his right, and claimed lordship over him?" Pharaoh wrote in response: "The punishment for a servant who rebels against his master, denying his favor, is to be drowned in the sea." When the drowning reached him, Gabriel presented his own writing to him, so he recognized it.

{ نُنَجِّيكَ } Whether read with tashdid (nunjīka) or takhfif (nunajīka), it means: We will distance you from the depths of the sea where your people have fallen. It is also said: We will cast you upon a high place on the earth. It is also recited as nunḥīka (with a ḥāʾ), meaning: We will cast you to the side of the sea. He was cast upon the shore after drowning; Ka‘b said: "The water threw him onto the shore as if he were a bull."

{ بِبَدَنِكَ } This is in the position of a state (ḥāl), meaning: In a state where you have no soul, being merely a body; or, with your body complete and sound, nothing missing or changed; or, naked, being nothing but a body without clothing; or, in your armor. ‘Amr ibn Ma‘dīkarib said: O censurer, my armor (badani) and my sword, And every lean, obedient horse. He had a golden armor by which he was known. Abu Hanifa (may God have mercy on him) recited it as bi-abdānika (in the plural). This can be interpreted in two ways: either as a collective, like saying "he fell with his bodies" (meaning his entire body with all its parts), or it refers to his armors, as if he were wearing them layered.

{ لِمَنْ خَلْفَكَ آيَةً } A sign for those behind you—the Children of Israel. They held the belief that Pharaoh was too great to drown. It is narrated that they said: "Pharaoh has not died and will never die." It is said that Moses informed them of his destruction, but they did not believe him, so God cast him upon the shore until they saw him with their own eyes. It is as if his place of casting was on a path used by the Children of Israel, hence the phrase "for those behind you." Others say it means those who come after you in the generations.

The meaning of his being a "sign" is:

1. To manifest his servitude and humiliation to the people, proving that his claim to lordship was false and impossible.
2. To show that despite his great status and royal pride, his end was what you see due to his disobedience to his Lord. If this is his end, what then of others?
3. To serve as a lesson for nations after you, so they do not dare to act as you did once they hear of your state and your insignificance before God.

It is also recited as li-man khalaqaka (with a qāf), meaning: "To be a sign for your Creator, like His other signs." It may also mean that your being cast upon the shore alone, distinguished from the other drowned, was so that your affair would not be confused, and so that people would not say—due to your claim of greatness—that one like you does not drown or die. It is a sign of God’s signs, which none but He could perform, and so they would know that this was a deliberate act by Him to remove all doubt regarding your affair.