Tafsir of Az-Zukhruf 43:49

"And they said, 'O you magician...'"

It is read as yā ayyuha as-sāḥir (O you magician) with a ḍamma on the hā’, the explanation of which has already preceded.

If you ask: How could they call him a "magician" while simultaneously saying, "We are indeed guided"?

I reply: Their statement, "We are indeed guided," was a promise they intended to break, a covenant they were resolved to violate, contingent upon the condition that he pray for them so the torment might be lifted from them. Do you not see the Almighty’s words: "But when We removed the torment from them, behold, they broke their word"? Thus, their calling him a magician did not contradict their statement, "We are indeed guided."

It is also said: They used to call a skilled scholar a "magician" because they held the knowledge of magic in such high regard.

"By what you have covenanted with you":

• By the covenant you have with you: that your prayer is answered.
• Or by the covenant you have with you: which is prophethood.
• Or by what you have covenanted with you and fulfilled: which is faith and obedience.
• Or by what you have covenanted with you: regarding the removal of torment from those who are guided.

"And Pharaoh called out among his people, saying, 'O my people, does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me, and these rivers flowing beneath me? Do you not then see? Or am I not better than this one who is insignificant and can hardly make himself clear? Then why have bracelets of gold not been cast upon him, or angels come with him in procession?'"