Tafseer of Jonas · Yunus · 10:91
Now? And you had disobeyed [Him] before and were of the corrupters?
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: آلْآنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ قَبْلُ وَكُنْتَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ (Now? While before you were disobedient and were among the corrupters.) (10:91)
Abū Jaʿfar says: Allah, the Exalted, speaks here — while making known to Pharaoh the ugliness of his conduct during his life and his wrongdoing against himself during his health, through his persistence in his arrogance and his disobedience to his Lord — at the moment when Pharaoh sought his refuge in Him in the state in which His wrath had descended upon him and His punishment had struck him, seeking refuge with Him from the punishment that had seized him; when the waves of the sea had already risen above him and the terrors of death had enveloped him — after he had called out: "I believe that there is no god except the One in Whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am among the Muslims" — to him who is submitted to Him in humiliation, who professes the ʿubūdiyya (servitude/bondservice) to Him —:
"Now you profess before Allah the ʿubūdiyya, and you give yourself over to Him in humiliation, and you ascribe to Him the ulūhiyya (godhood) purely — while before you were disobedient to Him, before His vengeance descended upon you, by which you provoked His wrath against yourself; and you were among the corrupters on the earth, those who turned others away from His path? Why then did you not — while you were still in deliberation and the door of repentance stood open for you — profess what you now confess?"
