“He (Moses) said: ‘Throw (yours) !
“He (Moses) said: ‘Throw (yours) !’ So when they threw, they bewitched the people’s eyes and terrified them and produced a great magic.”*** Finally, a proper time was appointed for the meeting of Moses (as) and the sorcerers to have their attempts. So all people were invited to come and see the event. When the appointed day came, the sorcerers were completely ready with all their tools for the action.
They had supplied some ropes and staffs which, it seemed, they had been filled with some special chemical materials. These materials could be changed into the form of some light gases before sunshine which could move those ropes and hollow staffs. It was a wonderful scene. Moses, standing before people and the sorcerers, was alone. Only his brother, Aaron, was with him.
The sorcerers told Moses either he would begin the action and cast his means first, or they might start and cast their own means. The verse in this regard says: “They (the sorcerers) said: ‘O’ Moses! Will you throw, or shall we be the (first) throwers?’” Moses, with a particular coolness, answered them that they could begin first.
The verse says: “He (Moses) said: ‘Throw (yours)!…’ When the sorcerers threw down their ropes and other means on the ground, they fascinated people and, by their deceitful deeds and exaggerative statements, they cast a sudden fear and terror upon people, and caused a great sorcery to be produced before them.
“And We revealed to Moses: ‘Throw down your rod!’ And behold, it swallowed (all) that they falsely had invented.”*** At the moment when all people were excited, and happy shouts were heard from every side, Pharaoh and his by-standers were watching the scene of activities of sorcerers, while they were smiling contently and their eyes were glittering with joy. Then suddenly the Divine revelation came unto Moses (as), biding him to throw down the staff. It caused the scene to be changed wholly.
The faces of audience lost their colour, and instability overtook Pharaoh and his adherents.