Commentary
What they are diverting is what they are turning away from its face and truth with their magic and schemes. They distort it and make it seem in their ropes and staffs as if it were living creatures moving, by deceiving the onlookers or their falsehood: He named those things falsehood in exaggeration. It has been narrated that they said: If what Moses has brought is magic, it will not prevail, and if it is from Allah, it will not be hidden from us. So when he threw down his staff and it swallowed what they had brought, they knew it was from Allah and believed. And regarding 'Ikrimah, may Allah be pleased with him: They became magicians in the morning and martyrs in the evening. He expressed the act of falling as throwing down, because it was mentioned with the acts of throwing down, so he took this path of similarity. Also, in consideration of similarity, when they saw what they saw, they could not help but throw themselves to the ground in prostration, as if they were taken and thrown down. If you say: What is the doer of the throwing down if it were to be specified? I say: It is Allah, the Exalted, by what He granted them of guidance. Or their faith. Or what they witnessed of the wondrous miracles. And you may not specify a doer, because 'they threw down' means they fell and collapsed. 'Lord of Moses and Aaron' is an appositive to 'Lord of the worlds,' because Pharaoh, may Allah curse him, claimed divinity, so they wanted to isolate him. The meaning of attributing it to them in that context is that He is the one whom these two call to, and the one who brought forth through their hands what He brought forth.
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