Al Shu‘arā’

فَأَلْقَى مُوسَى عَصَاهُ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَلْقَفُ مَا يَأْفِكُونَ

فَأُلْقِيَ السَّحَرَةُ سَاجِدِينَ

قَالُوا آمَنَّا بِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

رَبِّ مُوسَى وَهَارُونَ

45. “Then Moses cast down his rod, when, behold, it swallowed up that which they falsely displayed.”
46. “Then the sorcerers were flung prostrate.”
47. “They said: ‘We believe in the Lord of the worlds’!”
48. “The Lord of Moses and Aaron’.”

Under Allah’s administration the universe is on the way of perfection. As soon as the wizards saw that Moses’ staff changed into a great serpent, they became faithful. It is narrated that when Imam Mahdi (as) appears, the western and eastern experts will believe in him, for they will understand the magnificence of his job better than others. Anyway, we read in the previous verses that Pharaoh and the wizards got happy and satisfied by seeing their wizardly action.

In these verses, we read that Moses (as) did not give them much time to enjoy their action. The Qur’an says:

At that time, all people got silent and the mouths remained open and the eyes remained still out of astonishment, as if they were dried over there. But very soon terrible cries took place of silence, some people escaped, some stood to see what would finally happen, some cried unintentionally, and the wizards’ mouth remained open surprisingly. At that time, suddenly every thing changed; the wizards, who advocated Pharaoh and fought Moses (as) up that moment, came to their senses, for they knew all mysteries and skills of wizardry. They were assured that this issue was not certainly magic and it was a great divine miracle.

The Holy Qur’an says:

It is interesting that the holy Qur’an uses the word /’ulqiya/ which philologically means to be thrown down. It refers to this matter that the wizards were so influenced by the miracle of Moses (as) that all of a sudden they spontaneously fell on the ground and prostrated. Finally, the next verse implies that accompanied with this action, that was a clear proof for their faith, they also said by their tongues that they believed in the Lord of the worlds.

The verse says:

Then to clarify any doubt and to prevent Pharaoh from interpreting this sentence according to his own will, they added:

This shows that although Moses (as) did speak to the wizards and performed throwing the staff, his brother, Aaron, was accompanying him and was ready to help him in any way possible. After this strange change that happened in the wizards’ morale, they, in a short moment, came out of an absolute darkness and stepped into a dazzling brightness. They turned their back on all the benefits and advantages they expected Pharaoh. It was easy for them to expose their life to danger, for they could differentiate the Truth from the falseness and they resorted to the Truth because of their new knowledge.

They did not pave the rest of the path by the foot of intellect, but they went on eagerly, mounting on the fine mount of ‘Love’. They were so devoted that they could encounter any danger. We will see that, for this very reason, they heroically resisted all Pharaoh threats. The Prophet (S) said:

“Every heart is at the mercy of Allah, the Beneficent. If He wills, He will guide it. And if He wills, He will mislead it.” ⁴

(It is clear that Allah’s will in these two phases is derived from individuals’ predisposition and readiness, and this divine success and lack of it is because of various situations of hearts, and it is not undue.)