لَاهِيَةً قُلُوبُهُمْ وَأَسَرُّوا النَّجْوَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا هَلْ هَذَا إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُكُمْ أَفَتَأْتُونَ السِّحْرَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ ﴿۳﴾ قَالَ رَبِّي يَعْلَمُ الْقَوْلَ فِي السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ ﴿۴﴾ بَلْ قَالُوا أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلَامٍ بَلِ افْتَرَاهُ بَلْ هُوَ شَاعِرٌ فَلْيَأْتِنَا بِآيَةٍ كَمَا أُرْسِلَ الْأَوَّلُونَ ﴿۵﴾

﴾3﴿ Laahiyatan quloobuhum; wa asarrun najwal lazeena zalamoo hal haazaaa illaa basharum mislukum 'afa ta'toonas sihra wa antum tubsiroon
﴾4﴿ Qaala Rabbee ya'lamul qawla fis samaaa'i wal ardi wa Huwas Samee'ul 'Aleem
﴾5﴿ Bal qaalooo adghaasu ahlaamin bal iftaraahu bal huwa shaa'irun fal ya'tinaa bi Aayatin kamaa ursilal awwaloon

﴾3﴿ Their hearts are preoccupied, and those who committed injustice held secret councils, saying: 'Is this (Prophet) anything but a human being like you, Will you then accept sorcery while you are aware
﴾4﴿ The Messenger said: 'My Lord knows every word that is spoken in the heavens and the earth, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing
﴾5﴿ Rather, they say: 'These are confused dreams. Rather, he has fabricated it. Rather, he is a poet. So let him bring us a sign like those that were sent to the former messengers

[3] This too is a warning regarding hearts distracted by amusement — meaning their hearts are occupied with false tales related to polytheism.
It is also a warning against holding secret gatherings in opposition to the Prophet, which is an act of injustice.
These were the six stages of the heedless; now the verse mentions the six criticisms they made against the Messenger.
The first criticism is against the Prophet's humanity — this was a common accusation made by all disbelievers against every prophet.
The second criticism was that they called it sorcery — (أَفَتَأْتُونَ السِّحْرَ) — the meaning here is: will you follow this?
(WA ANTUM TUBṢIRŪN) — "while you can see" — this indicates that even the disbelievers themselves considered sorcery to be evil.
[4] In this, there is a refutation of associating partners with Allah in knowledge — meaning, when they held secret gatherings and the Prophet (May Allah bless him and give him peace) informed them of what happened in those meetings, they assumed that the Prophet knew the unseen.
So, a response was given: the Prophet (May Allah bless him and give him peace) has declared that this attribute is exclusive to Allah the Exalted.
Likewise, the Prophet only describes his Lord according to the way of monotheism in knowledge.
Thus, this is a proof of his prophethood — because soothsayers and sorcerers claim knowledge of the unseen for themselves, while the Prophet does not.
[5] This is the third criticism, where they called the Qur'an confused dreams.
(Aḍghāth) refers to dreams that have no interpretation and are considered false.
Then, due to their confusion, they moved on to the fourth criticism — claiming that it is a fabrication — or to the fifth criticism — that he is a poet.
And the final criticism was their demand for miracles like those of the previous prophets (peace be upon them).