Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:123
Said Pharaoh, "You believed in him before I gave you permission. Indeed, this is a conspiracy which you conspired in the city to expel therefrom its people. But you are going to know.
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.
The explanation of His saying: قَالَ فِرْعَوْنُ آمَنْتُمْ بِهِ قَبْلَ أَنْ آذَنَ لَكُمْ إِنَّ هَذَا لَمَكْرٌ مَكَرْتُمُوهُ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ لِتُخْرِجُوا مِنْهَا أَهْلَهَا فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ (7:123) (Pharaoh said: "Have you believed in him before I gave you permission? Indeed, this is a plot which you have plotted in the city to drive out its people from it. But soon you will know.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: Pharaoh said to the magicians when they believed in Allah — that is, when they held His messenger Mūsā, peace be upon him, to be truthful, after they had witnessed the tremendous power and dominion of Allah: "Have you believed in him?", that is: have you held Mūsā to be truthful and acknowledged his prophethood "before I gave you permission" to believe in him? "Indeed, this" — that is, your belief in him and your acknowledgement of his prophethood — "is truly a plot which you have plotted in the city", that is: a deception by which you have deceived those who are in our city, in order to drive them out of it. "But soon you will know" — what I will do to you, and what punishment (ʿadhāb) you will receive from me for this deed of yours.
And their plot in this was as in the following:
14955 - Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, in a narration which he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik — and ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of some people among the companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him: Mūsā and the chief of the magicians met one another, and Mūsā said to him: "What do you think: if I overcome you, will you then believe in me and testify that what I have come with is the truth?" The magician said: "Tomorrow I will surely come with a magic that no magic can overcome. But by Allah, if you overcome me, I will certainly believe in you and testify that you are the truth!" And Pharaoh was watching them. That, then, is the saying of Pharaoh: "Indeed, this is a plot which you have plotted in the city" — when the two of you met one another to support each other and thereby drive out its people from it.
[Footnotes:] (4) See "al-makr" (the plot) in what preceded earlier, 12:95, 97:597. (5) The narration 14955 - this is part of a long narration, which Abū Jaʿfar transmitted in his historical work, 1:213.
