ﲷ ﲸ ﲹ ﲺ ﲻ ﲼ ﲽ ﲾ ﲿ ﳀ ﳁ ﳂ ﳃ ﳄ ﳅ ﳆ ﳇ ﳈ ﳉ
[Theirs is] like the custom of the people of Pharaoh and of those before them. They disbelieved in the signs of Allah, so Allah seized them for their sins. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and severe in penalty.
Tafsir
Verse range: 8:52
"Like the habit of the people of Pharaoh..."
The Kaf (in ka-da'b) is in the nominative position; meaning: the habit of these people is like the habit of the people of Pharaoh.
Their da'b (habit) is their custom and the work they persisted in—meaning they continued and persevered in it.
"And they disbelieved" is an explanation of the "habit of the people of Pharaoh."
"That" (dhalika) is a reference to what befell them—meaning that punishment or retribution—because it was not appropriate for Allah, nor was it correct in His wisdom, to change His favor upon a people "until they change what is in themselves" of their state.
If you ask: What change occurred in the people of Pharaoh and the polytheists of Mecca such that Allah changed His favor upon them, when they did not have a pleasing state to change into a displeasing one?
I say: Just as a pleasing state is changed into a displeasing one, a displeasing state is changed into one even more displeasing. Those people, before the Messenger was sent to them, were disbelievers and idolaters. When he was sent to them with clear signs, they denied him, showed him enmity, and conspired against him, striving to shed his blood. Thus, they changed their state to something worse than it had been. Consequently, Allah changed what He had favored them with—namely, the respite—and hastened the punishment upon them.
"And that Allah is Hearing" of what the deniers of the messengers say, "Knowing" of what they do.
"Like the habit of the people of Pharaoh" is a repetition for emphasis.
In His saying: "with the signs of their Lord," there is an additional indication of ingratitude for favors and the denial of the truth.
In the mention of the drowning, there is an explanation of being seized for sins.
"And all of them were wrongdoers"—all of them, from the drowned Copts to the slain of Quraysh, were wrongdoers to their own souls through disbelief and disobedience.
"Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are those who have disbelieved, and they will not [ever] believe. The ones with whom you made a treaty, but then they break their pledge every time, and they do not fear Allah. So if you, [O Muhammad], gain dominance over them in war, then disperse by [means of] them those behind them that perhaps they will be reminded."
