Tafsir of Ta-Ha 20:67

• "Feeling" (Ījās) of fear: It is the harboring of a portion of it. Similarly, "sensing" (tawajjus) a sound means hearing a slight noise of it. This was due to the nature of human constitution, and it is almost impossible to be free from such a thing.
• It is said: He feared that doubt might enter the hearts of the people, so they would not follow him.
• "Indeed, it is you who are superior": This is a confirmation of his victory and dominance, emphasized by:
  1. The commencement (isti’nāf).
  2. The word of intensification (inna).
  3. The repetition of the pronoun (anta).
  4. The definite article (al-).
  5. The term "superiority" (al-‘ulūw), which signifies manifest victory.
  6. The superlative form.

• His saying, "What is in your right hand?": He did not say "your staff."
  • It is possible this is to belittle it: "Do not be concerned by the multitude of their ropes and staffs; cast this small, solitary stick, small in size, for by the power of God, it will swallow them up despite its singularity and their multitude, its smallness and their greatness."
  • It is also possible this is to magnify it: "Do not be impressed by these large, numerous objects, for in your right hand is something greater than all of them. Despite their quantity, they are the least and most insignificant thing in His sight. Cast it, and it will swallow them by God’s permission and annihilate them."

• "Talqaf" (swallow): It is read with a damma (nominative) as a new sentence or as a state (ḥāl)—meaning: "Cast it, while it is swallowing." It is also read with a light fā’ (takhfīf).
• "What they have crafted": Here it means what they have forged and fabricated, as in the Almighty’s saying: "swallowing up what they fabricate" (al-A‘rāf: 117).
• "The trickery of a magician": Read in the nominative and the accusative.
  • Whoever reads it in the nominative considers "mā" (in the preceding verse) as a relative pronoun (mawṣūla).
  • Whoever reads it in the accusative considers "mā" as a restrictive particle (kāffa).
• "Trickery of magic" (kayd siḥr): Meaning "possessor of magic" or "possessors of magic." Or, because of their deep immersion in magic, they are as if they are magic itself in essence and substance. Or, it clarifies the "trickery," because trickery can be magic or something else, just as one says "a hundred in dirhams" (to clarify the currency). Similar to this is "the science of jurisprudence" and "the science of grammar."

• If you ask: Why is "magician" (sāḥir) singular and not plural?
• I say: Because the intent in this speech is the meaning of the genus, not the meaning of number. If it were plural, it would be imagined that the intent was the number. Do you not see His saying: "And the magician will not succeed"—meaning this genus?

• If you ask: Why is it indefinite first and definite second?
• I say: It is only indefinite because of the indefiniteness of the genitive (iḍāfa), not because of its indefiniteness in itself. Like the saying of al-‘Ajjāj: "In the pursuit of a world that has long been extended." And in the hadith of ‘Umar (may God be pleased with him): "Not in a matter of this world nor in a matter of the next." The intent is the indefiniteness of the "matter," as if it were said: "Indeed, what they have crafted is a magical trickery," and "a worldly pursuit," and "a worldly and otherworldly matter."

• "Wherever he comes from": Like their saying "wherever he travels," "whichever way he takes," and "wherever he is."

"So the magicians fell down in prostration. They said, 'We have believed in the Lord of Aaron and Moses.'"