Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:110
Who wants to expel you from your land [through magic], so what do you instruct?"
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.
"He wants to drive you out of your land" — the land of Egypt, O assembly of Copts and sorcerers. And Pharaoh said to the notables: "What do you advise?" He means: which course do you advise that we take in his affair? What counsel do you give in this matter?
It has been said concerning "What do you advise?": the report about this concerns Pharaoh, yet Pharaoh is not mentioned. Rarely does something like this occur in the language. This is comparable to His word: قَالَتِ امْرَأَةُ الْعَزِيزِ الآنَ حَصْحَصَ الْحَقُّ أَنَا رَاوَدْتُهُ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ وَإِنَّهُ لَمِنَ الصَّادِقِينَ * ذَلِكَ لِيَعْلَمَ أَنِّي لَمْ أَخُنْهُ بِالْغَيْبِ (Yusuf 12:51-52) (The wife of the ʿAzīz said: "Now the truth has come to light. I sought to seduce him, and he is truly among the truthful. That so that he would know that I did not betray him in his absence."). It has been said: ذَلِكَ لِيَعْلَمَ أَنِّي لَمْ أَخُنْهُ بِالْغَيْبِ (That so that he would know that I did not betray him in his absence) belongs to the words of Yusuf, while Yusuf is not mentioned. To this also belongs that one says: "I said to Zayd: 'Stand up, for I am standing up,'" while he means: "Then Zayd said: 'Indeed, I am standing up.'"
[Footnotes:] (19) Thus it stands in the manuscript, vocalized with a shadda on the sīn: "al-saḥara" (the sorcerers). But if one were to read "bi-siḥrihi" (with his sorcery), that would be a good, correct reading. (20) See the exposition of that in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ, vol. 1, p. 387.
