۞ From the earth We have created you and We will return you to it, and from it We shall bring you forth a second time. 55 AND, INDEED, We made Pharaoh aware of all Our messages - but he gave them the lie and refused [to heed them]. 56 He [Fir'aun (Pharaoh)] said: "Have you come to drive us out of our land with your magic, O Musa (Moses)? 57 But we surely can produce for thee magic the like thereof; so appoint a tryst between us and you, which neither we nor thou shall fail to keep, at a place convenient (to us both). 58 Said (Moses): "Let your meeting be on the day of the Feast, and let people assemble in broad daylight." 59 So Pharaoh went away, put together his plan, and then came [to Moses]. 60 Moses said to them: "Woe betide you. Do not fabricate a lie against God, or He will destroy you with some affliction. For he who fabricates lies is doomed to failure." 61 So they debated among themselves as to what to do; but they kept their counsel secret, 62 (And) said: "These two are surely magicians. They want to deprive you of your land with their magic, and eradicate your distinct way (of life). 63 Wherefore devise your stratagem, and then come in a row; and prospered today is he who overcometh. 64 They said: O Musa! will you cast, or shall we be the first who cast down? 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 Then a kind of fear in his soul Musa felt. 67 [But] We said: "Fear not! Verily, it is thou who shalt prevail! 68 And throw down what is in your right hand; it will swallow up all that they have wrought. They have wrought only a magician's stratagem. A magician cannot come to any good, come whence he may." 69 Thereafter the sorcerers threw themselves down, prostrating, saying: 'We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses' 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, 'We will not prefer thee over the clear signs that have come to us, nor over Him who originated us. Decide then what thou wilt decide; thou canst only decide touching this present life. 72 We believe in our Lord so that He forgives us our sins and the sorcery you have forced us to practice. Allah is Better, and Everlasting' 73 Gehenna (Hell) awaits whosoever comes before his Lord as a sinner, there he shall neither die nor live. 74 whereas he who shall appear before Him as a believer who has done righteous deeds - it is such that shall have lofty stations [in the life to come]: 75 The gardens of perpetuity, beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein; and this is the reward of him who has purified himself. 76