Then when they had cast their ropes and staffs Moses said ‘What mā is interrogative and the subject its predicate being the following ji’tum bihi have you brought? Sorcery? ā’l-sihru a-al-sihru is a substitute for the predicate ji’tum bihi ‘have you brought’; a variant reading has al-sihru with a single hamza making it predicative in which case mā is the relative particle of the subject Verily God will bring it to nothing He will efface it. Truly God does not make right the work of those who do corruption.