وَإِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَٰتُنَا بَيِّنَٰتٍۢ قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لِلْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَآءَهُمْ هَٰذَا سِحْرٌۭ مُّبِينٌ
When Our manifest signs are recited to them, the faithless say of the truth when it comes to them: ‘This is plain magic.’
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ ٱفْتَرَىٰهُ ۖ قُلْ إِنِ ٱفْتَرَيْتُهُۥ فَلَا تَمْلِكُونَ لِى مِنَ ٱللَّهِ شَيْـًٔا ۖ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا تُفِيضُونَ فِيهِ ۖ كَفَىٰ بِهِۦ شَهِيدًۢا بَيْنِى وَبَيْنَكُمْ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
Or they say, ‘He has fabricated it.’ Say, ‘Should I have fabricated it, you would not avail me anything against Allah. He best knows what you gossip concerning it. He suffices as a witness between me and you, and He is the All-forgiving, the All-merciful.’
قُلْ مَا كُنتُ بِدْعًۭا مِّنَ ٱلرُّسُلِ وَمَآ أَدْرِى مَا يُفْعَلُ بِى وَلَا بِكُمْ ۖ إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلَّا مَا يُوحَىٰٓ إِلَىَّ وَمَآ أَنَا۠ إِلَّا نَذِيرٌۭ مُّبِينٌۭ
Say, ‘I am not a novelty among the apostles, nor do I know what will be done with me, or with you. I just follow whatever is revealed to me, and I am just a manifest warner.’
قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُمْ إِن كَانَ مِنْ عِندِ ٱللَّهِ وَكَفَرْتُم بِهِۦ وَشَهِدَ شَاهِدٌۭ مِّنۢ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ عَلَىٰ مِثْلِهِۦ فَـَٔامَنَ وَٱسْتَكْبَرْتُمْ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِى ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ
Say, ‘Tell me, if it is from Allah and you disbelieve in it, and a witness from the Children of Israel has testified to its like and believed [in it], while you are disdainful [of it]?’ Indeed Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot.
وَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ لِلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَوْ كَانَ خَيْرًۭا مَّا سَبَقُونَآ إِلَيْهِ ۚ وَإِذْ لَمْ يَهْتَدُوا۟ بِهِۦ فَسَيَقُولُونَ هَٰذَآ إِفْكٌۭ قَدِيمٌۭ
The faithless say about the faithful, ‘Had it been [anything] good, they would not have taken the lead over us toward [accepting] it.’ And since they could not find the way to it, they will say, ‘It is an ancient lie.’
وَمِن قَبْلِهِۦ كِتَٰبُ مُوسَىٰٓ إِمَامًۭا وَرَحْمَةًۭ ۚ وَهَٰذَا كِتَٰبٌۭ مُّصَدِّقٌۭ لِّسَانًا عَرَبِيًّۭا لِّيُنذِرَ ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ وَبُشْرَىٰ لِلْمُحْسِنِينَ
Yet before it the Book of Moses was a guide and mercy, and this is a Book in the Arabic language, which confirms it, [sent] to warn the wrongdoers, and is a [bearer of] good news for the virtuous.
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوا۟ رَبُّنَا ٱللَّهُ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَقَٰمُوا۟ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
Those who say, ‘Our Lord is Allah,’ and then remain steadfast, they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.
أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلْجَنَّةِ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا جَزَآءًۢ بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
They shall be the inhabitants of paradise, remaining in it [forever]—a reward for what they used to do.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
This passage answers Meccan rejection. The deniers brand the recited signs manifest magic (v.7) and accuse the Prophet of forgery (v.8); he replies that he is not a novelty among the messengers and does not know his own fate (v.9); a witness from the Children of Israel testifies while the proud disbelieve (v.10); the disbelievers sneer that a true good would not have reached the poor first (v.11); and against their charge the Book of Moses and the Arabic Qurʾan are set, with paradise promised to those who say Our Lord is God and stand firm (vv.12-14).
The charge of magic and forgery. Al-Tabarsi and al-Tusi read verse 8 as a tight argument: were the Prophet a forger, his accusers could not shield him from God's destruction, so the accusation is self-defeating; both note the closing He is Forgiving, Merciful as an invitation to repent (al-Tabarsi citing al-Zajjaj). Al-Tusi adds the sharp point that to call a genuine miracle 'magic' is itself disbelief, since it erases the line between prophet and impostor. On verse 9, al-Tabarsi explains the Prophet's not-knowing as pertaining to this world (death or martyrdom, and the deniers' fate), not to his assured place in the Garden.
Who is the witness? The sources diverge along confessional lines, and are reported here as attributed. Al-Tabarsi and al-Tusi give the mainstream identification — ʿAbd Allah b. Salam, the Israelite scholar who embraced Islam — while noting Masruq's view that it is Moses (fitting a Meccan sura). Al-Tabatabai records a further variant, Ibn Yāmīn, and flags a grammatical tension in the phrase. By contrast al-Qummi and al-Bahrani transmit that the witness is the Commander of the Faithful (ʿAli), citing the parallel in Surah Hud (11:17). Al-Bahrani further preserves a narration glossing I follow only what is revealed to me as 'concerning ʿAli — thus it was revealed,' and reads then stood firm (v.13, so too al-Qummi) as standing firm upon the walaya of ʿAli — variant-reading and taʾwil material flagged for human review.
The Book and the steadfast. All the surviving sources converge on verses 12-14: the Qurʾan confirms the Torah (an imam and a mercy), warns wrongdoers and gladdens the doers of good, and those who profess Our Lord is God and remain upright are freed of fear and grief and made abiding companions of the Garden. The Enlightening Commentary develops the same sequence at length, stressing that steadfastness (istiqama), not mere verbal profession, is what secures the promise.