۞ 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 So We showed him all Our signs, but he denied them and refused, 56 He [Fir'aun (Pharaoh)] said: "Have you come to drive us out of our land with your magic, O Musa (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 He (Moses) replied: 'Your meeting shall be on the day of the feast, and let the people be assembled by midmorning' 59 So Fir'aun (Pharaoh) withdrew, devised his plot and then came back. 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 wrangled about their affair among themselves, and kept secret their private counsel. 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 resolve upon your plan and then come [forward] in line. And he has succeeded today who overcomes." 64 They said: "O Moses! whether wilt thou that thou throw (first) or that we be the first to throw?" 65 Moses said, "You throw down first." Suddenly their ropes and staffs appeared to him, by their magic, to be moving about rapidly, 66 Then a kind of fear in his soul Musa felt. 67 But We said to him: 'Do not be afraid; you shall surely be the uppermost. 68 And cast down what is in your right hand; it shall devour what they have wrought; they have wrought only the plan of a magician, and the magician shall not be successful wheresoever he may come from. 69 So the magicians fell down prostrate. They said: "We believe in the Lord of Harun (Aaron) and Musa (Moses)." 70 [Pharaoh] said, "You believed him before I gave you permission. Indeed, he is your leader who has taught you magic. So I will surely cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I will crucify you on the trunks of palm trees, and you will surely know which of us is more severe in [giving] punishment and more enduring." 71 They (the magicians) said, "We would never prefer you to the miracles that we have seen or to our Creator. Do what you want. This life is only for a short time. 72 We have faith in our Lord so that He will forgive our sins and our magical performances that you forced us to show. God is better than all things and His rewards last longer." 73 Indeed the one who comes guilty to his Lord – so undoubtedly for him is hell; neither dying nor living in it. 74 And whosoever cometh unto Him as a believer, and he hath done righteous works - then these! for them are ranks high. 75 The gardens of perpetuity, beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein; and this is the reward of him who has purified himself. 76