﴿ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَإِي۟هِۦ فَٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ وَكَانُوا۟ قَوْمًا عَالِينَ ﴾

“unto Pharaoh and his great ones; but these behaved with arrogance, for they were people wont to glorify [only] themselves.”

They observed that the Prophet was not surrounded by heaps of wealth, nor was he seated upon a throne of power. So they considered him to be a lowly person. On account of their being worshippers of externals, they failed to fathom the Prophet’s inner greatness.