Then Allah seized him as a warning to this world as well as to the Hereafter.
Lord Allah did not punish Pharaoh as soon as he declared, “I am your highest Lord.” As explained in verses 10: 88-92, according to the direction of the Lord, Messenger Moses and his followers tried to leave Egypt that night to escape from Pharaoh. But Pharaoh and his soldiers, instead of allowing Allah’s servants to live anywhere on the earth, arrogantly followed them to turn them back to Egypt. Then Allah commanded Moses to strike the sea with his staff, and the sea parted into two, each becoming like great towering mountains, as told in verse 26: 63. Through the dry path between the two parts, Moses and his followers passed to the other side. While Pharaoh and his soldiers were trying to pass through that path, Allah rejoined the two parts to their previous condition, and they drowned in the sea. When Pharaoh’s Spirit reached his throat, he pleaded to the Lord: “I believed in the Lord in whom Moses and the Children of Israel believed, and I have become among those who submitted all to the Lord.” Then Allah replied: “Ah, is it now!? Verily, you disobeyed before, and you were among the mischief-makers. Today We will save your body only so that it should be a sign for the successors; and indeed, many among the people are heedless about Our signs.” See explanation 44: 23-24 and 68: 44-45.