So, it is like the saying of your people, which is a great and shameful difference, far from the truth, due to its confusion. This occurred to those before them. This is indicated by his saying, beginning with: "What has come to those..." And since the messengers were sent only in some of the past times and did not encompass all of them with action, he affirmed the preposition in his saying: "Before them" and generalized the negation with his saying: "From a messenger," meaning: from Allah. "Except they said..." And even some of them, with the approval of those who remained: "A sorcerer or a madman." This is because the messenger comes to them with what contradicts their accustomed beliefs, which their desires led them to. And desire is what necessitated this apparent contradiction for them, whether the word "or" is for detailing, as some of them said one thing and some said another, or it is for doubt; because the sorcerer may be clever and astute, bringing forth what many people are unable to do, while the madman is the opposite of that. Then he expressed astonishment at them by saying: