Page 84 - Perfected Faith

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PERFECTED FAITH

The Faith of The Magicians
The Prophet Musa (as) conveyed Allah's message to Pharaoh and
supported his words with the performance of the miracles Allah
granted to him. This forthright and convincing manner of Musa (as)
made Pharaoh feel arrogant. In an effort to counteract the powerful
influence of Musa (as) and to humiliate him in the eyes of his people,
he held a competition between Musa (as) and his most trustworthy
magicians. Pharaoh was actually afraid that all the Egyptian people
would believe in Allah and abandon their false religions. His sole aim
being the survival of his system, a fraudulent gambit, he thought,
would suffice to protect and even consolidate his system.
When the appointed time arrived, the Prophet Musa (as) and the
magicians appeared before the public. When the magicians per-
formed their magic, their ropes and staffs appeared to slither. Then
Musa (as) threw down his staff, which swallowed up the sorcery of
the Pharaoh's magicians. The Qur'an relates this story as follows:
They said, "Musa, will you throw first or shall we be the ones to
throw?" He said, "You throw." And when they threw, they cast a
spell on the people's eyes and caused them to feel great fear of
them. They produced an extremely powerful magic. Then We
inspired to Musa, "Now throw down your staff." And it imme-
diately swallowed up their false devices. So the Truth prevailed
and all that they had done was shown to be false. They were de-
feated then and there, and put to shame. (Surat al-A'raf, 115-119)
Believing this to be a sign of the existence of Allah and evidence of
Allah's support to Musa (as), the magicians embraced the faith:
The magicians prostrated themselves in adoration. They said,
"We believe in the Lord of all the worlds, the Lord of Musa and
Harun." (Surat ash-Shu'ara', 46-48)
The magicians' choice, consequent upon the Prophet Musa (as)'s ex-
posure of their sorcery as fraudulent, was indeed a great defeat for
Pharaoh, hence the fierceness of his reaction. After all, he had been