كُلُوا۟ وَٱرْعَوْا۟ أَنْعَٰمَكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَءَايَٰتٍۢ لِّأُو۟لِى ٱلنُّهَىٰ
‘Eat and pasture your cattle.’ There are indeed signs in that for those who have sense.
۞ مِنْهَا خَلَقْنَٰكُمْ وَفِيهَا نُعِيدُكُمْ وَمِنْهَا نُخْرِجُكُمْ تَارَةً أُخْرَىٰ
From it did We create you, into it shall We return you, and from it shall We bring you forth another time.
وَلَقَدْ أَرَيْنَٰهُ ءَايَٰتِنَا كُلَّهَا فَكَذَّبَ وَأَبَىٰ
Certainly We showed him all Our signs. But he denied [them] and refused [to believe them].
قَالَ أَجِئْتَنَا لِتُخْرِجَنَا مِنْ أَرْضِنَا بِسِحْرِكَ يَٰمُوسَىٰ
He said, ‘Moses, have you come to us to expel us from our land with your magic?
فَلَنَأْتِيَنَّكَ بِسِحْرٍۢ مِّثْلِهِۦ فَٱجْعَلْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكَ مَوْعِدًۭا لَّا نُخْلِفُهُۥ نَحْنُ وَلَآ أَنتَ مَكَانًۭا سُوًۭى
Yet we [too] will bring you a magic like it! So fix a tryst between us and you, which neither we shall fail nor you, at a middle place.’
قَالَ مَوْعِدُكُمْ يَوْمُ ٱلزِّينَةِ وَأَن يُحْشَرَ ٱلنَّاسُ ضُحًۭى
He said, ‘Your tryst shall be the Day of Adornment, and let the people be assembled in early forenoon.’
فَتَوَلَّىٰ فِرْعَوْنُ فَجَمَعَ كَيْدَهُۥ ثُمَّ أَتَىٰ
Then Pharaoh withdrew [to consult privately], summoned up his guile, and then arrived [at the scene of the contest].
قَالَ لَهُم مُّوسَىٰ وَيْلَكُمْ لَا تَفْتَرُوا۟ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًۭا فَيُسْحِتَكُم بِعَذَابٍۢ ۖ وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنِ ٱفْتَرَىٰ
Moses said to them, ‘Woe to you! Do not fabricate lies against Allah, or He will obliterate you with a punishment. Whoever fabricates lies certainly fails.’
فَتَنَٰزَعُوٓا۟ أَمْرَهُم بَيْنَهُمْ وَأَسَرُّوا۟ ٱلنَّجْوَىٰ
So they disputed their matter among themselves, and kept their confidential talks secret.
قَالُوٓا۟ إِنْ هَٰذَٰنِ لَسَٰحِرَٰنِ يُرِيدَانِ أَن يُخْرِجَاكُم مِّنْ أَرْضِكُم بِسِحْرِهِمَا وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ ٱلْمُثْلَىٰ
They said, ‘These two are indeed magicians who intend to expel you from your land with their magic, and to abolish your excellent tradition!
فَأَجْمِعُوا۟ كَيْدَكُمْ ثُمَّ ٱئْتُوا۟ صَفًّۭا ۚ وَقَدْ أَفْلَحَ ٱلْيَوْمَ مَنِ ٱسْتَعْلَىٰ
So summon up your ingenuity, then come in ranks. Today he who has the upper hand will be felicitous!’
قَالُوا۟ يَٰمُوسَىٰٓ إِمَّآ أَن تُلْقِىَ وَإِمَّآ أَن نَّكُونَ أَوَّلَ مَنْ أَلْقَىٰ
They said, ‘O Moses! Will you throw first, or shall we?’
قَالَ بَلْ أَلْقُوا۟ ۖ فَإِذَا حِبَالُهُمْ وَعِصِيُّهُمْ يُخَيَّلُ إِلَيْهِ مِن سِحْرِهِمْ أَنَّهَا تَسْعَىٰ
He said, ‘No, you throw first.’ Thereupon, behold, their ropes and staffs appeared to him by their magic to wriggle swiftly.
