Note 81 — DICTIONARY OF ISLĀM. (continued 14)

The following somewhat dark and uncertain passage81 concerning Pharaoh has caused commentators great perplexity. It is stated that Pharaoh pursued the Israelites until actually drowning, when, confessing himself a Muslim, he was saved alive from the bottom of the sea, to be a “witness for ages to come.”82 But we find that it is merely a version of a Jewish fable: “Perceive the great power of repentance! Pharaoh, King of Egypt, uttered very wicked words—Who is the God whose voice I shall obey? (Exod. v. 2.) Yet as he repented, saying, ‘Who is like unto thee among the gods?’ (xv. 11) God saved him from death; for it saith, Almost had I stretched out my hands and destroyed; but God let him live, that he might declare his power and strength.”83