Then he repeated his saying: ﴿Like the custom of the people of Pharaoh﴾ meaning: Pharaoh and his people; for they are his followers, so it cannot be imagined that they do anything except that he leads them in it. ﴿And those before them﴾ for a reason; which is that it has been established that there is no nation except that it has been tested with hardship and ease. The first is viewed in the station of divinity, looking at greatness, pride, domination, and vengeance. The second is the fruit of the station of lordship, arising from which is affection, mercy, compassion, and honor. Therefore, he expressed in the first with the name of the Essence that encompasses all attributes, which its term - according to those who say it is derived - is designated for the meaning of divinity, indicating that they turned away in times of hardship from belief and acted with stubbornness and insistence. Thus, he expressed in this second instance with the name of the Lord and said: ﴿They denied﴾ meaning: (p-307) out of obstinacy, in addition to covering what the intellect indicated by denying the transmission.

﴿With the signs of their Lord﴾ so he indicated by that to their arrogance with the blessings and their denial that they are due to the supplication of the messengers.

And when he indicated by this expression that he deceived them with his treatment of kindness and goodness, he said: ﴿So We destroyed them﴾ meaning: all of them,

﴿Because of their sins, and We drowned﴾ so he came with the pronoun of greatness indicating that He came to them with what made them forget that grace,

﴿The people of Pharaoh﴾ and indicating that they forgot that the Lord, just as He is characterized by mercy, must also be characterized by greatness and vengeance; otherwise, His lordship would not be complete. This is clear from what has preceded in Al-A'raf about the Torah in explaining: ﴿So We sent upon them the flood﴾ [Al-A'raf: 133] to the end of it, that Pharaoh used to ask Moses, blessings and peace be upon him, at every calamity to pray for its removal, claiming that the Lord is one of forbearance, patience, and mercy. He presented the first indicating that they reached the utmost in audacity, and the expression in it of: 'They disbelieved' supports that, meaning that mere covering of the signs by turning away from them is sufficient to necessitate vengeance, even if he did not explicitly state denial due to the greatness of the station. The root of 'kafara' - in any arrangement - revolves around the mixture that inclines and diverts, and specifically in this arrangement revolves around covering, meaning: they covered the belief in the signs of their Lord. It is permissible - and it is better - that its revolving is absolutely not conditioned by arrangement around thought, which is sending the eye of insight in seeking a matter, and it necessitates (p-308) uncovering and covering because sometimes it raises the tails of doubts from that matter so that it becomes clear and realized, and sometimes it directs the decisive evidence against it so that it disappears and is obliterated, and perhaps it lowered the tails of doubts upon it, concealing after it was clear as it had raised them from it and cast them away after it had been hidden.

And when He informed, glorified and exalted is He, of their destruction, He informed with the comprehensive description of them with destruction and said: ﴿And all﴾ meaning: from these and those who preceded them from the people of Pharaoh and those before them.

They were, meaning: by nature and disposition, wrongdoers, meaning: to themselves and to others, placing the signs in other than their proper places while they think of themselves that they are just.