۞ Thereof We created you, and thereunto We return you, and thence We bring you forth a second time. 55 And truly We showed him Our signs, all of them, but he rejected and refused. 56 Said he: Have you come to us that you should turn us out of our land by your magic, O Musa? 57 We shall also answer you by magic. Let us make an appointment for a contest among us and let each of us be present at a certain time in the appointed place". 58 (Musa) said: Your appointment is the day of the Festival and let the people be gathered together in the early forenoon. 59 Pharaoh went back and concerted all his stratagem and returned for the encounter. 60 Moses said unto them: Woe unto you! Invent not a lie against Allah, lest He extirpate you by some punishment. He who lieth faileth miserably. 61 So they differed with one another in their task, and secretly conferred. 62 saying: 'These two are sorcerers whose aim is to drive you from your land by their sorcery and destroy your noble ways. 63 "So devise your plot, and then assemble in line. And whoever overcomes this day will be indeed successful." 64 They said, "Moses, would you be the first to show your skill or should we be the first to throw down our devices?" 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 he sensed within himself apprehension, did Moses. 67 Allah said, "Fear not. Indeed, it is you who are superior. 68 And throw what is in your right hand; it will swallow up what they have crafted. What they have crafted is but the trick of a magician, and the magician will not succeed wherever he is." 69 The magicians bowed down in prostration saying, "We believe in the Lord of Moses and Aaron". 70 (The Pharaoh) said: "You have come to believe without my dispensation. Surely he is your chief who taught you magic. I will have your hands and feet cut off on alternate sides and crucify you on the trunks of date-palm trees. You will come to know whose punishment is harder and protracted." 71 They (the magicians) said, "We would never prefer you to the miracles that we have seen or to our Creator. Do what you want. This life is only for a short time. 72 We have certainly come to believe in our Lord that He may forgive our trespasses and the magic you have forced us to perform, for God is nobler and abiding." 73 Verily! Whoever comes to his Lord as a Mujrim (criminal, polytheist, disbeliever in the Oneness of Allah and His Messengers, sinner, etc.), then surely, for him is Hell, therein he will neither die nor live. 74 And whosoever cometh unto Him as a believer, and he hath done righteous works - then these! for them are ranks high. 75 Gardens of Eden, underneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever; that is the recompense of the self-purified. 76