Firawn's Empire of Oppression vs Allah's Plan of Justice

Firawn's Empire of Oppression vs Allah's Plan of Justice

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. My brothers and sisters, we live in an information overload time. Countless perspectives are being thrown onto us from different media outlets.

Everyone has their own perspective, but by the way, most of the media is giving you a state-centered perspective. A state-centered perspective. The fact that 33 or 34 percent carnage in Tel Aviv got more coverage, as compared to what is happening in Gaza, tells a lot about who is controlling our media.

But then comes social media, which claims relative freedom. They give also millions of perspectives. So many podcasters, so many YouTubers, each one has given their own perspective. But the moment you start speaking about Gaza, the moment you start speaking about Islam or Muslims, you will have to face censor bans.

Among all these perspectives — mainstream media outlets, YouTubers — when you open the Qur'an, the Qur'an also speaks about Fir'aun and Qarun and Haman. And today we are going to discuss that.

One of the mistakes which we do, as readers of the Qur'an, is we think: Candace Owens has a perspective, Tucker Carlson has a perspective, and the Qur'an has a perspective. That's a mistake — that's wrong. The Qur'an doesn't have a perspective, rather the Qur'an has THE perspective.

When the Qur'an talks about Fir'aun and Qarun and Haman, it's truth with a capital T. Fox News can be wrong, Tucker Carlson can be wrong, sometimes Al-Jazeera can be wrong, but when Allah speaks about something, as our Creator, it's truth with a capital T.

So with that, listen to these three ayat of Surat Al-Qasas — once you go back, see the translation, listen to the tafsir — ayah 4, 5, and 6 from Surat Al-Qasas. We are going to give a brief reflection on that insha'Allah. This is mentioning the strategy of Fir'aun and how Allah foiled that entire empire of Fir'aun and Haman.

The Context of Revelation

Allah begins with ayah 4. By the way, it is a sunnah of listening to the Qur'an — even Surat Al-Qasas, these ayat were revealed on Prophet Muhammad when he was in Mecca, when Muslims were very weak, when Abu Jahl and all these people were very powerful. Allah is giving these ayat to say: even though apparently Abu Jahl and the leaders of the Quraish are very powerful, eventually they will fall and eventually you will rise. So listen to this story and apply it in your life — this is the sunnah of listening to the Qur'an.

Ayah 4: The Playbook of Fir'aun

Fir'aun — whether 1.0 or 2.0 — claimed might on the earth. عَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ — You know what is عَلَا? He thought he was superior to others. His civilizational arrogance made him do all possible harm on the earth. He would flex his muscle against the weaker nations to maintain his might on the earth.

He used to think: I am above and beyond accountability. I can go attack this country, attack that country, because no one can hold me accountable. And when you think you are untouchable, then accountability disappears. Fir'aun had this civilizational arrogance.

I know what you are thinking right now. Come back to Surat Al-Qasas.

Step 1: Divide

Interestingly, I was reading Tafsir Ibn 'Ashur, التحرير والتنوير — he said something very interesting. He says Fir'aun is the leader of Egypt. Back in the days, Fir'aun is the leader of Egypt. Even if you are not from Egypt, you know this. Allah did not say إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ عَلَا فِي مِصْرَ — Allah says إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ عَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ. Why is that so? He pointed out that at that time — just google it once you go home — Ramesses II. Fir'aun at that time, his name was Ramesses II, and Musa was born. They were not in charge only of modern-day Egypt. They were in charge of an empire. Modern-day Syria, modern-day Libya, modern-day Sudan was all under this Fir'aun. So it was an entire empire with the most outstanding army and top finances. And they would maintain their might. They wouldn't worry about the carnage they would cause. They wouldn't worry about the orphans or the widows they would leave. All they wanted was to maintain their might and civilizational arrogance.

How would they maintain this might? Allah is telling us all these strategies but we are not learning. SubhanAllah. Listen to this.

وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا — He, in order to maintain his superiority on the earth, would divide the people of the earth into small, small groups. Why divide the people into small groups? Why invest so much in regime changes? Because obviously, if they are united, they can resist together against the superpower. So — divide them. And once you divide them, there will be mutual hostility among each group. Each group is busy fighting their immediate enemy. They cannot focus on the chief enemy. So there is a benefit for Fir'aun in dividing those small groups.

