Third

Third: Sarkhi said:

Due to the importance and gravity of this issue, and in order to illustrate and establish the matter, there is no problem with identifying, highlighting, and confirming the definitive, divine Quranic truth: Pharaoh did not vocalize or say “I believe” when the sea was parted. His utterance and words of “I believe” were not linked to the miracle of the parting of the sea. In other words, the parting of the sea miracle was not the reason, impetus, or driving force that compelled Pharaoh to say “I believe”.

There are two issues that should be noted from these words:

1. Regarding the case that Pharaoh believed simply because he saw the parting of the sea miracle, it is very clear from my words, which Sarkhi quoted, that I did not say this. Perhaps envy blurred Sarkhi's vision, and he didn’t read: "and touched it with his hand". God Almighty said: {Or do they envy people for what God has given them of His bounty? But we had already given the family of Abraham the Scripture and wisdom and conferred upon them a great kingdom} Quran Chapter “The Women” 4:45.

2. Sarkhi also said that Pharaoh’s words “I believe” were not related to the parting of the sea miracle, and this divine miracle did not compel Pharaoh to say "I believe".

Sarkhi thinks what compelled Pharaoh to say “I believe” was the drowning catching up to him. Sarkhi does not differentiate between "drowning catching up to him" and "the drowning". Had he known the difference between the two, he would have realized that attributing Pharaoh's faith to drowning catching up to him means that the reason for Pharaoh's faith was the parting of the sea miracle. That is, Pharaoh’s faith came after touching the two mountains of water that were surrounding him and his soldiers and after he knew for certain that the parting of the sea was real, not magic, which is what he had accused Moses of in the past.

The difference between “drowning catching up to him” and “the drowning” is as follows: The drowning catching up to Pharaoh means that drowning is closing in on him and reaching him. In other words, the drowning event is coming close to Pharaoh but hasn’t occurred yet. Drowning means that the drowning is actually occurring. Do you understand now, Sarkhi, that up to the point of saying "I believe", the drowning had not happened yet, so the only reason remaining for why he said "I believe" was the miracle (the parting of the sea), which he touched with his hand, becoming certain that it was a miracle.

Moreover, what clearly shows that Sarkhi doesn’t differentiate between drowning catching up to him and the drowning is that he attributed the faith of Pharaoh to the drowning itself, as he said: “Rather, what compelled him to say ‘I believe’ was the drowning and drowning catching up to him, and the signs and indications of death.”

Here are Sarkhi’s questions and how he answered them:

– Did Pharaoh believe before the drowning, or was it before drowning caught up

to him?

– Did Pharaoh vocalize and say “I believe” before the drowning, or was it before

drowning caught up to him?

– Did Pharaoh believe before the drowning . . . then vocalize and say “I believe”

after the drowning?

. . . But we can say that he was oppressive, tyrannical, and unjust even after the

drowning caught up to him, remaining with these characteristics and in this

condition until he said “I believe” (Note that his words “I believe” came after the

drowning caught up to him, or after the drowning started to catch up).

… rather, what compelled him to say “I believe” was the drowning; the drowning

catching up to him; and the signs and indications of death.

As is very evident to anyone reading his words, Sarkhi doesn’t differentiate between drowning and the drowning catching up to him. Had he differentiated between the two, he would have realized that the drowning catching up happened as soon as Pharaoh and his soldiers descended to the seabed, where water had receded into two towering mountains, but before Pharaoh said “I believe”.

As for the drowning, it happened after Pharaoh said “I believe”. In other words, Pharaoh‘s words “I believe” were after the drowning catching up to him but before the drowning.