وَقَالُوا۟ مَهْمَا تَأْتِنَا بِهِۦ مِنْ ءَايَةٍ لِّتَسْحَرَنَا بِهَا فَمَا نَحْنُ لَكَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ 132
Translations
And they said, "No matter what sign you bring us with which to bewitch us, we will not be believers in you."
Transliteration
Wa qāloo mā-mā ta'tinā bihi min āyatin li-tasḥarnā bihā fa-mā naḥnu laka bi-mu'minīn
Tafsir (Explanation)
The people of Pharaoh stubbornly rejected Moses' miracles, accusing him of sorcery and refusing to believe regardless of what signs he presented. According to Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari, this reflects the hardness of their hearts and their predetermined rejection—they were not genuinely seeking truth but rather seeking excuses to deny. This ayah illustrates how those who reject faith often attribute divine miracles to deception, demonstrating that rejection stems from spiritual blindness rather than lack of evidence.
Revelation Context
This ayah occurs within the account of Moses' confrontation with Pharaoh and his people (7:103-162), a major narrative in Surah Al-A'raf. It reflects the historical reality of Pharaonic Egypt's rejection of Moses despite witnessing numerous miracles (the staff becoming a serpent, the plagues, etc.), establishing a pattern of how disbelievers rationalize away signs of truth.
Related Hadiths
Sahih Muslim narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said, 'The supplication of the disbeliever is futile,' indicating the spiritual state of those who persistently deny signs. Additionally, Surah Al-Baqarah 2:18 contains a related theme: 'Deaf, dumb, and blind, so they will not return [to the right path].'
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah reminds us that presenting evidence to those determined to disbelieve is often fruitless—rejection rooted in arrogance and spiritual sickness cannot be cured by miracles alone. For believers, it teaches compassion toward those who reject, understanding that their denial reflects internal corruption rather than intellectual inability.
Related Ayahs
فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَأَنجَيْنَـٰهُ وَٱلَّذِينَ مَعَهُۥ فِى ٱلْفُلْكِ وَأَغْرَقْنَا ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَآ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ قَوْمًا عَمِينَ
But they denied him, so We saved him and those who were with him in the ship. And We drowned those who denied Our signs. Indeed, they were a blind people.
وَقَالَتْ أُولَىٰهُمْ لِأُخْرَىٰهُمْ فَمَا كَانَ لَكُمْ عَلَيْنَا مِن فَضْلٍ فَذُوقُوا۟ ٱلْعَذَابَ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَكْسِبُونَ
And the first of them will say to the last of them, "Then you had not any favor over us, so taste the punishment for what you used to earn."
۞ وَوَٰعَدْنَا مُوسَىٰ ثَلَـٰثِينَ لَيْلَةً وَأَتْمَمْنَـٰهَا بِعَشْرٍ فَتَمَّ مِيقَـٰتُ رَبِّهِۦٓ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً ۚ وَقَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِأَخِيهِ هَـٰرُونَ ٱخْلُفْنِى فِى قَوْمِى وَأَصْلِحْ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ سَبِيلَ ٱلْمُفْسِدِينَ
And We made an appointment with Moses for thirty nights and perfected them by [the addition of] ten; so the term of his Lord was completed as forty nights. And Moses said to his brother Aaron, "Take my place among my people, do right [by them], and do not follow the way of the corrupters."
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى يُرْسِلُ ٱلرِّيَـٰحَ بُشْرًۢا بَيْنَ يَدَىْ رَحْمَتِهِۦ ۖ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَقَلَّتْ سَحَابًا ثِقَالًا سُقْنَـٰهُ لِبَلَدٍ مَّيِّتٍ فَأَنزَلْنَا بِهِ ٱلْمَآءَ فَأَخْرَجْنَا بِهِۦ مِن كُلِّ ٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ نُخْرِجُ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
And it is He who sends the winds as good tidings before His mercy [i.e., rainfall] until, when they have carried heavy rainclouds, We drive them to a dead land and We send down rain therein and bring forth thereby [some] of all the fruits. Thus will We bring forth the dead; perhaps you may be reminded.