5

Nay (bal, in the three instances [below] effects a transition from one subject to another) but they say, regarding those parts of the Qur'ān he [the Prophet] has brought [to them] are: 'A muddle of nightmares, a confusion [of things] he has seen in [his] sleep. Nay, he has fabricated it, he has invented it; nay, he is a poet, and what he has brought is [merely] poetry! So let him bring us a sign, such as was sent to the ancients', like the she-camel [Sālih], the staff and the [glowing] hand [of Moses]. Allahu ta’ālā, exalted be He, says: