Tafsir of Al-Qasas 28:4

{Indeed, Pharaoh} is an independent sentence serving as an explanation for what was previously summarized. It is as if someone asked: "How was their story?" So, He said: {exalted himself in the land}, meaning the land of his kingdom. He acted tyrannically within it and exceeded all bounds in oppression and harshness.

{Dividing it into factions} (shiyaʿan): groups that support him in what he desires and obey him; none of them possesses the power to turn their neck away from him. Al-Aʿsha said: And a land whose night-travel is feared by the traveler, Until you see him upon it seeking factions (to support him).

Or it means they support one another in their obedience to him. Or it means he divided them into classes for his service: he would force one class to build, another to plow, and another to dig. Those he did not employ, he imposed a tribute upon. Or it means distinct groups between whom he incited enmity: the Children of Israel and the Copts.

The {oppressed group} were the Children of Israel. The reason for the slaughter of the sons was that a soothsayer told him: "A child will be born among the Children of Israel at whose hands your kingdom will perish." This is clear evidence of Pharaoh’s profound stupidity; for if he believed the soothsayer, he could not prevent the inevitable decree, and if he disbelieved him, then what was the justification for the killing?

{Oppressing} (yastadʿifu) is a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) for the pronoun in {and he made}, or an adjective for "factions," or a new, independent statement. {Slaughtering} (yudhabbihu) is a substitute (badal) for "oppressing."

His saying: {Indeed, he was of the corrupters} is a clarification that the killing was nothing but the act of the corrupters, for it is an act that holds no benefit, whether the soothsayer spoke the truth or lied.

{And We wanted to confer favor upon those who were oppressed in the land and make them leaders and make them inheritors. And establish them in the land and show Pharaoh and Haman and their soldiers through them that which they had been fearing.}