His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿They said, 'We will never prefer you over what has come to us of the clear proofs and over Him who created us. So decree whatever you are to decree. Your decree is only in this worldly life.'﴾ ﴿Indeed, we have believed in our Lord so that He may forgive us our sins and what you compelled us to do of magic. And Allah is better and everlasting.﴾

The magicians said to Pharaoh when he called them: ﴿We will never prefer you﴾, meaning: we will not favor you and we will favor safety from you over what we have seen of the proof of Allah, the Exalted, and His clear signs, and over Him who created us. This is according to the statement of a group that the waw in His saying: "and over Him" is a conjunction. A faction said: it is the waw of swearing. And "who created us" means: created us and invented us. So do as you wish, O Pharaoh. Your decree is only in this worldly life, and the Hereafter is beyond that for us with bliss and for you with punishment.

And these magicians, the people differed whether Pharaoh's threat was executed upon them. A group said: he crucified them on the trunks as he said, and the people became magicians in the morning and martyrs in the evening by the grace of Allah and His mercy. And a faction said: Pharaoh did not do that, and Allah, the Exalted, had promised Moses, peace be upon him, that he and those with him would be the victorious.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And all of this is possible. The crucifixion of the magicians and the cutting off of their hands does not negate that Moses, peace be upon him, and those with him prevailed except in the apparent generality, and the separation from that is clear.

And His saying: ﴿and what you compelled us to do of magic﴾, a group said: they meant what you compelled them to do in opposition to Moses, peace be upon him, and what you forced them to do of that. And a faction said: rather, Pharaoh had long ago taken the children of the people to teach them magic and compelled them to do that, so the magicians referred to that. And their saying: ﴿And Allah is better and everlasting﴾ is a response to His saying: ﴿Which of us is more severe in punishment and more lasting?﴾ [Ta-Ha: 71].