“But they denied him, so We saved him and those with him in the Ark, and made them successors, and We drowned those who denied Our signs. So see how the end of those who were warned was. (73)
“Then, after him, We sent messengers to their peoples, and they came to them with clear proofs; but they would not believe in what they had denied before. Thus do We seal the hearts of the transgressors. (74)
“Then, after them, We sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and his chiefs with Our signs, but they acted arrogantly and were a criminal people. (75)
“When the truth came to them from Us, they said, ‘This is clearly magic.’ (76)
“Moses said, ‘Do you say of the truth, when it has come to you, “Is this magic?” Yet magicians do not succeed.’ (77)
“They said, ‘Have you come to turn us away from what we found our forefathers following, so that the two of you may hold supremacy in the land? We will not believe in you two.’ (78)”
“But they denied him,” meaning Noah. “So We saved him and those with him in the Ark, and made them successors,” meaning: We made those who were with him in the Ark the inhabitants of the earth, succeeding those who had perished. “And We drowned those who denied Our signs. So see how the end of those who were warned was,” that is, the final outcome of those whom the messengers warned but who did not believe.
“Then, after him, We sent messengers,” that is, after Noah, “to their peoples, and they came to them with clear proofs,” meaning clear evidences. “But they would not believe in what they had denied before,” that is, in what Noah’s people had denied before. “Thus do We seal,” meaning, We set a seal, “upon the hearts of the transgressors.”
“Then, after them, We sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and his chiefs,” meaning the leading men of his people, “with Our signs; but they acted arrogantly and were a criminal people.”
“When the truth came to them,” meaning, when it came to Pharaoh and his people, “from Us, they said, ‘This is clearly magic.’”
“Moses said, ‘Do you say of the truth, when it has come to you, “Is this magic?”’” The intended construction is: “Do you say of the truth, when it has come to you, ‘It is magic’? Is this magic?” The first occurrence of “magic” was omitted because the wording itself indicates it. “Yet magicians do not succeed.”
“They said,” meaning Pharaoh and his people said to Moses, “Have you come to turn us away,” meaning, to divert us? Qatadah said: to twist us away, “from what we found our forefathers following, so that the two of you may hold supremacy,” meaning dominion and authority, “in the land,” that is, the land of Egypt. Abu Bakr recited: “so that he may hold supremacy,” with the masculine singular form. “We will not believe in you two,” meaning, we will not affirm you to be truthful.