“And he and his hosts waxed arrogant in the land without any right, believing that they will never have to return to Us! Eventually We seized him and his hosts and We flung them into the sea. So do see the end of the wrong-doers! And We made them leaders who invite people to the Fire. On the Day of Judgement they shall not find help from any quarter. We have made a curse to pursue them in this world, and on the Day of Judgement they shall be among the despised.”
(Al Qur’ān 28:39:42)
True greatness is only for Allah, the Lord of the universe. But Pharaoh and his armed forces considered themselves to be invested with greatness just because they had acquired a little domination over a small piece of land. They thought that they were not answerable to anyone. Acting upon this assumption, they behaved as though they were absolutely free to do whatever they pleased. However, here, Allah depicts their worthlessness. They thought they were big, but when the respite granted by Allah to mend themselves ended, they were thrown into the sea like rubbish.
They left behind a precedent of how one can perpetrate injustice, how one can obstinately persist in denying the Truth, clinging to their posture till the very end. Having led others to this terrible path, they had disappeared from the scene to face their woeful destiny, their weapons in opposition to the Truth of no avail to them. Their successors still followed in their footsteps, speedily heading towards the same dire end.