His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "And certainly, Joseph came to you before with clear signs, but you remained in doubt about what he brought you until, when he perished, you said, 'Allah will never send a messenger after him.' Thus Allah leads astray whoever is extravagant and in doubt." "Those who argue about the verses of Allah without any authority that has come to them, it is greatly hated by Allah and by those who believe. Thus Allah seals the heart of every arrogant tyrant." (p-442) We have previously mentioned the disagreement regarding all these sayings. Are they from the words of the believers of the family of Pharaoh or from the words of Moses, peace be upon him? A group of the interpreters among them, including al-Tabari, said: The mentioned Joseph is Joseph, son of Jacob, peace be upon him. Another group said: Rather, he is his grandson, Joseph, son of Abraham, son of Joseph, son of Jacob, peace be upon him. And the "clear signs" that Joseph, peace be upon him, brought have not been specified for us until we stand upon his miracles. It has been narrated from Wahb ibn Munabbih that Pharaoh of Moses followed Joseph, and that this reprimand is for him. Al-Ashhab narrated from Malik that it reached him that Pharaoh lived for four hundred and forty years. A group said: Rather, he is another Pharaoh. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "You said, 'Allah will never send a messenger after him,'" is a narration of the sequence of their saying because they only intended that someone would come after this who claims like what he claimed, and those did not acknowledge the message of the first or the last nor that Allah sends messengers. So He narrated the sequence of their saying, and their expression came as a reproach against them. Therefore, He said immediately after this: "Thus Allah leads astray whoever is extravagant and in doubt," meaning: just as He has made you from disbelief and misguidance in this regard, so likewise is His leading astray for your kind, the people of extravagance in matters and transgression and doubt about the truths. In the Mushaf of Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud: "You said, 'Allah will never send a messenger.'" Then He directed against them a people whose description is found in the people of Pharaoh, as if He intended them, and He removed from His address to them good manners and eloquence, and said: "Those who argue about the verses of Allah," meaning: by invalidating them and responding without any proof or evidence that has come to them from Allah. "Their arguing is greatly hated by Allah," so He shortened the mention of the argument to indicate the precedence of its mention against Him, and He responded to the subject with "greatly hated" in the accusative for distinction, like your saying: "I burst with fat and I sweated with sweat," and "He seals" means: He seals with misguidance and conceals from guidance. Abu Amr and al-A'raj read - with a difference from him -: "upon every heart" with tanween, "arrogant" in the description, and the others read: with the addition to "arrogant." Abu Ali said: The meaning is: Allah seals upon the hearts when it is a heart of every arrogant one, and this is confirmed by the fact that in the Mushaf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, it is: "upon the heart of every arrogant one." (p-443) Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

It is directed that what is meant is the general nature of the heart of the arrogant tyrant by nature, meaning there is not a particle of faith or closeness in it. It is an expression of the intensity of its release.