۞ From this very earth We created you and to the same earth We shall cause you to return, and from it We shall bring you forth to life again. 55 And We certainly showed Pharaoh Our signs - all of them - but he denied and refused. 56 He said: "Hast thou come to drive us out of our land by thy sorcery, O Moses? 57 We will certainly bring you magic to match it. So appoint a time between us and you, in an open space, which neither we nor you will fail to keep." 58 [Moses] said, "Your appointment is on the day of the festival when the people assemble at mid-morning." 59 So Fir'aun (Pharaoh) withdrew, devised his plot and then came back. 60 and Moses said to them, 'O beware! Forge not a lie against God, lest He destroy you with a chastisement. Whoso forges has ever failed.' 61 So they discussed their strategy among themselves and conferred privately, 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 Gather your guile and then lineup a rank those who gain the upper hand today shall indeed prosper' 64 They said: O Moses! Either throw first, or let us 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 Moses became fearful within himself. 67 We said: Fear not, surely you shall be the uppermost, 68 Throw down what is in your right hand: It will swallow up what they have conjured. For what they have fashioned is only a trick of the sorcerer; and a sorcerer does not succeed wherever he may come." 69 So the magicians fell down prostrate. They said: "We believe in the Lord of Harun (Aaron) and Musa (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 shall never prefer you above the clear proofs that have come to us from the One Who has created us – therefore carry out what you want to; only in the life of this world will you be able to!” 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 Indeed, whoever comes to his Lord as a criminal - indeed, for him is Hell; he will neither die therein nor live. 74 But whoever comes to Him (Allah) as a believer (in the Oneness of Allah, etc.), and has done righteous good deeds, for such are the high ranks (in the Hereafter), 75 Everlasting Gardens of Eden beneath which rivers flow, abiding in them for ever; and this is the reward of one who became pure. 76