51 Preface وَنادىٰ فِرعَونُ في قَومِهِ قالَ يا قَومِ أَلَيسَ لي مُلكُ مِصرَ وَهٰذِهِ الأَنهارُ تَجري مِن تَحتي ۖ أَفَلا تُبصِرونَYusuf AliAnd Pharaoh proclaimed among his people, saying: “O my people! Does not the dominion of Egypt belong to me, (witness)1 these streams flowing underneath my (palace)? What! see ye not then?The waw here in Arabic is the Waw haliyah: the abundant streams from the Nile flowing beneath his palace being evidence of his power, prosperity, and sovereignty. The Nile made (and makes) Egypt, and the myth of the god Osiris was a compound of the myths of the Nile and the sun. The Pharaoh, therefore, as commanding the Nile, commanded the gods who personified Egypt. He boasted of water, and he perished in water,-a fitting punishment!