12 Preface كَذَّبَت قَبلَهُم قَومُ نوحٍ وَعادٌ وَفِرعَونُ ذُو الأَوتادِAli Quli QaraiBefore them Noah’s people impugned [their apostle] and [so did the people of] ʿĀd, and Pharaoh, the Impaler1 [of his victims], Lit.: ‘the one of stakes.’ According to several traditions, Pharaoh used to torture and execute his victims by piercing their bodies with stakes, or awtād (see Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 13, p. 136, from ʿIlal al-Sharāyiʿ, p. 161; vol. 71, p. 13; vol. 75, p. 403). Hence the epithet ‘dhiʾl-awtād,’ which occurs twice in the Qurʾān with reference to Pharaoh, refers to him as one who used to impale his victims. Other alternate explanations have been suggested for this epithet by the commentators, but they are not convincing.