Surah 11. Hud, Ayah 97

Lit., "was not right-guided (rashid)". The short passage dealing with Pharaoh and his followers (verses {96-99}) connects with, and amplifies, the reference to the tribe of 'Ad, who "followed the bidding of every arrogant enemy of the truth" (verse {59} of this surah). Thus, the main point of this passage is the problem of immoral leadership and, arising from it, the problem of man's individual, moral responsibility for wrongs committed in obedience to a "higher authority". The Qur'an answers this question emphatically in the affirmative: the leader and the led are equally guilty, and none can be absolved of responsibility on the plea that he was but blindly following orders given by those above him. This indirect allusion to man's relative free will-i.e., his freedom of choice between right and wrong - fittingly concludes the stories of the earlier prophets and their wrongdoing communities as narrated in this surah.

Pharaoh is the type of the arrogant, selfish, and false leader, who poses as a power in rivalry with that of Allah. Such an attitude seems to attract unregenerate humanity, which falls a willing victim, in spite of the teaching and warning given by the men of Allah and the many moral and spiritual forces that beckon man towards Allah's Grace.