۞ From it We created you and into it We shall send you back and from it will We raise you a second time. 55 So We showed him (Pharaoh) Our signs, all of them, but he belied and refused them. 56 And said: "Have you come to us, O Moses, to drive us out of our land with your witchery? 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 Answered [Moses]: "Your tryst shall be the day of the Festival; and let the people assemble when the sun is risen high." 59 So Pharaoh withdrew, devised his stratagem and returned. 60 Moses said to him: Woe to you! Forge not ye a lie against Allah, lest He destroy you (at once) utterly by chastisement: the forger must suffer frustration!" 61 Thereupon they wrangled among themselves about the matter and conferred in 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 Therefore settle your plan, then come standing in ranks and he will prosper indeed this day who overcomes. 64 The magicians said: "Moses, will you throw down or shall we be the first to throw?" 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 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 The magicians bowed down in prostration saying, "We believe in the Lord of Moses and Aaron". 70 Pharaoh said: "What! Did you believe in Him even before I permitted you to do so? Surely, he must be your chief who taught you magic. Now I will certainly cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and will crucify you on the trunks of palm-trees, and then you will come to know which of us can inflict sterner and more lasting torment." 71 They said, "Never shall we prefer you to all the evidence of the truth that has come to us. Nor to Him who has brought us into being. So decide whatever you will. Your jurisdiction only covers the life of this world -- 72 we have believed in our Lord so that He may forgive us our sins and forgive us the sorcery that you have forced us to practice. God is the best and the most abiding." 73 VERILY, as for him who shall appear before his Sustainer [on Judgment Day] lost in sin - his [portion,] behold, shall be hell: he will neither die therein nor live; 74 But such as come to Him as Believers who have worked righteous deeds,- for them are ranks exalted,- 75 Gardens of perpetual residence beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally. And that is the reward of one who purifies himself. 76