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
فَبَدَّلَ ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ مِنْهُمْ قَوْلًا غَيْرَ ٱلَّذِى قِيلَ لَهُمْ فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِجْزًا مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَظْلِمُونَ
But those who wronged among them changed [the words] to a statement other than that which had been said to them. So We sent upon them a punishment from the sky for the wrong that they were doing.
ٱدْعُوا۟ رَبَّكُمْ تَضَرُّعًا وَخُفْيَةً ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُعْتَدِينَ
Call upon your Lord in humility and privately; indeed, He does not like transgressors.
تِلْكَ ٱلْقُرَىٰ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ مِنْ أَنۢبَآئِهَا ۚ وَلَقَدْ جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ فَمَا كَانُوا۟ لِيُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِمَا كَذَّبُوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يَطْبَعُ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ
Those cities - We relate to you, [O Muḥammad], some of their news. And certainly did their messengers come to them with clear proofs, but they were not to believe in that which they had denied before. Thus does Allāh seal over the hearts of the disbelievers.
فَأَلْقَىٰ عَصَاهُ فَإِذَا هِىَ ثُعْبَانٌ مُّبِينٌ
So he [i.e., Moses] threw his staff, and suddenly it was a serpent, manifest.