His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And Pharaoh called out to his people, saying, 'O my people, is not the dominion of Egypt mine, and these rivers flowing beneath me? So do you not see?﴾ ﴿Or am I better than this one who is insignificant and hardly makes himself clear?﴾ ﴿Then why has no gold bracelets been placed upon him, or come with him the angels closely accompanying?﴾ ﴿So he made his people feel light, and they obeyed him. Indeed, they were a disobedient people.﴾ ﴿So when they angered Us, We took revenge on them and drowned them all.﴾ ﴿And We made them a precedent and an example for the later generations.﴾

Pharaoh's call may be understood as being with his own tongue in his assembly, or it may be that he ordered someone to call out to the people. The meaning of this argument he called out with is that he wanted to demonstrate his superiority over Moses, peace be upon him, as he is the king of Egypt, the owner of the rivers and blessings, while Moses, peace be upon him, is an insignificant person with no worldly possessions. He said: If the god of Moses were truly as he claims, then why has he left matters like this, while Egypt stretches from the sea of Alexandria to Aswan along the Nile? The rivers he referred to are the great inlets that come out of the Nile, the greatest of which are the river of Alexandria, and the rivers of Tinnis, Damietta, and Toulon.

And his saying: ﴿Or am I better﴾, Sibawayh said: 'Am' is this conjunction, and the meaning is: 'Do you not see, or do you see?' He placed in the position of his saying: 'Or do you see?' the matter that is truly worthy of being seen by him, which is that he is better than Moses, peace be upon him. And 'no' - on this view - is negating. A group said: The meaning is: 'So do you not see, or do you not see?' Then he limited it to 'Or' for the indication of the apparent speech to what is omitted from it, and he began his saying: 'I am better than him' as an announcement from him. So his saying: ﴿So do you not see?﴾ - on this view - is equivalent to: 'Why not' and 'if not' in the meaning of restriction. A group said: 'Am' is in the meaning of 'but.' (p-555) Some people read: 'As for me, I am better,' as reported by Al-Farra. Mujahid would stop at 'Am,' then begin: 'I am better than him.' Qatadah said: In the Mushaf of Ubayy ibn Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him, it is written: 'Or am I better, or this one.'

And 'insignificant' means: weak, and his saying: ﴿and hardly makes himself clear﴾ is an indication of what remained in the tongue of Moses, peace be upon him, from the effect of the ember, as it had caused a knot in his tongue. When he called for it to be loosened so that his words could be understood, his supplication was answered. However, there remained an effect that would hinder his clarity. Yet Pharaoh mocked him for it. And his saying: ﴿and hardly makes himself clear﴾ implies that he was making himself clear. Abu Ja'far ibn Ali read: 'makes clear' with the first 'ya' opened.

And His saying, exalted is He: "So if not thrown" means: from the heavens as an honor for him. The majority read: "thrown" in the passive form, while Al-Dahhak read: "threw" with the opening of the hamzah and qaf in the active form. "Bracelets" is in the accusative case. The majority of the reciters read: "bracelets" in the nominative case. Hafs from Asim read: "bracelet" in the accusative case, which is the reading of Al-A'raj, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, Abu Rajaa, and Mujahid. Ubayy ibn Ka'b read: "bracelets". In the Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, it is written: "bracelets". It is said: "suwar" and "iswar" for what is placed on the arm from jewelry. Abu Zayd narrated both languages, and Abu Amr ibn Al-Ala said it is like "qalb". This was said by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, and the people. The custom of men at that time was to wear that and adorn themselves with it. "Bracelets" is the plural of "iswar", and it is permissible for it to be the plural of "aswira", like "asqiya" and "asaqiya". Likewise, "bracelets" is the plural of "iswar", and the 'ha' in "aswira" is a substitute for the omitted 'ya', because the plural is actually "asawir" as in the Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud. They omitted the 'ya' and made the 'ha' a substitute for it, as they said in "zanadiqa" and "bitarika" and others. And "bracelet" is the plural of "sawar", and His saying: "those who are bound together" means: they protect him, testify for him, and establish his argument.

Then, He informed, exalted is He, about Pharaoh that he belittled his people with this statement, meaning he sought their lightness and their response to his purpose. They responded to him in that and obeyed him in disbelief due to their wickedness and because they were on his path of corruption.

And "they angered us": its meaning is: they made us angry, without dispute. And the anger of Allah, exalted is He, is that you perform the vile deeds for which His actions indicative of the intention of evil towards whomever He wills appear. And anger - in this context - is a quality of action, and it is something that fluctuates. If it is meant in the sense of what appears from actions, then it is a quality of action. If it is referred to the will, then it is a quality of essence, and there is consideration in this.

The majority of the reciters read: "salfan" with the opening of the 's' and 'l', the plural of "salif", like "haris" and "haras". And "salf" is the predecessor from the previous nations, meaning: We made them precede the disbelieving nations as a lesson and an example for them to take heed from, or they fall into what they fell into. From this term is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "The righteous will go as predecessors". And his saying regarding his son Ibrahim, the judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: peace be upon them: "We will bury him with our righteous predecessor, Uthman ibn Maz'oon". Hamid Al-A'raj, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "sulfan" with the 's' and 'l' pronounced, which is the reading of Abdullah and his companions, Sa'd ibn Iyad, and Ibn Kathir. It is the plural of "salif". Al-Tabari mentioned from Al-Qasim ibn Ma'n that he heard the Arabs say: "A salif from the people has passed", meaning "salf". Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, and Hamid Al-A'raj also read: "sulfan" with the 's' pronounced and the 'l' opened, as if it is the plural of "sulfah", meaning: the community and the group. The others are those who will come from mankind until the Day of Resurrection.