'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' He, exalted and glorified is He, said: "They said, 'Indeed, we are returning to our Lord.' And you do not hold anything against us except that we have believed in the signs of our Lord when they came to us. Our Lord, pour upon us patience and cause us to die as Muslims.' And the elite of Pharaoh's people said, 'Will you leave Moses and his people to cause corruption in the land and abandon you and your gods?' He said, 'We will kill their sons and keep their women alive, and indeed, we are in control over them.' This is a submission from the believers among the magicians, and a reliance on Allah and trust in what He has. The majority of the people read: 'tanaqimu' with a kasra on the qaf, and Abu Haywah, Abu Barahsam, Ibn Abi Abla, and Hasan ibn Abi Hasan read: 'tanaqamu' with a fatha on it, and both are two dialects. Abu Hatim said: The preferred reading is the kasra on the qaf, and all the scholars recited the verse of Ibn al-Ruqayyat: 'What did they hold against Banu Umayyah...' with a fatha on the qaf. Its meaning is: And what do you count against us as a sin and hold us accountable for it? And their saying: 'Pour upon us patience' means: Cover us as water covers one who is poured upon, and here it is a metaphor. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: When the magicians believed, six hundred thousand from Banu Israel followed Moses. Al-Naqqash narrated from Muqatil that he said: Moses stayed in Egypt after the belief of the magicians for about a year showing them the signs. And the saying of Pharaoh's elite: 'Will you leave Moses and his people?' is a statement that includes inciting Pharaoh against Moses and his people, and urging him to kill them or change what is with them so that they do not have an exit from the religion of Pharaoh. And the meaning of 'Will you leave Moses?' is: Will you let him go? The majority of the people read: 'and abandon you,' and its accusative can be understood in two ways; one is that it is to be interpreted as: 'and that he abandon you,' so it is the waw of conjunction, as if they said: 'Will you leave him and abandon you?' The other meaning is that it is connected to his saying: 'to cause corruption.' Nu'aym ibn Maysarah and Hasan read differently: 'and he abandons you' with a rafa, connected to their saying: 'Will you leave?' Anas ibn Malik read: 'and we will abandon you' with a nun and a rafa of the verb meaning a threat from them, or as a notification that the matter will lead to this. Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Abdullah read: 'in the land and they have left you to worship you and your gods.' Abu Hatim said: And Al-Amash read: 'and they have left you and your gods.' The seven and the majority of scholars read: 'and your gods' in the plural. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this is based on what has been narrated that Pharaoh had, in his time, gods made of cows and idols and other than that, and Pharaoh had established that and made himself the supreme god. So his saying - in this context - 'I am your Lord, the Most High' [An-Nazi'at: 24] is merely a comparison between him and others among the objects of worship. It has been said that Pharaoh used to worship a stone that he would hang on his chest like a ruby or something similar. Hasan said: Pharaoh had a pendant hanging around his neck that he worshipped and prostrated to. And Sulayman al-Taymi said: I have been informed that he used to worship the cow, as mentioned by Abu Hatim.

Ibn Abbas, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Ibn Mas'ud, and Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with them all, and a group and others read: "And Your deity," meaning: "And Your worship and submission to You." This group claimed that Pharaoh did not permit the worship of anything besides him. They said that in His saying: "the Most High," He intended: "the Greatest and the Most Exalted" without any relation. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Pharaoh was worshipped and did not worship.

Ibn Kathir read: "We will kill" with leniency, and "They are killing" with emphasis. Nafi' softened both. Abu Amr, Asim, Ibn Amer, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "They are killing" and "We will kill" with emphasis for exaggeration. The meaning is: We will continue in what we were upon of torturing them and cutting them off.

His saying, exalted is He: "And indeed, We are above them overpowering," means: in rank and control over the world. "Overpowering" implies belittling their matter, meaning: they are too insignificant to be cared for.