His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿The chiefs of the people of Pharaoh said, 'Indeed, this is a skilled magician.'﴾ ﴿'He wants to drive you out of your land, so what do you command?'﴾ ﴿They said, 'Delay him and his brother, and send among the cities gatherers.'﴾ ﴿'They will bring you every skilled magician.'﴾ ﴿And the magicians came to Pharaoh. They said, 'Indeed, we will have a reward if we are the predominant.'﴾ ﴿He said, 'Yes, and indeed, you will be among those brought near.'﴾ ﴿They said, 'O Moses, either you throw or we will be the ones to throw.'﴾ ﴿He said, 'Throw.' So when they threw, they enchanted the eyes of the people and struck terror into them, and they brought forth a great magic.'﴾

The magician was among them in that time the highest ranks and the greatest of men. However, their description of Moses in that way, while they were defending against his prophethood, is a great blame and a belittlement. This is what they intended if they could not do more. And their saying: ﴿He wants to drive you out of your land﴾ means that he intends to rule over you by transferring your subjects among the Children of Israel, which would lead to the destruction of your homes when the servants and laborers leave. Also, it is inevitable that they feared he would fight them, and their suspicions roamed in every direction. And al-Naqqash said: They used to take from the Children of Israel a tax like jizyah, so they saw that their kingdom would be lost with the removal of that. And his saying: ﴿So what do you command?﴾ is apparent to be from the speech of the chiefs to one another. It is said that it is from the speech of Pharaoh to them. And Qardum narrated from Nafi' " , "command" : " with a kasrah on the noon, and likewise in the poets. And " ," is an interrogative, and " :" means " ," so they are a subject and a predicate. In " :" there is a pronoun referring back to " ," its estimation is: " :" and it is permissible to consider " ," as a single noun in the accusative position (p-16) with " :" and not to omit it in this. Al-Tabari said: And magic is derived from: " ," meaning the rain has enchanted the earth when it has saturated it until it overturns its vegetation and uproots it, so it enchants it with enchantment, and the earth is enchanted.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And indeed, the rain has enchanted the clay when it has spoiled it until no work can be done in it. And magic is the grasp that takes the eye until it sees the matter other than what it is. And it may enchant the mind. And from this is the saying of Dhū al-Rummah:

؎ And the enchantress of the mirage from the dunes ∗∗∗ dances in its undulations the hills.

He meant that it deceives itself into thinking it is water for the eyes.

Then the chiefs indicated to Pharaoh to delay Moses and Aaron and to leave the matter of them and to gather the magicians from every place so that Moses's victory would be with a clear, known, evident proof." :

Ibn Kathir read: "Arj'ihū" with a waw after the rounded hā' and with a hamzah before the hā'. Abu 'Amr read: "Arj'ihū" with a hamzah without a waw after it. Nafi' alone in the narration of Qālūn read: "Arj'ih" with a kasrah on the hā'. It is possible that the meaning is: delay him, so he made the hamzah easier. It is also possible that it is from the meaning of arjā, meaning: feed him and make him wait, as stated by Al-Mubarrid. Warsh read from Nafi': "Arj'ihī" with a yā' after the kasrah of the hā'. Ibn 'Amir read: "Arj'ihī" with a kasrah on the hā' and a hamzah before it. Al-Farisi said: This is a mistake. 'Asim and Al-Kisai read: "Arj'ihū" with a dhammah on the hā' without a hamzah. Aban narrated from 'Asim: "Arj'ih" with a sukoon on the hā', and this is a language that stops at the hā' of kinayah when what precedes it moves. From this is the poet's saying:

The time has struck me with a man and a hand

Who swears he will not fix except to ruin.

So he fixes today and ruins tomorrow.

And the other said:

When he saw that there was no rest nor satisfaction

He leaned towards the arṭā of a hīqf and lay down.

Al-Naqqash narrated that he did not sit with Fir'awn, the son of Ghiyyah, but rather they were nobles. For this reason, they suggested delaying and did not suggest killing, saying: If you kill him, a suspicion will enter upon the people, but overpower him with evidence. And "Al-Madā'in" is the plural of madīnah, its weight is fa'īlah from madana, or muf'īlah from dāna yadīn. And on this, it may be pronounced with a hamzah or without a hamzah. And "Ḥāshirīn" means: gathering, the interpreters said: they are the guards. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu 'Amr, 'Asim, and Ibn 'Amir read: "bi-kulli sāḥir". Hamzah and Al-Kisai read: "bi-kulli saḥḥār" on the form of exaggeration. And likewise in Surah Yunus, and they all agreed on "saḥḥār" in Surah Ash-Shu'ara. Qatadah said: The meaning of the delaying they referred to is: imprisonment and confinement.

And His saying, the Exalted: "And the sorcerers came"—there are omissions here that are necessitated by the apparent meaning of the words, which is that he sent to the sorcerers and commanded them to come. Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, said: He sent boys who informed them by the farmā.

Ibn Kathir, Nafi', and 'Asim in the narration of Hafs read: "Indeed, for us is a reward" in the context of news. They read in Ash-Shu'ara: "Anna lana" extended with an open alif except for 'Asim, for he does not extend it. Abu Ali said: It is permissible that it be in the context of questioning and the omission of its alif. This has been said regarding His saying: "That you have enslaved the Children of Israel." And from this is the poet's saying:

I rejoice that I am afflicted by the nobles...

Ibn 'Asim, Ibn 'Amir, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read here and in Ash-Shu'ara: "A'inna" with the alif of questioning before "inna". A group read: "A'inna" without extension. Abu 'Amr read here and in Ash-Shu'ara: "Ayinna."

(p-19) And the reward here is the wage. They proposed it if they were victorious. So Pharaoh granted them that and increased their status and prestige. Its meaning is: those who are close to Me. It has been narrated that the magicians who came to Pharaoh were fifteen thousand, as stated by Ibn Ishaq. Ibn Jurayj said they were nine hundred. Al-Naqqash mentioned that they were seventy-two men. And Ikrimah said they were seventy thousand. Muhammad ibn al-Mundhir said they were eighty thousand. And Al-Suddi said they were two hundred thousand and more.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And these statements have no chain of narration to rely upon. And Ka'b al-Ahbar said they were twelve thousand. Al-Suddi said they were thirty-three thousand men, with each man having a rope and a stick. Abu Thumamah said they were seventeen thousand.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿They said, O Moses, either you throw﴾. The word 'either' in His saying: 'either you' is in the position of a noun, meaning: either you perform the throwing. It is possible that it could be in the position of a subject, meaning: either it is the throwing. The magicians gave Moses the choice to either proceed with the throwing or delay.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This is the action of one who is confident in himself. It appears that the advance in illusions, tricks, and arguments is because their alternative proceeds by itself. So Allah manifested the matter of Moses' prophethood, strengthened his self-assurance and certainty, and trusted in the truth, thus granting them the advance. They became energized and pleased until Allah revealed the truth and invalidated their efforts.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿They bewitched the eyes of the people﴾ is a clear indication that they had an action that was beyond what they produced from deception and effects in the stick and other bodies in which they practiced their craft. And 'they terrified them' means: they frightened them, as if their action necessitated and called for fear from the people. And Allah, blessed and exalted is He, described their magic as great, meaning: due to its abundance. It has been narrated that they brought three hundred sixty laden camels with ropes and sticks. When they threw them, they moved and filled the valley, with some riding over others. The people were astonished by that and were terrified of them. Al-Zajjaj said: It was said that they put mercury in them, so they would not settle.