By the way, if you want to learn the modern tafsir of وَجَعَلَ أَهْلَهَا شِيَعًا — that Fir'aun, in order to maintain his might, would divide the people of the earth into small, small groups — go and read the book. I know we Muslims these days are not reading enough books. Go and read the book by Professor Lindsey, Professor of Political Science at Boston College. Her book is Covert Regime Change — not overt, covert regime change. And you are going to see the modern tafsir of how Fir'aun divides the people of the earth into small, small groups. Sometimes Fir'aun is going to assassinate a political leader who is a threat to the superpower. Sometimes they will initiate a regime change. They will make sure that they are destabilizing an entire part of the earth so that they can maintain their might.

Step 2: Marginalize

يَسْتَضْعِفُ طَائِفَةً مِّنْهُمْ — Once you divide the people, then you can easily marginalize and do zulm and oppression on one group, and the other group won't participate because everyone is protecting themselves and their self-interest. Everyone is worried about themselves because they are divided. يَسْتَضْعِفُ طَائِفَةً مِّنْهُمْ — then you can do whatever you want.

Then Fir'aun started doing zulm on one particular group — which is Bani Israel. By the way, take a pause here. It's very important for American Muslims. This is the story of Musa and Fir'aun. Go 400 years back, to the time of Yusuf A.S. — Yusuf A.S. was the reason why Bani Israel moved to Egypt with his entire family. They were working in government positions. They were very well respected for 400 years. Then this Fir'aun came and said: I have to take the power from you — even though you have been here for 400 years, you are immigrants. I have to give power back to the local Egyptians. And then he started doing zulm. So basically, this Fir'aun had an anti-immigrant mentality. Just putting things in perspective.

Step 3: Destroy and Dehumanize

يُذَبِّحُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ — Wallahi, I never thought in my life I was going to see the live tafsir of يُذَبِّحُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ in my Twitter feed. One of the zulms of Fir'aun was that he used to slaughter the babies — the male infants from Bani Israel. Why would he do this? And Allah is repeatedly mentioning this crime — in Al-Baqarah, in Al-A'raf, and here in Al-Qasas. Fir'aun would not just kill — يُذَبِّحُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ — it's not يَقْتُلُ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ. It's slaughtering, butchering, torture. Why would he do this? He wanted to leave a lesson for all those thinking about resistance. He wanted to make sure that no Musa would be born from this nation.

وَيَسْتَحْيِي نِسَاءَهُمْ — He would slaughter the baby boys, but he would spare the women. My brothers and sisters, are you listening? Allah is mentioning the torture of Fir'aun, and Allah is saying that sparing the women was a torture. Think about it. It's not in one place — it's mentioned in multiple places in the Qur'an. Because he would leave the women of Bani Israel not out of mercy, but for exploitation. Because what will happen when you are killing the boys and most of these women are left with no male guardians, no male protection, no family structures? They will be left vulnerable. And their vulnerability will be exploited and manipulated by the Fir'aun and Haman and Qarun of our time.

Yes, in our time, we have changed the language. We have beautified and glorified the language of autonomy and individualism. But this is the strategy of Fir'aun. The entire sentiment of "rescuing the brown women from the brown men" and then colonizing brown countries is very problematic. Very problematic.

إِنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ — Indeed, he was among the corruptors.

I was thinking about this — when his corruption was so obvious: oppressing women, slaughtering boys, dividing nations, regime changes — why did no one raise a voice? Why did no one say anything to him? You know why? Because Allah started with إِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ عَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ — he thought he was superior to accountability. "My race — I am superior to all of you. I can do whatever I want and you won't question me." That was his mindset.

If you look at this ayah, you will see the Pharaoh's playbook: Divide, Dehumanize, and Destroy. Allah is mentioning all of this in one ayah — dividing the people into small groups, dehumanizing by killing the boys and exploiting the women. And every 10–20 years we see this. Now we are seeing it more because of social media — because of what's happening in Gaza, Rafah, Jenin, and the West Bank. The same pattern happened in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria. The fact that 200 schools are being destroyed in Gaza, 26 hospitals are being annihilated, doctors are being martyred, journalists are gone — and yet some of us are concerned about human rights in Afghanistan. What is wrong with you? What is wrong with you?

