۞ Thereof We created you, and thereunto We return you, and therefrom We shall bring you forth once again. 55 We showed Pharaoh all Our signs but he rejected them and refused to believe in them. 56 He [Fir'aun (Pharaoh)] said: "Have you come to drive us out of our land with your magic, O Musa (Moses)? 57 We shall certainly meet you with like magic. So make an appointment when we and you could meet on common ground, which neither we nor you should fail to keep." 58 Moses said, "Let the contest take place on the Day of Feast so that all the people can come together during the brightness of the day." 59 So Pharaoh withdrew and gathered his guile, then returned, 60 Musa said to them: Woe to you! do not forge a lie against Allah, lest He destroy you by a punishment, and he who forges (a lie) indeed fails to attain (his desire). 61 Then they debated one with another what they must do, and they kept their counsel secret. 62 saying [to one another]: "These two are surely sorcerers intent on driving you from your land by their sorcery, and on doing away with your time-honoured way of life. 63 “Therefore strengthen your scheme, and come forth in rows; indeed whoever dominates this day has succeeded.” 64 Said [the sorcerers]: "O Moses! Either thou throw [thy staff first,] or we shall be the first to throw." 65 He said: nay, cast ye down. And lo! their cords and their staves were made to appear to him by their magic as though they were running. 66 So Musa conceived in his mind a fear. 67 We said: Fear not, surely you shall be the uppermost, 68 Throw down that [staff] which is in your right hand -- it shall swallow up what they have wrought, for what they have wrought is only a magician's trick. A magician shall never thrive, come whence he may. 69 And the sorcerers cast themselves down prostrating. 'We believe,' they said, 'in the Lord of Aaron and Moses.' 70 Pharaoh said, "Have you believed in him before I permit you? He must be your master who has taught you magic. I will cut your hands and feet off on opposite sides, and have you crucified on the trunks of palm-trees. You shall know whose punishment is more severe and more lasting." 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 As for us, behold, we have come to believe in our Sustainer, [hoping] that He may forgive us our faults and all that magic unto which thou hast forced us: for God is the best [to look forward to,] and the One who is truly abiding." 73 Surely for him who comes before his Lord a sinner shall be Hell, where he will neither die nor live. 74 And the one who presents himself as a believer before Him, having done good deeds – so for them are the high ranks. 75 The gardens of perpetuity, beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein; and this is the reward of him who has purified himself. 76