12 Preface كَذَّبَت قَبلَهُم قَومُ نوحٍ وَعادٌ وَفِرعَونُ ذُو الأَوتادِYusuf AliBefore them (were many who) rejected messengers,-1 the people of Noah, and ‘Ād, and Pharaoh, the Lord of Stakes,2In their day, Noah’s contemporaries, or ‘Ād and Thamūd, so frequently mentioned, or Pharaoh the mighty king of Egypt, or the people to whom Lot was sent (Cf. 37:75-82; 7:65-79, 7:103-137, 7:80-84) were examples of arrogance and rebellion against God: they rejected the divine Message brought by their messengers, and they all came to an evil end. Will not their posterity learn their lesson?The title of Pharaoh, “Lord of the Stakes”, denotes power and arrogance, in all or any of the following ways: (1) the stake makes a tent firm and stable, and is a symbol of firmness and stability; (2) many stakes mean a large camp and a numerous army to fight; (3) impaling with stakes was a cruel punishment resorted to by the Pharaohs in arrogant pride of power.