Tafseer of The Spoils of War · Al-Anfaal · 8:54
[Theirs is] like the custom of the people of Pharaoh and of those before them. They denied the signs of their Lord, so We destroyed them for their sins, and We drowned the people of Pharaoh. And all [of them] were wrongdoers.
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 statement concerning the explanation of His word: كَدَأْبِ آلِ فِرْعَوْنَ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِ رَبِّهِمْ فَأَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ بِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَأَغْرَقْنَا آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَكُلٌّ كَانُوا ظَالِمِينَ (54) ("Like the way of the people of Pharaoh and of those who were before them: they denied the signs of their Lord, so We destroyed them for their sins and drowned the people of Pharaoh; and all of them were wrongdoers" (8:54)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: These polytheists (mushrikīn), who ascribed partners to Allah and who were killed at Badr, changed the favor of their Lord which He had granted them — namely, that He had sent Muḥammad ﷺ from among them and in their presence to call them to right guidance — by denying him and waging war against him. كَدَأْبِ آلِ فِرْعَوْنَ ("like the way of the people of Pharaoh"), that is to say: like the custom of the people of Pharaoh, their conduct and their deed toward Moses, the prophet of Allah, in their denial of him and their striving to wage war against him, and like the custom of the communities who were before them, who denied their messengers, and their conduct. فَأَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ بِذُنُوبِهِمْ ("so We destroyed them for their sins"), some of them by the earthquake, some by being swallowed up into the earth, and some by the wind. وَأَغْرَقْنَا آلَ فِرْعَوْنَ ("and the people of Pharaoh We drowned") in the sea. وَكُلٌّ كَانُوا ظَالِمِينَ ("and all of them were wrongdoers"), He says: all these communities whom We destroyed did that which was not permitted for them to do, namely to deny their messengers from Allah and to reject His signs. Thus too did We destroy these whom We destroyed at Badr, when they changed the favor of Allah toward them, by killing them with the sword, and We humiliated some of them through capture and captivity (sabī).
