Tafsir for verses: 28:39, 28:40
وَٱسۡتَكۡبَرَ هُوَ وَجُنُودُهُۥ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ بِغَيۡرِ ٱلۡحَقِّ وَظَنُّوٓاْ أَنَّهُمۡ إِلَيۡنَا لَا يُرۡجَعُونَ ٣٩ ﴿39 فَأَخَذۡنَٰهُ وَجُنُودَهُۥ فَنَبَذۡنَٰهُمۡ فِي ٱلۡيَمِّۖ فَٱنظُرۡ كَيۡفَ كَانَ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ ٤٠ ﴿40
39(Thus) he and his hosts showed arrogance in the land with no justification and thought that they would not be returned to Us. 40So We seized him and his hosts and threw them into the sea. Look then, how was the fate of the wrongdoers.
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Commentary

Arrogance with the truth: It is only for Allah, the Most High, and He is truly the One who is arrogant, meaning: the One who is exalted in His greatness. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said in what he narrated from his Lord: "Pride is My cloak and greatness is My garment. Whoever disputes with Me over either of them, I will throw him into the Fire." [Narrated by Muslim from the hadith of Abu Huraira and Abu Sa'id from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, from his Lord.] And every arrogant one besides Him, his arrogance is without truth. They are referred to with both the vowel and the non-vowel, 'So We seized him and his soldiers, and We cast them into the sea,' as a grand expression that indicates the greatness of His affair and the pride of His sovereignty. He likened them in order to belittle them and to diminish their number. [His words continued: "And His saying, 'So We seized him and his soldiers, and We cast them into the sea,' is a response to his arrogance with an action described as taking pebbles that are despised, then casting them, meaning: throwing them into the sea with humiliation. This is a representation of His disdain for him and his destruction by this type of destruction. And Allah knows best."] Even if they were numerous and countless, like pebbles taken by a taker in his hand and thrown into the sea. And similar to this is His saying, 'And We made in it towering mountains, and the earth and the mountains were crushed into one crushing, and they did not estimate Allah with the estimation due to Him, and the earth all will be in His grasp on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be folded in His right hand.' And these are nothing but depictions and representations of His power, and that everything that is capable, no matter how great and mighty, is insignificant beside His ability.

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Al-ZamakhshariAbū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿUmar al-Zamakhsharī
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