فَأَوْجَسَ فِى نَفْسِهِۦ خِيفَةًۭ مُّوسَىٰ
Then Moses felt a fear within his heart.
قُلْنَا لَا تَخَفْ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْأَعْلَىٰ
We said, ‘Do not be afraid. Indeed, you will have the upper hand.
وَأَلْقِ مَا فِى يَمِينِكَ تَلْقَفْ مَا صَنَعُوٓا۟ ۖ إِنَّمَا صَنَعُوا۟ كَيْدُ سَٰحِرٍۢ ۖ وَلَا يُفْلِحُ ٱلسَّاحِرُ حَيْثُ أَتَىٰ
Throw down what is in your right hand, and it will swallow what they have conjured. What they have conjured is only a magician’s trick, and the magician does not fare well wherever he may show up.’
فَأُلْقِىَ ٱلسَّحَرَةُ سُجَّدًۭا قَالُوٓا۟ ءَامَنَّا بِرَبِّ هَٰرُونَ وَمُوسَىٰ
Thereat the magicians fell down prostrating. They said, ‘We have believed in the Lord of Aaron and Moses!’
قَالَ ءَامَنتُمْ لَهُۥ قَبْلَ أَنْ ءَاذَنَ لَكُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ لَكَبِيرُكُمُ ٱلَّذِى عَلَّمَكُمُ ٱلسِّحْرَ ۖ فَلَأُقَطِّعَنَّ أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُم مِّنْ خِلَٰفٍۢ وَلَأُصَلِّبَنَّكُمْ فِى جُذُوعِ ٱلنَّخْلِ وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ أَيُّنَآ أَشَدُّ عَذَابًۭا وَأَبْقَىٰ
He said, ‘Did you believe in him before I should permit you? He is indeed your chief who has taught you magic! Surely, I will cut off your hands and feet from opposite sides, and I will crucify you on the trunks of palm trees, and you will know which of us can inflict a severer and more lasting punishment.’
قَالُوا۟ لَن نُّؤْثِرَكَ عَلَىٰ مَا جَآءَنَا مِنَ ٱلْبَيِّنَٰتِ وَٱلَّذِى فَطَرَنَا ۖ فَٱقْضِ مَآ أَنتَ قَاضٍ ۖ إِنَّمَا تَقْضِى هَٰذِهِ ٱلْحَيَوٰةَ ٱلدُّنْيَآ
They said, ‘We will never prefer you to the clear proofs which have come to us, and to Him who originated us. Decide whatever you want to decide. You can only decide about the life of this world.
إِنَّآ ءَامَنَّا بِرَبِّنَا لِيَغْفِرَ لَنَا خَطَٰيَٰنَا وَمَآ أَكْرَهْتَنَا عَلَيْهِ مِنَ ٱلسِّحْرِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ خَيْرٌۭ وَأَبْقَىٰٓ
We have indeed believed in our Lord that He may forgive us our offences and the magic you compelled us to perform. Allah is better and more lasting.’
إِنَّهُۥ مَن يَأْتِ رَبَّهُۥ مُجْرِمًۭا فَإِنَّ لَهُۥ جَهَنَّمَ لَا يَمُوتُ فِيهَا وَلَا يَحْيَىٰ
Whoever comes to his Lord laden with guilt, for him shall be hell, where he will neither live nor die.
وَمَن يَأْتِهِۦ مُؤْمِنًۭا قَدْ عَمِلَ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ لَهُمُ ٱلدَّرَجَٰتُ ٱلْعُلَىٰ
But whoever comes to Him with faith and he has done righteous deeds, for such shall be the highest ranks
جَنَّٰتُ عَدْنٍۢ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ جَزَآءُ مَن تَزَكَّىٰ
—the Gardens of Eden, with streams running in them, to abide in them [forever], and that is the reward of him who keeps pure.
English translation: Ali Quli Qarai
Triangulated from Ṭabarsī (Majmaʿ al-Bayān) [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan], al-Qummī [qummi], al-Ṭūsī (al-Tibyān) [tusi_al_tibyan], al-Baḥrānī (al-Burhān) [bahrani_al_burhan] and al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī (al-Mīzān) [tabatabai_al_mizan]; the published Enlightening Commentary is carried alongside.
