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In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
- So there came the sorcerers to Pharaoh: They said "Of course we shall have a (suitable) reward if we win!"
- He said: "Yea, (and more), for ye shall in that case be (raised to posts) nearest (to my person)."
- They said: "O Moses! wilt thou throw (first), or shall we have the (first) throw?"
- Said Moses: "Throw ye (first)." So when they threw, they bewitched the eyes of the people, and struck terror into them: For they showed a great (feat of) magic.
- We put it into Moses's mind by inspiration: "Throw (now) thy rod": And behold! it swallows up straightway all the falsehoods which they fake!
- Thus truth was confirmed, and all that they did was made of no effect.
- So the (great ones) were vanquished there and then, and were made to look small.
- But the sorcerers fell down prostrate in adoration.
- Saying: "we believe in the Lord of the worlds,
- "The Lord of Moses and Aaron."
- Said Pharaoh: "believe ye in him before I give you permission? Surely this is a trick which ye have planned in the city to drive out its people: But soon shall ye know (the consequences).
- "Be sure I will cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I will cause you all to die on the cross."
- They said: "For us, we are but sent back unto our Lord:
- "But thou dost wreak thy vengeance on us simply because we believed in the signs of our Lord when they reached us! Our Lord! pour out on us patience and constancy, and take our souls unto thee as Muslims (who bow to thy will)"!
- Said the chiefs of Pharaoh's people: "Wilt thou leave Moses and his people, to spread mischief in the land, and to abandon thee and thy gods?" He said: "Their male children will we slay; (only) their females will we save alive; and we have over them (power) irresistible."
- Said Moses to his people: "Pray for help from Allah, and (wait) in patience and constancy: For the earth is Allah's to give as a heritage to such of his servants as He pleaseth; and the end is (best) for the righteous."
- They said: "We have had (nothing but) trouble, both before and after thou comest to us." He said: "It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you inheritors in the earth; that so He may try you by your deeds."
- We punished the people of Pharaoh with years (of drought) and shortness of crops; that they might receive admonition.
- But when good (times) came, they said, "This is due to us"; when gripped by calamity, they ascribed it to evil omens connected with Moses and those with him! Behold! in truth the omens of evil are theirs in Allah's sight, but most of them do not understand!
- They said (to Moses): "Whatever be the signs thou bringest, to work therewith the sorcery on us, we shall never believe in thee."
- So We sent (plagues) on them, wholesale death, Locusts, Lice, Frogs, and Blood: Signs openly Self-explained; but they were steeped in arrogance, a people given to sin.
- Every time the penalty fell on them, they said: "O Moses! on our behalf call on thy Lord in virtue of his promise to thee: If thou wilt remove the penalty from us we shall truly believe in thee, and we shall send away the children of Israel with thee."
- But every time We removed the penalty from them according to a fixed term which they had to fulfil, Behold! they broke their word!
- So We exacted retribution from them: We drowned them in the sea, because they rejected Our signs, and failed to take warning from them.
- And We made a people, considered weak (and of no account), inheritors of lands in both east and west, lands whereon We sent down our blessings. The fair promise of the Lord was fulfilled for the children of Israel, because they had patience and constancy, and We levelled to the ground the great works and fine buildings which Pharaoh and his people erected (with such pride).
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