His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "So Moses threw down his staff, and behold, it was swallowing what they were falsifying." "Then the magicians were thrown down prostrate." "They said, 'We have believed in the Lord of the worlds.'" "The Lord of Moses and Aaron." "He said, 'Do you believe in him before I give you permission? Indeed, he is your chief who taught you magic. So I will surely cut off your hands and your feet in opposite directions, and I will crucify you all.'" "They said, 'No harm. Indeed, we are returning to our Lord.'" "Indeed, we hope that our Lord will forgive us our sins because we were the first of the believers."

It has been mentioned in other parts of this Surah what people have said regarding the greatness of the serpent when Moses, peace be upon him, threw down his staff. In this verse, there is much left that the apparent meaning indicates. It has been mentioned in other places, which is the fear of Moses, peace be upon him, from the manifestation of their magic and their intimidation of the people, and their illusion that their ropes and staffs were moving with intent. Then the serpent that Allah created in the staff swallowed those ropes and staffs from their ends, and Allah, exalted and majestic is He, eliminated them in its belly. The staff returned to its state when Moses, peace be upon him, took the opening that was at its head and put his hand in its mouth, and it returned to being a staff by the permission of Allah, blessed and exalted is He.

The majority of the readers recited: "swallowing" with a light opening of the 'ta' and the 'lam' and a heavy 'qaf'. Hafs from Asim recited: "it swallows" with a sukoon on the 'lam' and a light 'qaf'. Al-Bazzi and Ibn Fulaih narrated from Ibn Kathir with a heavy 'ta', an opening of the 'lam', and a heavy 'qaf'. It is necessary in this recitation, if one begins, to bring the hamzat al-wasl, and the hamzat al-wasl does not enter upon the present tense verbs, just as it does not enter upon the names of the doers.

And His saying, exalted is He: "what they are falsifying" means: what they are lying about with him and because of him in their saying: 'Indeed, it is a challenge to Moses, peace be upon him, and a type of his action.' And 'ifk' means: lying.

Then when the magicians saw the staff empty of the craft of magic, and they saw afterward from the command of Allah, exalted and majestic is He, what they were certain was not in the power of humans, they submitted. They saw that the gain was faith and adherence to the command of Allah, exalted and majestic is He, so they all prostrated to Allah, exalted is He, acknowledging His oneness and power. They reached their faith because of Moses and Aaron, peace be upon them, and they stated that it was at their hands; for their saying: "the Lord of the worlds" means that. They did not repeat the statement in their saying: "the Lord of Moses and Aaron" except for what we have mentioned.

So when Pharaoh and the elite saw the faith of the magicians, and the evidence was established by the faith of those knowledgeable among them and the possibility of their support, Pharaoh, may Allah curse him, fell into the greatest predicament. He returned to the magicians with this other argument, confronting them and reproaching them for their faith in Moses without his permission. In this statement, there is a significant implication; for one of its possibilities is that if they had asked for his permission in that matter, he would have granted it. Then he threatened them with the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, and with crucifixion on the trunks of palm trees. They said to him: 'No harm,' meaning: it does not harm us with our turning to the forgiveness of Allah, the Exalted, and His pleasure. It has been narrated that he carried out that threat against them and crucified them on the Nile. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him and his father, said: They became magicians in the morning and became martyrs in the evening. Their saying: 'We were the first of the believers' means: from among the Copts and their kind, otherwise, the Children of Israel had already believed. The people read: 'that we' with the opening of the alif, and Aban ibn Taghlib read: 'indeed we' with the breaking of the alif, meaning that their hope was indeed with this condition.