Some punishments end when a people are destroyed. Others last longer than the people do. The Holy Quran names two nations whose story did not end when they fell. One is ʿĀd, the people of Hud, who lived in the south of Arabia, in what is now Yemen. The other is Pharaoh and his chiefs, who rejected Moses(as) . The Quran describes both in almost the same words. A curse was made to follow them in this world and on the Day of Resurrection.
About ʿĀd, Allah says:
“Wa utbiʿū fī hādhihid-dunyā laʿnatan wa yawmal-qiyāmah. Alā inna ʿĀdan kafarū rabbahum. Alā buʿdan li-ʿĀdin qawmi Hūd.”
This means:
“And a curse was made to follow them in this world, and on the Day of Resurrection. Behold! the tribe of ʿAd behaved ungratefully to their Lord. Behold! cursed are ʿAd, the people of Hud!” (Hud 11:61).
Their sin is stated plainly. They were ungrateful to their Lord. The word buʿd means distance, and that is what a curse is: being kept far from the mercy of Allah.
Pharaoh’s people had a different failing. Moses(as) came to them “with Our Signs and manifest authority.” Yet “they followed the command of Pharaoh, and the command of Pharaoh was not at all rightful” (Hud 11:97–98). They gave their conscience to a tyrant. Since he led them in this life, he will lead them in the next:
“He will go before his people on the Day of Resurrection and will bring them down into the Fire, even as cattle are brought to a watering place. And evil is the watering place arrived at” (Hud 11:99).
Then comes the same sentence that was spoken about ʿĀd:
“Wa utbiʿū fī hādhihī laʿnatan wa yawmal-qiyāmah. Biʾsar-rifdul-marfūd.”
“And a curse was made to follow them in this life and on the Day of Resurrection. Evil is the gift which shall be given them” (Hud 11:100). They hoped for rewards from Pharaoh. The only gift they get is a curse. Surah Al-Qasas confirms it:
“Wa atbaʿnāhum fī hādhihid-dunyā laʿnatan, wa yawmal-qiyāmati hum minal-maqbūḥīn.”
“And We caused them to be followed by a curse in this world; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be among those deprived of all good” (Al-Qasas 28:43).
The Promised Messiah(as) referred to the verse about Pharaoh’s leading of his people on 11 April 1908 he was explaining that God Himself respects people’s different ranks. He pointed out that God commanded Moses(as) to show gentleness to Pharaoh, while the Holy Prophet(sa) was told to be firm with the hypocrites and disbelievers. He then related the view of Ibn ʿArabi, who wrote that God knew Pharaoh would finally say, “Āmantu,” meaning “I believe.” Ibn ʿArabi added that the Quran does not say Pharaoh himself will enter Hell. It says only:
“Yaqdumu qawmahu yawmal-qiyāmati fa-awradahumun-nār.”
This means he will go before his people on the Day of Resurrection and lead them to the Fire (Malfuzat, Volume X, page 290 and page 291; Urdu: Malfuzat, Volume 10, page 194). The Promised Messiah(as) reports this as Ibn ʿArabi’s view. He does not give a ruling of his own. Even so, the lesson of the verse stands. A people who follow a wrongful command are led by that command to the Fire.
How does a curse follow a people in this world? Their names become warnings. Every generation that recites the Quran remembers them. Their ruins are witnesses too.
“That is of the tidings of the ruined cities, We relate it to thee. Of them some are standing and some have been mown down like the harvest” (Hud 11:101).
The two stories show two forms of one failure. ʿĀd refused to be grateful for what they had been given. Pharaoh’s people handed their judgment to a false master. Both turned away from their Lord, and the distance they chose stayed with them. So the question comes back to us. Do we give thanks for what we have, and whose command do we really follow?