Question: Pharaoh's repentance in the face of death?
According to Sura 10:90-92, Pharaoh repented "in the sight of death" and was saved. But Sura 4:18 says that such a thing can't happen.
I am actually not sure what it means when Allah said in response to his repentance and confession of faith that "This day shall We save you in your body, ..."
Compare how the following translations render 10:92:
A.J. ARBERRY: So today We shall deliver thee WITH thy body ...
YUSUF ALI: This day shall We save thee IN the body ...
PICKTHALL: But this day We save thee IN thy body ...
DARYABADI: So this day We deliver you IN your body ...
SHAKIR: But We will this day deliver you WITH your body ...
SAHEEH INTERNATIONAL TRANSLATION: So today We will save you IN body ...
T.B. IRVING: However today We will preserve you IN your body ...
SHER ALI: So this day WE will save thee IN thy body alone ...
E.H. PALMER: but to-day we will save thee IN thy body ...
Even Muhammad Asad, who renders the verse as "We saved only thy body", admits in a footnote:
Lit. "We saved thee IN thy body" ... (Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Qur'an [Dar al-Andalus Limited, 3 Library Ramp, Gibraltar 1993], p. 306, fn. 112)
It is obvious from the consensus of all these translations that the Arabic text is saying that Allah saved more than simply Pharaoh’s body.
10:100 does say that "no soul can believe, except by the Will of Allah" and verse 103 affirms that "This is it fitting on Our part that We should deliver those who believe!" And in 10:90 Pharaoh clearly confesses "I believe that there is no god except Him whom the Children of Israel believe in: I am of those who submit." So, according to 100 and 103 this was a work of Allah and he will deliver him. But 4:18 says this is impossible.
But if this cannot be eternal deliverance from the judgment, then "as it seems" maybe it is deliverance from the drowning? I.e. physical deliverance? But this doesn't fit either, because Sura 17:103 makes clear that Pharaoh was indeed drowned and no repentance is indicated in this passage.
Answer: It is clear from 10:90-10:92 of asserted facts:
10:90: Pharoah only submitted when he was drowning, which is a submission that is not accepted by God as well stated in Islam.
10:91: Asserts God questioning him Ah now--. Though there is no dispute about the fate of Pharoah is hell.
10:92 Saving one body does not mean his survival but more likely that his body did not dissolve in water but came out to the coast to be a sign to the Egyptian at that time of the golry of the God of Israel and possibly to our date.
10:90 We took the Children of Israel across the sea: Pharaoh and his hosts followed them in insolence and spite. At length, when overwhelmed with the flood, he said: "I believe that there is no god except Him Whom the Children of Israel believe in: I am of those who submit (to Allah in Islam)." وَجَاوَزْنَا بِبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ الْبَحْرَ فَأَتْبَعَهُمْ فِرْعَوْنُ وَجُنُودُهُ بَغْيًا وَعَدْوًا حَتَّى إِذَا أَدْرَكَهُ الْغَرَقُ قَالَ آمَنتُ أَنَّهُ لا إِلِـهَ إِلاَّ الَّذِي آمَنَتْ بِهِ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ وَأَنَاْ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ
10:91 (It was said to him): "Ah now!- But a little while before, wast thou in rebellion!- and thou didst mischief (and violence)! آلآنَ وَقَدْ عَصَيْتَ قَبْلُ وَكُنتَ مِنَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ
10:92 "This day shall We save thee in the body, that thou mayest be a sign to those who come after thee! but verily, many among mankind are heedless of Our Signs!" فَالْيَوْمَ نُنَجِّيكَ بِبَدَنِكَ لِتَكُونَ لِمَنْ خَلْفَكَ آيَةً وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنَ النَّاسِ عَنْ آيَاتِنَا لَغَافِلُونَ
Verses collected from www.islamicity.com translation to Yusuf Ali.
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