۞ 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 truly We showed him Our signs, all of them, but he rejected and refused. 56 He said: 'Moses, have you come to drive us from our land with your sorcery? 57 "Then verily, we can produce magic the like thereof; so appoint a meeting between us and you, which neither we, nor you shall fail to keep, in an open wide place where both shall have a just and equal chance (and beholders could witness the competition)." 58 Said Moosa, “Your meeting is the day of the festival, and that the people be assembled at late morning.” 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 And they disputed upon their plan between them, and communed secretly 62 They said: "Verily! These are two magicians. Their object is to drive you out from your land with magic, and overcome your chiefs and nobles. 63 “Therefore strengthen your scheme, and come forth in rows; indeed whoever dominates this day has succeeded.” 64 They said: O Moses! Either throw first, or let us be the first to throw? 65 He said: Nay! cast down. then lo! their cords and their rods-- it was imaged to him on account of their magic as if they were running. 66 So Musa conceived in his mind a fear. 67 But We said to him: 'Do not be afraid; you shall surely 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 so it happened and down fell the sorcerers, prostrating themselves in adoration, [and] exclaimed: "We have come to believe in the Sustainer of Moses and Aaron!" 70 Said [Pharaoh]: "Have you come to believe in him ere I have given you permission? Verily, he must be your master who has taught you magic! But I shall most certainly cut off your hands and feet in great numbers, because of [your] perverseness, and I shall most certainly crucify you in great numbers on trunks of palm-trees: and [I shall do this] so that you might come to know for certain as to which of us [two] can inflict a more severe chastisement, and [which] is the more abiding!" 71 They said: "Never shall we regard thee as more than the Clear Signs that have come to us, or than Him Who created us! so decree whatever thou desirest to decree: for thou canst only decree (touching) the life of this world. 72 Verily we! we have believed in our Lord, that he may forgive us our faults, and that to which thou hast constrained us in the way of magic; and Allah is Best and Most Lasting. 73 Whoever comes to his Lord (being) guilty, for him is surely hell; he shall not die therein, nor shall he 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 he will abide forever in the Gardens of eternity, through which rivers flow. That is the recompense for those who purify themselves. 76