Al-Qasas: (36) So when Moses came to them...

"So when Moses came to them with Our signs as clear proofs"—that is, clear in their indication of the validity of his mission, peace be upon him, from the Almighty and Majestic. The apparent meaning is that the "signs" refer to the staff and the hand, for they are the two that Moses, peace be upon him, manifested at that time. The secret behind expressing them in the plural form has already preceded in Surah Taha.

"They said, 'This is nothing but invented magic'"—meaning magic you fabricate, the like of which was not performed before you. Here, "invention" (iftira) carries the meaning of fabrication, not lying. Or, it means magic you learn from someone else and then falsely attribute to Allah; here, "invention" carries the meaning of lying, not fabrication. Under both these interpretations, the adjective is restrictive. It has also been said that the intended meaning of "invention" is obfuscation; that is, it is magic made to appear real, which has no true essence, like all other types of magic. According to this, the adjective acts as an intensifier, and "invention" is not used in its literal sense as in the first interpretation. The truth is that there are types of magic that have a reality, so the adjective remains restrictive.

"And we have not heard of this"—that is, of this type of magic, or of what has come from Moses, peace be upon him. This is based on the assumption of an omitted addition, meaning "of the like of this," or it is an allusion to the claim of prophethood. Their denial of having heard of such a thing is an intentional lie, for Joseph, peace be upon him, came to them before with clear proofs, and the memory of that is not that distant. It is also possible that they intended to deny having heard a claim of prophethood that they considered truthful; they denied the very foundation of prophethoods and did not acknowledge the validity of any of them, like the Brahmins and many of the Westerners, and those who have licked their leftovers today. The ba (in bi-aba’ina), as stated in Majma’ al-Bayan, is either in its original sense or is an addition; meaning, "We have not heard this among our first forefathers."

"In our first forefathers"—meaning [this has not happened] in their days. Thus, the prepositional phrase is in the position of a state (hal) of "this," assuming an omitted addition, and the governor of this state is "heard." It is also permitted that the prepositional phrase relates to an omitted entity, assuming [the meaning]: "with the occurrence of this," and the prepositional phrase relates to that omitted entity. By describing their forefathers as "first," they indicated the absence of this for a very long time.