Taa-Haa · Surah 20

And I have attached thee to Myself

Go, thou and thy brother, with My tokens, and be not faint in remembrance of Me

Go, both of you, unto Pharaoh. Lo! he hath transgressed (the bounds)

And speak unto him a gentle word, that peradventure he may heed or fear

They said: Our Lord! Lo! we fear that he may be beforehand with us or that he may play the tyrant

He said: Fear not. Lo! I am with you twain, Hearing and Seeing

So go ye unto him and say: Lo! we are two messengers of thy Lord. So let the children of Israel go with us, and torment them not. We bring thee a token from thy Lord. And peace will be for him who followeth right guidance

Lo! it hath been revealed unto us that the doom will be for him who denieth and turneth away

(Pharaoh) said: Who then is the Lord of you twain, O Moses

He said: Our Lord is He Who gave unto everything its nature, then guided it aright

He said: What then is the state of the generations of old

He said: The knowledge thereof is with my Lord in a Record. My Lord neither erreth nor forgetteth

Who hath appointed the earth as a bed and hath threaded roads for you therein and hath sent down water from the sky and thereby We have brought forth divers kinds of vegetation

(Saying): Eat ye and feed your cattle. Lo! herein verily are portents for men of thought

Thereof We created you, and thereunto We return you, and thence We bring you forth a second time

And We verily did show him all Our tokens, but he denied them and refused

He said: Hast come to drive us out from our land by thy magic, O Moses

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)

(Moses) said: Your tryst shall be the day of the feast, and let the people assemble when the sun hath risen high

Then Pharaoh went and gathered his strength, then came (to the appointed tryst)

Moses said unto them: Woe unto you! Invent not a lie against Allah, lest He extirpate you by some punishment. He who lieth faileth miserably

Then they debated one with another what they must do, and they kept their counsel secret

They said: Lo! these are two wizards who would drive you out from your country by their magic, and destroy your best traditions

So arrange your plan, and come in battle line. Whoso is uppermost this day will be indeed successful

They said: O Moses! Either throw first, or let us be the first to throw

He said: Nay, do ye throw! Then lo! their cords and their staves, by their magic, appeared to him as though they ran

And Moses conceived a fear in his mind

We said: Fear not! Lo! thou art the higher

Throw that which is in thy right hand! It will eat up that which they have made. Lo! that which they have made is but a wizard's artifice, and a wizard shall not be successful to whatever point (of skill) he may attain

Then the wizards were (all) flung down prostrate, crying: We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses

(Pharaoh) said: Ye put faith in him before I give you leave. Lo! he is your chief who taught you magic. Now surely I shall cut off your hands and your feet alternately, and I shall crucify you on the trunks of palm trees, and ye shall know for certain which of us hath sterner and more lasting punishment

They said: We choose thee not above the clear proofs that have come unto us, and above Him Who created us. So decree what thou wilt decree. Thou wilt end for us only this life of the world

Lo! we believe in our Lord, that He may forgive us our sins and the magic unto which thou didst force us. Allah is better and more lasting

Lo! whoso cometh guilty unto his Lord, verily for him is hell. There he will neither die nor live

But whoso cometh unto Him a believer, having done good works, for such are the high stations

Gardens of Eden underneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide for ever. That is the reward of him who groweth

And verily We inspired Moses, saying: Take away My slaves by night and strike for them a dry path in the sea, fearing not to be overtaken, neither being afraid (of the sea)

Then Pharaoh followed them with his hosts and there covered them that which did cover them of the sea

And Pharaoh led his folk astray, he did not guide them

O Children of Israel! We delivered you from your enemy, and we made a covenant with you on the holy mountain's side, and sent down on you the manna and the quails