Human-review flags: al-Baḥrānī [bahrani_al_burhan] — narration-collection with isnād chains abridged; al-Mīzān [tabatabai_al_mizan] — long bayān unit condensed, rendered here for 54–76.
What the passage says. The section closes the earthly-guidance verse ("from it We created you," 54–55), notes Pharaoh's denial of "all Our signs" (56), and turns to the confrontation with the sorcerers: Pharaoh's charge of sorcery and land-theft (57), the tryst set for the Day of Adornment (58–59), Moses' warning against fabricating lies against God (61), the sorcerers' secret counsel and Pharaoh's rallying of them (62–64), the contest, Moses' fleeting fear, and the swallowing staff (65–69), the sorcerers' prostration and confession, Pharaoh's threat of mutilation and crucifixion, and their fearless answer (70–73), sealed with the two recompenses — Hell for the criminal, the highest gardens for the purified believer (74–76).
"Those of understanding" (54). Where Ṭabarsī [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and al-Ṭūsī [tusi_al_tibyan] gloss ulī al-nuhā lexically ("the people of reason who restrain themselves"), al-Qummī [qummi] and al-Baḥrānī [bahrani_al_burhan] preserve the emphatic Imāmī reading (via Marwān/ʿAmmār b. Marwān, and Mūsā b. Jaʿfar): "We, by God, are 'those of understanding'" — the Imams who bear the foreknowledge of the caliphate and the Umayyads and keep it in taqiyya. al-Qummī frames the whole with ʿAlī's Ṣiffīn oath-and-exception, a companion-piece to the "gentle word" of the previous passage. al-Baḥrānī alone attaches to verse 55 the striking clay-kneading tradition explaining the washing of the dead.
The confrontation (57–64). al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī [tabatabai_al_mizan] reads Pharaoh's two-pronged charge — sorcery plus the "political" accusation of expelling the Copts — and, distinctively, takes "fabricating a lie against God" (61) as the idolatrous creed itself, so the sorcerers' dispute (62) is the first crack Moses' plain proof opened in them. Ṭabarsī [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and al-Ṭūsī [tusi_al_tibyan] canvass the readings of {inna hādhān} at length — both settling on the Kināna/Banū al-Ḥārith dialect (keeping the dual in alif) and defending the muṣḥaf against the "scribal error" claim — and array the views on al-ṭarīqa al-muthlā (the notables, the Israelites, or the national religion), Ṭabarsī uniquely citing ʿAlī (a): "turn people's faces to themselves."
Moses' fear (67). This is the passage's psychological crux, and the sources diverge. Ṭabarsī [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and al-Ṭūsī [tusi_al_tibyan] offer both the "fear of confusion among the people" and "the natural fear of a mortal," and share the naturalistic detail that the ropes moved because quicksilver within them expanded in the sun. al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī [tabatabai_al_mizan] insists it was a faint, fleeting inner impression showing no outward trace — refuting both the "great fear" and "fear of dispersal" readings as clashing with Moses' trust in God. al-Baḥrānī [bahrani_al_burhan] supplies the theological answer: Moses feared where Abraham (in the catapult) did not, because Abraham was "supported by the lights of the Proofs in his loins" — and the tawassul narration in which Moses is secured by "the right of Muḥammad and his family."
The sorcerers transformed (70–76). All read the passive "were cast down prostrate" and the confession "Lord of Aaron and Moses." al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī [tabatabai_al_mizan] gives the fullest reading of their fearless reply as men whom the truth had cleansed of "cowardice, flattery and desire," naming God three ways each with its own proof; Ṭabarsī [tabarsi_majma_al_bayan] and al-Ṭūsī [tusi_al_tibyan] add that kings coerced sorcery-training (explaining "the sorcery you compelled us to") and read {neither dies nor lives} as unending punishment without rest.
Sources present: tabarsi_majma_al_bayan, qummi, tusi_al_tibyan, bahrani_al_burhan, tabatabai_al_mizan, enlightening_commentary; silent: none.