Faakhathnahu wajunoodahu fanabathnahum fee alyammi wahuwa muleem (surah zariyat: 40)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(51:40) So We seized him and his hosts, and cast them into the sea. He became an object of much blame. *38

Fa akhaznaahu wa junoo dahoo fanabaznaahum fil yammi wa huwa muleem

*38) A whole history has been compressed into this brief sentence. To understand it well one should know that Pharaoh was the absolute ruler of the greatest centre of civilization and culture of the world in those days and the people of the adjoining lands were overawed by his power and might. Obviously, when he might have sunk suddenly one day in the sea along with his armies, the event must have become well known not only in Egypt but among aII the neighboring nations as well. At this, except for those whose kith and kin had sunk, there was no one else among their own people, or in the other nations of the world who would mourn them or write an elegy on them, or would at least express sorrow and say that good and noble people had become a victim of the disaster. Instead of this, as the world had become fed up with their wickedness and injustices, every person heaved a sigh of relief at their exemplary fate, everyone cursed them, and anyone who heard this news exclaimed that the wicked people had deserved the fate justly. In Surah Ad-Dukhan the same thing has been expressed, thus: "Then neither did the heavens weep on them nor the earth." (For explanation, see E.N. 26 of Surah Ad-Dukhan).