Al-A'raf 136: Because they denied Our verses and because they were in ignorance about them, they have taken revenge (from themselves) and drowned in the sea.

Because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them, they too took revenge on their own selves and in the sea they drowned. Now, this verse has been explained wrongly; one of the wrongly explained verses is in Surah Al-A'raf. Now, what does it say here?

In verse 136.

"So We, because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them, took revenge on them," it says. Allah takes revenge on no one. I may take revenge on someone, or you may take revenge on me. Let us say we are people on the same level, or we are human. But Allah does not hold His creatures equal to His essence, take them as counterparts, descend to the same level as them, and take revenge on them. Taking revenge does not befit Allah. Revenge means something like: you did this, so I will do this to you. Whereas Allah Almighty, with His attribute of justice, takes everyone to account for the decisions they made with their own partial free will, for the rewards and sins they earned, and Allah, the judge of judges, deals with them justly according to the deeds they brought about.

So every soul, when it wrongs itself, takes revenge on its own self. That is, by dragging itself into punishment. Yes.

"Because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them, they too took revenge on their own selves and drowned in the sea," it says. Because this disbelieving people denied Allah and the signs and were heedless of them, Allah drowned them in the Red Sea. In verse 92 of Surah Yunus, Allah Almighty says the same. What does He say? Now, let us see, 92.

It would be better if we read the verse from here. "Today," it says, "We will leave your lifeless body, your lifeless body, as a lesson for the worlds," it says. Yes.

Surah Yunus, 92. "O Pharaoh, so that you may be a lesson to those who come after you, today We will save your body lifeless. And indeed many of the people are truly heedless of Our signs." Yes. In the face of so many miracles, people truly are heedless of Allah's signs.

Because this disbelieving people denied Allah and the signs and were heedless of them, Allah drowned them in the Red Sea. Pharaoh with his army catches up with Moses at the Red Sea. Seeing this, the Children of Israel are afraid. Moses strikes the sea with his staff and the sea parts in two. A passage appears. They begin to make their way through the sea, between the split waters. Seeing this, Pharaoh, behind Moses, with his army, in the split waters of the sea, along the path Moses took inside, drives his horses after them. Meanwhile Moses and the Children of Israel have crossed to the other side.

Thereupon the sea closes, and Pharaoh and his army perish there. Allah showed this event to the worlds as an example. Recently Pharaoh was found in the Red Sea and taken to a museum in England. Last lesson I showed you a picture of Pharaoh.