۞ 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 We showed Pharaoh all Our Signs, but he did reject and refuse. 56 He said: "Hast thou come to drive us out of our land with thy magic, O Moses? 57 by thy sorcery? We shall assuredly bring thee sorcery the like of it; therefore appoint a tryst between us and thee, a place mutually agreeable, and we shall not fail it, neither thou.' 58 Moses said, "Let the contest take place on the Day of Feast so that all the people can come together during the brightness of the day." 59 So Pharaoh withdrew, devised his stratagem and returned. 60 Musa (Moses) said to them: "Woe unto you! Invent not a lie against Allah, lest He should destroy you completely by a torment. And surely, he who invents a lie (against Allah) will fail miserably." 61 So they debated among themselves as to what to do; but they kept their counsel secret, 62 saying, 'These two men are sorcerers and their purpose is to expel you out of your land by their sorcery, and to extirpate your justest way. 63 So prepare your strategy and come forward. He alone shall win today who is superior." 64 They said, "O Moses, either you throw or we will be the first to throw." 65 He answered: "Nay, you throw [first]." And lo! by virtue of their sorcery, their [magic] ropes and staffs seemed to him to be moving rapidly: 66 So Musa conceived in his mind a fear. 67 Allah said, "Fear not. Indeed, it is you who are superior. 68 And [now] throw that [staff] which is in thy right hand - it shall swallow up all that they have wrought: [for] they have wrought only a sorcerer's artifice, and the sorcerer can never come to any good, whatever he may aim at!" 69 Eventually the magicians were impelled to fall down prostrate and said: "We believe in the Lord of Moses and Aaron." 70 The Pharaoh said, "Since you believed in him without my permission, then Moses certainly must be your chief who has taught you magic. I shall cut your hands and feet on alternate sides and crucify you on the trunk of the palm-tree. You shall certainly find which among us can afflict a more severe and lasting punishment". 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 Gehenna (Hell) awaits whosoever comes before his Lord as a sinner, there he shall neither die nor live. 74 But whoso cometh unto Him a believer, having done good works, for such are the high stations; 75 The gardens of perpetuity, beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein; and this is the reward of him who has purified himself. 76