As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 15 of 182

As-Saffat 37:15

وَقَالُوٓا۟ إِنْ هَـٰذَآ إِلَّا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ

“And say, "This is not but obvious magic.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Unable to answer the signs, the deniers reach for a label that ends the conversation: this is nothing but plain magic.

A reflection

The same five words, again and again

In hādhā illā siḥrun mubīn: this is nothing but plain magic. The phrase-matching data shows its core, 'this is nothing but magic', appears six times in the Quran, in six different surahs. Follow it and you meet a procession of deniers using the same few words.

In one surah, Allah reminds ʿĪsā of the day he healed the blind and raised the dead by His permission. Those who disbelieved said: this is nothing but plain magic (5:110). In another, the Prophet ﷺ tells people they will be raised after death, and they answer with the same sentence (11:7). In another, the clear verses of the Quran are recited to them, and again: plain magic (34:43). In a fourth, Allah says what would happen if He sent down a book written on parchment. They would touch it with their own hands, and still say it (6:7).

The sixth is the most chilling. Surah al-Muddaththir describes a man who heard the Quran and took his time. He thought, and he measured. He frowned and scowled. Then he turned away in pride and said: this is nothing but magic handed down from the past (74:18-24). He had considered it carefully, and still reached for the old label.

Different prophets, different signs, different centuries. One reply.

That repetition tells you something important. The label did not grow out of careful examination of each sign. It was a ready-made answer, waiting for whatever might come. A miracle of healing, a promise of resurrection, a recited verse, a book you can touch. The response was the same each time, because the response came first.

The echo also offers a quiet comfort to the Prophet ﷺ and to anyone who carries the truth. When you are dismissed with a stock phrase, you are not being uniquely rejected. You are standing where ʿĪsā stood, and every messenger who was mocked before. The phrase is old. The truth it dismissed outlived every person who said it.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.