If you say: What is meant by the clear authority? I say: It may refer to the staff, for it was the mother of the signs of Moses and the first of them. Various miracles were attached to it: its turning into a serpent, swallowing what the magicians cast, the splitting of the sea, the gushing forth of springs from the stone by striking it with it, and its being a guardian, a light, a fruitful green tree, a bucket, and a rope. It was made as if it were not one of them due to the excellence it possessed. Therefore, it is mentioned alongside it as in His saying: 'And Gabriel and Michael.' It may also refer to the signs themselves, meaning: they are clear signs and proof against the arrogant, for indeed Pharaoh was arrogant in the land, not wanting to be exalted in the land or to be haughty over the people, oppressing them with tyranny and injustice.