Tafseer of The Poets · Ash-Shu'araa · 26:153
They said, "You are only of those affected by magic.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
His statement: إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ مِنَ الْمُسَحَّرِينَ — the scholars of interpretation differed concerning its explanation. Some said: its meaning is: you are only one of the bewitched (al-masḥūrīn).
Those who said this are mentioned here:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ مِنَ الْمُسَحَّرِينَ — he said: one of the bewitched.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid — the same.
Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ مِنَ الْمُسَحَّرِينَ : he said: you are only one of the bewitched.
Others said: its meaning is: of the created beings.
Those who said this are mentioned here:
Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd related to me, saying: Mūsā ibn ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ مِنَ الْمُسَحَّرِينَ : he said: of the created beings.
The experts of the Arabic language differed among themselves concerning the meaning of this. Some scholars of Baṣra said: everyone who eats — whether human or animal — is musaḥḥar, because he has a windpipe (saḥr) in which he stores what he eats. They cited in support of this the verse of Labīd:
If you ask us what we are, then we are sparrows of this people of al-musaḥḥar.
Some grammarians of Kūfa said something similar, but they added: it is derived from the expression: your lung has become swollen (intafakha saḥruka) — that is to say: you eat food and drink water, and are thereby nourished and occupied. They said: the meaning of the verse of Labīd — "of this people of al-musaḥḥar" — is: of this people of those who are amused, the deceived. They said: it is transmitted that magic (al-siḥr) is related to this, because it is a kind of deception.
The most correct opinion concerning this is what I have mentioned on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: its meaning is: you are only one of the created beings who are nourished with food and drink, just as we are — you are neither a god nor an angel, that we should obey you and know that you are truthful in what you say. Al-musaḥḥar is the passive participle of al-saḥra — that is to say: he who has a windpipe (saḥra).