Magic, Poetry, Stray Dreams

One of the ways the mushrikīn used to respond to it was in truly mad ways, insane ways, plainly foolish and laughable ways. Among them was that they would say different things about the Qur'an. They never held one opinion of what the Qur'an is. They would simply fling mud and see whether any of it stuck.

Sometimes they would say it is magic. Sometimes they would say it is poetry. Sometimes they would say it is aḍghāthu aḥlām, as Allah (swt) relates here: bal qālū aḍghāthu aḥlām — stray thoughts of the day, the mad thoughts of a man's mind. Sometimes they would say that the Prophet (peace be upon him) simply fabricated it, made it up — iftarāhu. Sometimes they would say that he learned it from someone else, that he went to someone and studied it. Hence Allah (swt) relates all of this here, at verse 5: fa-l-yaʾtinā bi-āyatin kamā ursila al-awwalūn — let him bring us a sign, as the earlier prophets were sent.

So Allah (swt) answers by speaking, in all the verses that follow, of what happened to the peoples of the past and how they were destroyed when they would not listen.

Wa kam qaṣamnā min qaryatin kānat ẓālimatan wa anshaʾnā baʿdahā qawman ākharīn — verse 11: how many We have broken, how many regions, how many peoples, how many settlements.

And fa-lammā aḥassū baʾsanā, at verse 12: when they felt Our punishment coming, they tried to draw back. But they could not; they could not flee. They could not flee.

And then they said yā waylanā innā kunnā ẓālimīn: woe to us, we were oppressors.