Al A‘rāf

فَانْتَقَمْنَا مِنْهُمْ فَاَغْرَقْنَاهُمْ فِي الْيَمِّ بِاَنَّهُمْ كَذَّبُوا بِاَيَاتِنَا وَكَانُوا عَنْهَا غَافِلِينَ

136 . “So We took vengeance on them and drowned them in the sea, because they belied Our Signs and were heedless of them.”

The Arabic term /’intiqām/ with the meaning of ‘vengeance’, in this verse, means ‘punishment’, and it does not mean ‘grudge’ or ‘rancour’ here. The word /yam/ in the old Egyptian language was used for a sea or a river. Since the story here refers to Egypt, the same old word has been used in this verse of the Qur’ān.¹ However, it should be noted that Allah is also ‘taker of vengeance’. The verse says:

Another point is that the main source of misfortunes and calamities is inside the entities of ourselves, and negligence brings a heavy compensation for us. The holy verse continues saying: