Page 54 - The Pains of the False World

THE PAINS OF THE FALSE WORLD

wed Pharaoh's command but Pharaoh's command was not
rightly guided. He will go ahead of his people on the Day of
Resurrection and lead them down into the Fire. What an
evil watering-hole to be led to!" (Surat al-Hud, 97-98), Allah
reveals how on the Judgement Day Pharaoh will lead his pe-
ople to the flames.
The common characteristic between Pharaoh—a major
d e t e r rent lesson for all the peoples that have come after

him—and Qarun is that they possessed great wealth but used
it unwisely, treading not on Allah's path but on satan's. As a
result, both were punished by Allah. That is because nothing
people possess in the life of this world, neither their wealth
nor their close friends nor their status in society, can save
them from Allah's retribution in this world or the next. For
that reason, all the effort people make to deny the truth me-
rely rebounds against their own selves. In the Qur'an, A l l a h
reveals that prominent affluent people who become spoiled
in their well-being, such as Pharaoh and Qarun, actually only
succeed in establishing an order which works against them-
selves:

And likewise in every city We set up its greatest wrong -
doers to plot in it. They plot against themselves alone,
but they are not aware of it. (Surat al- An'am, 123)
Qarun, who boasted of his wealth and property and grew
proud against Allah, also suffered a terrible defeat. All that he
owned availed him nothing. Qarun's position is re v e a l e d
thus in the Qur'an:
He [Qarun] said: "I have only been given it because of

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