Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And they said, ‘This is nothing but a fabricated lie.’ And those who disbelieved, when the truth came to them, said, ‘This is nothing but clear magic.’”

so that it includes these people and others, as Allah the Exalted said: [Surah al-Dhariyat: 52]. So His saying: includes these people and others, and it indicates that these people who said this statement are disbelievers, because He described them with disbelief, attributing this statement to them, so that becomes a cause of their disbelief. The author said: He said in its exegesis: “ma” How is this exegesis? That is, a prohibitive particle. Good. Does it occur as a negative particle, and is it a condition for it to be negative that “illa” (except) follows it? The answer is no, but if “illa” follows it, it is negative. Whenever “illa” comes after “in,” then “in” is negative. We do not say that it is not negative unless “illa” follows it, because it may occur as negative without “illa” following it, as in the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Surah Yunus: 68], meaning, “You have no authority for this.” And yet, this sentence does not contain “illa.” The summary is: if “in” is negative, it is negative even if “illa” does not follow it, because it may be negative without “illa.” We may digress to mention the meanings of “in”: it occurs as negative, as here; and it occurs as conditional, as in His saying: [Surah Al-Imran: 29]. Good. And it occurs as superfluous, as the poet said: “O sons of Ghadana, you are not gold, nor pure silver, but you are earthenware.” Good. And it occurs as a lightened form of the heavy “in,” like “wa in malkum kanat kiram al-ma'adin” (and if your wealth had been noble in its metals), which is a lightened form of the heavy “in.” So it is used in the Arabic language in four ways. Good. [Surah Saba: 43] “clear.” Magic, in the language, is everything hidden. It is called magic because it corresponds to the time of magic (sahar), which is the end of the night, because hidden things occur at the end of the night since people are concealed in their houses. So magic in the language is the hidden thing whose matter and cause are hidden. That is why, when it first appeared on these clocks, it was said to be “sahar” (magic). And when strange things occurred to people, outside the norm, they said, “This is magic.” So they said that what Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) brought is magic. In their opinion, the staff of Musa (Moses) was magic, and the resurrection of the dead by 'Isa (Jesus) by the permission of Allah was magic, and this speech that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) brought is magic. “Indeed, some eloquence is magic.” So they said this eloquent speech is magic to the minds of people. And His saying: This is from the category of camouflage, meaning that it is clear magic, and it is not befitting to argue about it because of its clarity and obviousness. This is like when you emphasize a thing, you say, “This is a clear, obvious matter,” even if it is not clear and obvious. So what the messengers brought of verses is not clearly magic; rather, it is clearly truth and real verses. But the deniers, may Allah protect us from that, argue about the truth. And His saying: The author said: “meaning clear, because ‘aban’ occurs as intransitive and transitive.” So you say, “aban al-fajr” meaning “the dawn appeared,” and you say, “bana al-fajr.” So here the word means “clear,” and this is the closest. As for meaning “aban,” i.e., clarified and made manifest, that is in the case of the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Surah Ya-Sin: 69], because the Qur'an is a clarifier of the truth, so there is from the transitive “aban,” and here is from the intransitive “aban.” Good.