Ta-Ha 79: Pharaoh led astray his people and did not lead them to the right path.

If to verse 79 we pay a little attention, a very meaningful verse. What does it say? Pharaoh led his people astray, he did not guide them to the right path.

Where is the subtle point here?

When I read this verse, the people of our time come before my eyes. People who say they are Muslim, who pray, who cover themselves, because they could not satisfy the desires of their nafs in their youth, strip their children stark naked and proudly parade them around beside them. She herself is covered, but her child is stark naked.

Now, just as Pharaoh led his people astray, that mother and father lead those children astray. Will that child ever cover up again? And blessed people, you are Muslim. Where and how a person, a Muslim person, is to dress, that their clothes are to be loose, that the contours are not to show, that if a woman, she is to dress up to her brows, her chin, her wrists, down to her heels. And though you walk around in a chador, does the stark-naked child beside you suit you? So you could not live what you desired in your youth, and by parading those children around like this, you satisfy your nafs. Just so, Pharaoh too, out of his pride and arrogance and his claim to divinity, led his people astray.

Now if I draw a link between these two, am I wrong to draw it? Yes, one was a disbeliever.

He went as far as claiming godhood. He fell into shirk. We do not call this Muslim a disbeliever, but between Pharaoh's way and this person's way what is the difference? This one too leads the youth astray. Leads astray those entrusted to them. The same thing. One led astray the people in his state. The other led astray the people in his family. The head of the family is the state anyway. And people in families, sixty or seventy percent, stark naked, in very tight clothes, have taken to the streets. May Allah protect us. In this situation, when you compare this verse with the state of this Muslim, my heart truly weeps. My heart weeps.

Yes.

Pharaoh, pursuing a claim to godhood, led his people away from the right path. People in positions of command, before Allah Almighty, for what they do in the sight of other people, for the mistakes or good deeds they commit, two rewards or two sins is what they receive. Didn't everyone receive one sin? No. Position of command, pay attention. Those in positions of command. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says so. What does he say?

When they sent letters to kings, after introducing himself: Your accepting Islam — what does he say? Since your subjects also follow you, you will (?) two. If you still persist in not entering Islam, since your subjects (?) will not enter Islam either, you will receive two sins, he says. Yes. And here, what do we say?

Pharaoh, pursuing a claim to godhood, led his people away from the right path. People in positions of command, before Allah Almighty, for what they do in the sight of other people, for the mistakes or good deeds they commit, receive two rewards or two sins. Because they are at the head of a people and are that people's rulers, as long as people do not act on the path they show, they are punished. So, something their people do not want — when the rulers at their head force them into it according to their own wishes, they take on these people's sins as well. Now it becomes clear how they receive sin.

When the Prophet (peace be upon him) sent envoys to kings and heads of state to convey the religion of Islam, he addressed them: I, Muhammad, am the servant and Messenger of Allah. If you accept Islam, you earn two rewards for what you do in Allah's religion. But if you do not accept Islam and continue your bad conduct, two sins you will receive. For since your people fear you and are wary of you, what you do they will do.

So he says. Therefore Pharaoh too, because he drove his subjects to evil, also bore the sins of his people. Pharaoh's subjects too, since the covenants they had given earlier at Kalu Bala were like Pharaoh's, followed Pharaoh. The rulers at their head receiving two sins:

on the Day of Judgment, when these people see the punishment, they will blame the superiors at their head, saying that they forcibly drove them to denial. Moreover, since they hindered the worship of those among them who would come to faith, the sins will be doubled. In fact, every person's deeds depend on their intention. Even if a person is forced into evil, if his intention is not to do it and he grieves over what he did and repents to Allah, the judgment of this belongs to Allah. Our Lord says in a verse: If they want to forcibly turn you from your religion, with your tongue — with your tongue, He says — deny, but with your heart affirm your Lord, He says.

Yes. So the denial of the tongue is not taken into account. Then what? Intention. Intention. Yes.

At Kalu Bala, in line with the covenant they gave, people chose, according to their own minds and characters, suitable times themselves. So that their life in this world does not turn into darkness and so that they can enjoy life, and since people with the same mindset get along better among themselves, they choose the times they want themselves and at the same times come into this world. They give help to the taghuts at their head. Therefore Allah Almighty says: As you are, such rulers you bring over yourselves, He says. It is not Allah who brings these rulers over people, but people — because they share the understanding of these taghuts — who bring these rulers over themselves on their own. Pharaoh too was a taghut.

He both denied Allah, declared his own self a god, and led his people astray from the right path. Therefore he could not guide his people to the right path. Yes. Let us not say he could not guide; he did not guide. Out of his nafs.