Now do you believe at this time of necessity when drowning has overtaken you? [Mahmoud said: "Its meaning is do you believe at the time of your necessity when drowning has overtaken you... etc." Ahmad said: And he has denied a denial, and he was angry for Allah and His angels as is appropriate for them, and Allah is the Grantor of success.] And you despair of yourself.

It is said that he said this when drowning overwhelmed him, meaning when he was about to drown. And it is said that he said it after he had drowned in himself.

And it is narrated that when he said, "I have believed," Gabriel took from the state of the sea [The saying "from the state of the sea and he pressed it" means its black mud. This was clarified in the Sahih. In the hadith, "Gabriel said, O Muhammad, if you could see me as I take from the state of the sea and press it into his mouth." This is as mentioned in Al-Khazin. (A)] and pressed it into his mouth, for the anger of Allah towards the disbeliever at a time when he knew that his faith would not benefit him. As for what is added to their saying: out of fear that the mercy of Allah would overtake him, it is from the exaggerations of the deniers [The saying "the deniers of Allah" in the Sahih means "he has denied" if he said about him what he did not do. (A)] of Allah and His angels: and in it are two forms of ignorance. The first is that faith is valid in the heart like the faith of the mute, so the state of the sea does not prevent it. The second is that whoever dislikes the faith of the disbeliever and loves his remaining in disbelief is a disbeliever, for being pleased with disbelief is disbelief. [The saying "And what is narrated... to the saying 'for being pleased with disbelief' this is an excess of ignorance regarding the transmitted texts and a belittling of their people. The hadith is authentic in its additions, and it has been narrated by Al-Tirmidhi and authenticated, and Al-Nasa'i, Ibn Hibban, Al-Hakim, Ishaq, Al-Bazzar, Abu Dawood, and Al-Tayalisi, all from the narration of Shu'bah from 'Adi ibn Thabit and 'Ata ibn Al-Sa'ib from Sa'id ibn Jubair from Ibn Abbas who raised it to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, saying: "When Allah drowned Pharaoh, he said:

I believed that there is no deity except the one that the Children of Israel believed in. Gabriel said: O Muhammad, if you had seen me while I was taking the clay from the bottom of the sea and stuffing it in his mouth for fear that mercy would reach him. And there is another way reported by Yahya ibn Abd al-Hamid al-Hamayi in his Musnad from Abu Khalid al-Ahmar from Amr ibn Iyala from Said ibn Jubair from Ibn Abbas who said that Gabriel, peace be upon him, mentioned the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and mentioned Pharaoh: 'Indeed, I saw myself while I was filling his mouth with mud for fear that mercy would reach him.' And in this regard, there is a narration from Abu Huraira reported by al-Tabari, Ibn Abi Hatim, and al-Bayhaqi in al-Shu'ab in the fifty-sixth chapter, and Ibn Mardawayh through the route of Atiyyah ibn Said from Kathir ibn Zadhan from Abu Hazim from him that the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said that Gabriel said to me: 'If you had seen me while I was taking from the bottom of the sea and stuffing it in Pharaoh for fear that he would say,

And he had a shield made of gold by which he was known. Abu Hanifa, may Allah have mercy on him, read: 'with your bodies' and it has two meanings:

Either it is like their saying: 'he fell with his crimes,' meaning: with your entire body, complete with its parts. Or he means: with your armors, as if he was displaying them to those behind you as a sign for the people behind you, and they are the Children of Israel. They believed within themselves that Pharaoh was too great to drown. It has been narrated that they said: 'Pharaoh has not died and will never die.'

It was said that Moses informed them of his destruction, but they did not believe him. So Allah cast him upon the shore until they saw him, and it was as if his place was on a path of the Children of Israel until it was said: 'to those behind you.'

And it was said: 'to those behind you' means to those who come after you from the generations. The meaning of it being a sign is that it shows the people his servitude and humiliation, and that what he claimed of divinity is false and impossible. Despite his greatness and the pride of kingship, his matter ended up as you see due to his disobedience to his Lord, the Exalted and Mighty. So what is the assumption about others? Or it is to be a lesson for the nations after you, so they do not dare to act as you acted when they hear of your state and your humiliation before Allah.

And it was read: 'to the one who created you,' with a qaf, meaning: to be a sign for your Creator like the other signs of His. And it may be intended that your being cast upon the shore alone and distinguishing you from among the drowned is so that your matter does not become confused for the people, and so that they do not say—due to your claim to greatness—that one like him does not drown or die—a sign among the signs of Allah that no one else can accomplish, and so that they know that this was deliberate on His part to remove any doubt regarding your matter.