Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:11
[Theirs is] like the custom of the people of Pharaoh and those before them. They denied Our signs, so Allah seized them for their sins. And Allah is severe in penalty.
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 His word: كَدَأْبِ آلِ فِرْعَوْنَ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا فَأَخَذَهُمُ اللَّهُ بِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ (11) ("After the manner of Pharaoh's people and of those before them: they denied Our signs, so Allah seized them on account of their sins, and Allah is severe in punishment").
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by this: verily, those who disbelieve — neither their possessions nor their children will avail them anything against Allah when Our punishment befalls them, like the constant practice of Pharaoh's people and their custom — "and those before them," of the nations who denied Our signs, whereupon We seized them on account of their sins and destroyed them when they denied Our signs, so that neither their possessions nor their children availed them anything against Allah when Our severe punishment came upon them, like those who were hastened to the punishment on account of their denial of their Lord before Pharaoh's people: the people of Nūḥ, the people of Hūd, the people of Lūṭ, and their like.
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The exegetes differed concerning the explanation of His word: "after the manner (daʾb) of Pharaoh's people."
Some of them said: its meaning is: like their constant practice (sunna).
Mention of who said that:
6659 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ concerning His word: "after the manner of Pharaoh's people," he says: like their constant practice.
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And some of them said: its meaning is: like their deed (ʿamal).
Mention of who said that:
6660 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us = and al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us = both of them, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "after the manner of Pharaoh's people," he said: like the deed of Pharaoh's people.
6661 - Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Juwaybir related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His word: "after the manner of Pharaoh's people," he said: like the deed of Pharaoh's people.
6662 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "after the manner of Pharaoh's people," he said: like their doing, like their denying when they denied the messengers = and he recited Allah's word: مِثْلَ دَأْبِ قَوْمِ نُوحٍ [Sūrat Ghāfir: 31] ("like the manner of the people of Nūḥ"), namely that there befalls you the same as befell them of the punishment of Allah. He said: the daʾb is the deed.
6663 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Tumayla Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥamza, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of ʿIkrima and Mujāhid concerning His word: "after the manner of Pharaoh's people," he said: like the doing of Pharaoh's people, like the condition of Pharaoh's people.
6664 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb, he said: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His word: "after the manner of Pharaoh's people," he said: like the work of Pharaoh's people.
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And others said: its meaning is: like the denial of Pharaoh's people.
Mention of who said that:
6665 - Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "after the manner of Pharaoh's people and of those before them: they denied Our signs, so Allah seized them on account of their sins," he mentioned those who disbelieved and the deeds of their denial, equal to the denial of those before them in repudiation and denial.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The origin of "al-daʾb" is from: "daʾabtu fī l-amri daʾban," when one applies himself unremittingly to a work and wearies himself in it. Then the Arabs transferred its meaning to: the matter, the affair, and the custom, as Imruʾ al-Qays ibn Ḥujr said:
And indeed, my cure is a shed tear — is there, at an effaced dwelling, anything to weep over?
As was your custom with Umm al-Ḥuwayrith before her, and her neighbor Umm al-Rabāb in Maʾsal.
He means by his word "ka-daʾbika": like your affair, your matter, and your doing. Of that one says: "this is my custom (daʾb) and your custom forever," by which he means: my doing and your doing, my matter and your matter, my condition and your condition. Of that one says: "daʾabtu duʾūban wa-daʾban." And it has been related on the authority of the Arabs, heard by transmission: "daʾabtu daʾaban," with strengthening and movement of the hamza, as is said: "hādhā shaʿarun wa-naharun," where the second letter moves because it is a letter of the six [guttural letters]. Thus "al-daʾb" was assimilated to it, since its second letter is one of the six letters, as the poet said:
He has a sandal whose smell does not attract the dog, and when it is placed among the companies, it is smelled for its odor.
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As for His word: "and Allah is severe in punishment," by it He means: and Allah is severe in His punishment for whoever was disbelieving in Him and denied His messengers after the proof had been established against him.
