His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So when Our signs came to them clear, they said, 'This is evident magic.'" And they denied it, while their souls were certain of it, out of injustice and arrogance. So look how was the end of the corrupters.

The pronoun in His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "came to them" refers to Pharaoh and his people. And "clear" means: with clarity and visibility. This is similar to their saying: 'A fasting day,' and 'a standing night and a sleeping one.' And Qatadah and Al-Hasan read: "clear" with the opening of the meem and the saad.

The apparent meaning of His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And they denied it, while their souls were certain of it, out of injustice and arrogance" indicates the occurrence of disbelief out of stubbornness. There is a matter here with two opinions: Is it permissible for it to happen or not? One group permitted it and said: It is permissible for a man to be knowledgeable yet deny out of stubbornness and die upon his knowledge and denial. Thus, he is in the ruling of the disbeliever who is eternally in Hell. They said: This is the ruling of Iblis and the ruling of Huyayy ibn Akhtab and his brother according to what has been narrated about them.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: If this example is opposed, suppose a person for whom this is permissible. Another group said: It is not valid for two reasons: One is that this cannot occur from a rational person, and the other is that knowledge necessitates that it settles in the heart, and that is faith. The ruling of disbelief cannot be attached to it except by having disbelief settle in the heart. It is not valid for opposites to coexist in one place. They said: This resembles the knowledgeable denier being stripped of that knowledge upon meeting and having disbelief settle in its place.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: What appears to me in this verse and what follows it is that these disbelievers, when they looked at the signs of Musa, were given their saying: 'Indeed, this is not within the power of humans.' And they became certain that it was from Allah, exalted and majestic is He. During this time, envy overcomes them, and they cling to suspicions that it is magic and other than that until that certainty is stripped away or repelled. Its ruling is like that of the one who is stripped in the necessity of their punishment.

And "injustice" means: without deserving denial, and "arrogance" on the earth is the greatest affliction for its seeker. Allah, exalted and majestic is He, said: "That is the abode of the Hereafter, which We make for those who do not desire arrogance on the earth nor corruption." Then He expressed astonishment at the end of the corruptors, the people of Pharaoh, and their evil outcome when they denied Musa. In this is a representation of the disbelievers of Quraysh as they were corrupt and arrogant. And Ibn Wathab, Talhah, and Al-A'mash read: "and arrogance," and Abu Amr Al-Dani reported from them and from Aban ibn Taghlib that they broke the 'ayn from "arrogance."