۞ We created you from it (the earth), and to it We shall restore you; and from it We will bring you forth yet a second time. 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 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 (Moses) said: Your tryst shall be the day of the feast, and let the people assemble when the sun hath risen high. 59 Thereupon Pharaoh withdrew [with his counsellors] and decided upon the scheme which he would pursue; and then he came [to the tryst]. 60 (At the time of the encounter) Moses said to them: "Woe to you! Do not invent falsehoods against Allah lest He destroy you with a scourge. Surely those who invent lies shall come to grief." 61 Then they debated one with another what they must do, and they kept their counsel secret. 62 They said: These are most surely two magicians who wish to turn you out from your land by their magic and to take away your best traditions. 63 Bring together your devices and come forward in ranks; the winner will, certainly, have great happiness". 64 They said: "O Moses! whether wilt thou that thou throw (first) or that we be the first to throw?" 65 He said, “Rather, you may throw”; thereupon their cords and their staves, by the strength of their magic, appeared to him as if they were (serpents) moving fast. 66 So Musa (Moses) conceived a fear in himself. 67 We said: fear not! verily thou! thou shalt be the superior. 68 Cast down what is in thy right hand, and it shall swallow what they have fashioned; for they have fashioned only the guile of a sorcerer, and the sorcerer prospers not; wherever he goes.' 69 Therefore all the magicians were thrown down prostrate – they said, “We accept faith in the One Who is the Lord of Haroon and Moosa.” 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 The magicians answered: "By Him Who has created us, we shall never prefer you to the Truth after manifest Signs have come to us. So decree whatever you will. Your decree will pertain, at the most, to the present life of the world. 72 Lo! we believe in our Lord, that He may forgive us our sins and the magic unto which thou didst force us. Allah is better and more lasting. 73 Lo! whoso cometh guilty unto his Lord, verily for him is hell. There 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, wherein they will abide for ever. That is the reward of him who groweth. 76