Ayahs 5 & 6: Allah's Plan Against Fir'aun

The Qur'an is not just a book of stories. Allama Iqbal, one of the famous poets of India, said in the first line of his book Reconstruction: the Qur'an is not the book of ideas — philosophers have ideas. The Qur'an is the book of action.

Now ayahs 5 and 6 tell us what Allah was planning while Fir'aun was carrying out this genocide. While Fir'aun was dividing the people so they wouldn't resist together, killing the boys so no leader would rise, exploiting the women to show how vulnerable they were — while Fir'aun was doing all of this, Allah was planning to raise this nation up and give them leadership. Allah wanted to make them leaders even though Fir'aun wanted to make them slaves. Allah wanted to give them land even though Fir'aun wanted to take the land from them. Allah wanted to establish their authority in the land while Fir'aun wanted to strip them of it.

Whenever Fir'aun and Allah plan, even though with resources it seems like Fir'aun is winning — at the end of the day, Allah will win. Allah's planning will conquer everything. And that is our belief.

Then Allah says: وَنُرِيَ فِرْعَوْنَ وَهَامَانَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا يَحْذَرُونَ — I want to do this in front of Fir'aun. I want to do this in front of Haman. I want to do this in front of their armies. And by the way, armies doesn't only mean a physical army — media, Piers Morgan, podcast hosts, whatever it may be. مَّا كَانُوا يَحْذَرُونَ — I want to show them exactly what they were afraid of.

Think about it. Fir'aun and Haman with their super mighty army — what was the fear they had? Allah says they had some fear. That's why they were causing this bloodshed and this genocide. What was it they feared? When I combined all the tafsir and opinions, I found one answer: the revival of resistance. The breaking of chains. They are afraid that the propaganda machine is ending. The Ummah is waking up.

The fact that there are more bans on college protests, the fact that there is more censorship on Twitter and Facebook — this is evidence that the propaganda machine is ending. They are afraid. It's not only about Abdullah and Fatima anymore. Even David and Samantha are realizing what's happening. Media propaganda is not working. And Allah is showing them.

May Allah give us yaqeen. Ameen, Ya Rabb.

Our Responsibility as Muslims in America

Just quickly — these three ayahs from Surat Al-Qasas, ayah 4, 5, and 6, are not just telling us about the tyranny of Fir'aun and Haman. They are actually giving us a responsibility, my brothers and sisters.

Those of you who are citizens of this country — who have a blue passport. If you have a green card, if you are visa holders, then I'm not talking to you specifically. May Allah protect all of us. Ameen, Ya Rabb. Those of you who are citizens of this country — you have a huge, huge responsibility here.

Remember that you have a role to play to make an impact on the Ummah. You can make a call. You can write to your Senator, to Congress, to your local government officials. You cannot do this in certain Muslim-majority countries. But here, freedom of speech, the First Amendment, gives you that right — a legal right, within the legal framework. You can make an impact. You are sitting in the epicenter of most of the activities of the world.

Now you have two options. One is: come here and become a millionaire. Well, good for you — but you have not done anything unique. The entire world's money gets sucked into this country. But if you stay here and are good only to yourself, your family, and your immediate community — you have not thought larger than yourself.

Instead of assimilating, instead of blending in — because that did not work for the last few decades — and instead of isolating, you should be positively integrating into society. Making an impact at the Ummah level, using the legal framework.

Wallahi, I don't see any difference between us and the Musa who was raised in the castle of Pharaoh — he had the legal protection of the castle. We are like Ibrahim A.S. who was raised in the house of Azar, the idol manufacturer. We are like Yusuf who was raised in Egypt. We can make an impact. We are simply not realizing it.

Come out of the conveyor belt of life. Come out of the petty discussions we are having in our communities. Think larger than yourself.

May Allah give us all tawfiq and sadad. Ameen.