۞ Thereof (the earth) We created you, and into it We shall return you, and from it We shall bring you out once again. 55 And We certainly showed Pharaoh Our signs - all of them - but he denied and refused. 56 He said to Moses, "Have you come to expel us from our land through your magic? 57 "But we can surely produce magic to match thine! So make a tryst between us and thee, which we shall not fail to keep - neither we nor thou - in a place where both shall have even chances." 58 Moses said, "The day of the encounter will be the day of the festival, and let the people assemble when the sun has risen high." 59 So Fir'aun (Pharaoh) withdrew, devised his plot and then came back. 60 Moses said to them: "Woe betide you. Do not fabricate a lie against God, or He will destroy you with some affliction. For he who fabricates lies is doomed to failure." 61 Thereupon they wrangled among themselves about the matter and conferred in secret. 62 and said, "These two people are magicians. They want to expel you from your land through their magic and to destroy your own tradition. 63 Hence, [O sorcerers of Egypt,] decide upon the scheme which you will pursue, and then come forward in one single body: for, indeed, he who prevails today shall prosper indeed!" 64 They said, 'Moses, either thou wilt cast, or we shall be the first to cast.' 65 He said, "Rather, you throw." And suddenly their ropes and staffs seemed to him from their magic that they were moving [like snakes]. 66 And Moosa sensed fear in his heart. 67 We told him, "Do not be afraid for you will be the winner. 68 And [now] throw that [staff] which is in thy right hand - it shall swallow up all that they have wrought: [for] they have wrought only a sorcerer's artifice, and the sorcerer can never come to any good, whatever he may aim at!" 69 So the magicians fell down in prostration. They said, "We have believed in the Lord of Aaron and Moses." 70 Pharaoh said, 'Have you believed him before I gave you leave? Why, he is the chief of you, the same that taught you sorcery; I shall assuredly cut off alternately your hands and feet, then I shall crucify you upon the trunks of palm-trees; you shall know of a certainty which of us is more terrible in chastisement, and more abiding.' 71 Their reply was: 'We will not prefer you over the clear signs that have come to us, nor over Him who has created us. So decide upon whatever you decide, you can only decide upon things in this present life. 72 We believe in our Lord so that He forgives us our sins and the sorcery you have forced us to practice. Allah is Better, and Everlasting' 73 Whosoever comes unto his Lord a sinner, for him awaits Gehenna wherein he shall neither die nor live. 74 One who comes into the presence of his Lord with faith and righteous deeds 75 Gardens of Eden, underneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever; that is the recompense of the self-purified. 76