al-Ghāfir

وَقَالَ فِرْعَوْنُ يَا هَامَانُ ابْنِ لِي صَرْحاً لَعَلِّي أَبْلُغُ الْأَسْبَابَ

أَسْبَابَ السَّمَاوَاتِ فَأَطَّلِعَ إِلَی إِلَهِ مُوسَی وَإِنِّي لَأَظُنُّهُ كَاذِباً وَكَذَلِكَ زُيِّنَ لِفِرْعَوْنَ سُوءُ عَمَلِهِ وَصُدَّ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ وَمَا كَيْدُ فِرْعَوْنَ إِلَّا فِي تَبَابٍ

36. And Pharaoh said: “O Haman! Build a tower for me so that I may arrive at the ways,
37. “The ways of [ascending] the heavens and I may look upon the God of Moses: Indeed, I regard him a liar.” Thus it was made fair, in Pharaoh’s eyes, the evil of his deeds and he was impeded from [treading] the [Straight] Path; and the plot of Pharaoh led to nothing but loss and perdition.

The word sarh designates “lofty edifice” visible from afar and tasrih indicates “declaration, clear statement.” The word tabab is used in the sense of “continuity in incurring loss.” Materialists regard everything in terms of materiality. Pharaoh imagined that God was in the heavens and the way to knowing Him was only through the senses, like vision:

Though Pharaoh was impressed by the words of the believing man of his family to avoid slaying Moses (as), but he was still vain and arrogant and he failed to make him submit to Truth, since the arrogant man did not deserve such submission; as a consequence of which he proceeded with his mischievous measures and ordered that a lofty tower be built for ascending to the heavens and finding intelligence concerning Moses’ (as) God, as it is reflected in the blessed Verse,

Was Pharaoh so ignorant that he thought Moses’ (as) God was in the heavens and he could ascend to the heavens through the construction of a lofty edifice whose height was nothing compared to the mountains? He apparently took such measure to achieve a number of goals. Firstly, he intended to preoccupy people with something other than Moses’ (as) Prophethood and the uprising of the Children of Israel. Construction of such lofty edifice which according to a number of Qur’anic exegets was supposed to employ fifty thousand architects, masons, and construction workers on a vast site could overshadow other issues and the loftier the tower, the more attention it could attract.

Then people would talk about it and defeating sorcerers by Moses (as) could temporarily slip into oblivion. Secondly, he aspired to bear financial assistance to laborers and provide them with at least a temporary employment for the unemployed so that they may consign to oblivion his wrong doings and people become more economically dependent on his treasury.

Thirdly, following the completion of construction, he planned to ascend it and take a glance at the sky, probably shoot an arrow, return to people and deceive them by saying that Moses’ (as) claims were baseless, proceed with your affairs and rest assured! It is worthy of note that he knew that his lofty edifice could not be taller than mountains and there would be no difference in looking at the sky from the top of the edifice or mountains or from the plains.

It is also noteworthy that through ordering the construction of such lofty edifice, he took a step backwards by saying that he intended to investigate about God of Moses (as). By saying:

he descended from certitude to doubt. The sentence

reveals that the main reason lying behind Pharaoh’s error was the embellishment of his evil deeds in his eyes which stemmed from his arrogance and vanity. The consequence of his vanity and arrogance was that he went astray from the Path of Truth. In the third stage, the total defeat of his plans is declared. Three brief but terse clauses suffice to express the truth. Certainly, such political stratagems may impress people in the short run; however, in the long run, total defeat is the consequence of such stratagems.

According to a number of traditions, Haman continued the construction of Pharaoh’s tower such that strong winds impeded the process. He came to Pharaoh and said unto him:

“We cannot construct it loftier than this.”

A strong wind blew before long and the edifice collapsed.⁷