The Fate of Those who were Led Astray by the Arrogant
A particular character trait of the arrogant is their leading others, in addition to themselves, astray. From a verse of the Qur' an, we learn that they do so by "turning away arrogantly":
Among people there is one who argues about Allah without knowledge or guidance or any light-giving Book, turning away arrogantly, to misguide people from the Way of Allah. He will be disgraced in this world and on the Day of Rising We will make him taste the punishment of the Burning. (Surat al-Hajj, 8-9)
While the arrogant are sent to Hell, those who admired them, and thus, followed these insolent people, will also be cast into Hellfire. These are the people who obeyed the arrogant people because they admired their worldly qualities. Although not as arrogant as those who possessed "Pharaonic arrogance," those who followed in their footsteps lacked character and willpower. Another trait of theirs is their failure to put their trust in Allah, and their being driven solely by personal motives. The Qur' an mentions the people of the Pharaoh who were guilty of such vices:
Pharaoh called to his people, saying, "My people, does the kingdom of Egypt not belong to me? Do not all these rivers flow under my control? Do you not then see?" ... In that way he swayed his people and they succumbed to him. They were a people of deviators. (Surat az-Zukhruf, 51, 54)
Such people, who shut their eyes to all forms of violence and injustice, did not consider seeking refuge in their Lord and become His servants. On the Day of Judgment, they will recognise their mistake, but it is often too late.
When they stand before Allah, altogether to give an account of their deeds, those who were arrogant and those who followed them will argue with one another:
Those who are disbelievers say, "We will never believe in this Qur' an, nor in what came before it." If only you could see when the wrongdoers, standing in the presence of their Lord, cast accusations back and forth at one another! Those deemed weak will say to those deemed great, "Were it not for you, we would have been believers!" Those deemed great will say to those deemed weak, "Did we debar you from the guidance when it came to you? No, it is you who were evildoers." Those deemed weak will say to those deemed great, "No, it was your scheming night and day when you commanded us to reject Allah and assign equals to Him." But they will show their remorse when they see the punishment. We will put iron collars round the necks of those who disbelieve. Will they be repaid for anything but what they did? (Surah Saba' , 31-33)
As these verses also note, those who had become arrogant and those "deemed weak" will accuse one another, but it will be of no avail. In another verse, their situation is stated as follows:
The Fire, morning and night, to which they are exposed; and on the Day the Hour takes place: "Admit Pharaoh' s people to the harshest punishment!" When they are squabbling with one another in the Fire, the weak will say to those deemed great, "We were your followers, so why do you not relieve us of a portion of the Fire?" (Surah Ghafir, 46-47)
