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﴿39﴾ وَقَارُونَ وَفِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَلَقَدْ جَآءَهُم مُّوسَي بِالْبَيّـِنَاتِ فَاسْتَكْبَرُوا فِي الاَرْضِ وَمَا كَانُوا سَابِقِينَ

39. “And (We destroyed) Korah, and Pharaoh, and Hāmān; and indeed Moses came unto them with clear proofs, but they behaved haughtily in the land, yet they could not outstrip (Us).”

Commentary:

The end of arrogance is destruction and their evil fate is a gazing-stock. Allah’s way of treatment is to complete argument and then taking to task will come forth.

In this holy verse, the Qur’ān mentions the names of three persons each of whom was a clear sample of a satanic power. It says:

Korah was the epiphany of wealth together with pride, egoism, and negligence. Pharaoh was the epiphany of arrogant power furnished with mischievousness; and Hāmān was an example of being the assistant of the oppressive tyrants. Then, the verse says:

Korah relied on his own wealth, ornament, treasures, and knowledge, while Pharaoh and Hāmān relied on having army, martial forces, and the great power of propagation among unaware people.

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Yet, with those abilities they had they could not precede Allah and escape from the grips of His power. The verse continues saying:

Allah issued the command of destruction of Korah for the land, which was the place of his rest and comfort, and He commanded water, the cause of their life, to destroy Pharaoh and Hāmān. For destroying them, Allah did not mobilize the hosts of heavens and the earth, but what was the cause of their life executed the command of their death![1]

The Arabic term /sābiqīn/ is the plural form of term /sābiq/ which means: ‘the one who precedes’ and if it says /mā kānū sābiqīn/ (they did not overreach) its concept is that ‘they could not escape from the domain of the Power of Allah with all possibilities they had and be saved from the punishment of Allah; but He annihilated them with abasement and humiliation at the same moment He decided.

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