of generations past?"10
He said, "The knowledge thereof is with my Lord in the Book of his decrees.
My Lord erreth not, nor forgetteth.
He hath spread the earth as a bed, and hath traced out paths for you therein, and hath sent down rain from Heaven, and by it we bring forth the kinds11 of various herbs:
-'Eat ye, and feed your cattle.' Of a truth in this are signs unto men endued with understanding.
From it have we created you, and into it will we return you, and out of it will we bring you forth a second time."12
And we shewed him all our signs: but he treated them as falsehoods, and refused to believe.
He said, "Hast thou come, O Moses, to drive us from our land by thine enchantments?
Therefore will we assuredly confront thee with like enchantments: so appoint a meeting between us and you-we will not fail it, we, and do not thou-in a place alike for both."
He said, "On the feast day13 be your meeting, and in broad daylight let the people be assembled."
And Pharaoh turned away, and collected his craftsmen and came.
Said Moses to them, "Woe to you! devise not a lie against God:
For then will he destroy you by a punishment. They who have lied have ever perished."
And the magicians discussed their plan, and spake apart in secret:
They said, "These two are surely sorcerers: fain would they drive you from your land by their sorceries, and lead away in their paths your chiefest men:
So muster your craft: then come in order: well this day shall it be for him, who shall gain the upper hand."
They said, "O Moses, wilt thou first cast down thy rod, or shall we be the first who cast?"
He said, "Yes, cast ye down first." And lo! by their enchantment their cords and rods seemed to him as if they ran.
And Moses conceived a secret fear within him.
We said, "Fear not, for thou shalt be the uppermost:
Cast forth then what is in thy right hand: it shall swallow up what they have produced: they have only produced the deceit of an enchanter: and come where he may, ill shall an enchanter fare."
And the magicians fell down and worshipped. They said,
"We believe in the Lord of Aaron and of Moses."
Said Pharaoh, "Believe ye on him ere I give you leave? He, in sooth, is your Master who hath taught you magic. I will therefore cut off your hands and your feet on opposite sides, and I will crucify you on trunks of the palm, and assuredly shall ye learn which of us is severest in punishing, and who is the more abiding."14
They said, "We will not have more regard to thee than to the clear tokens which have come to us, or than to Him who hath made us: doom the doom thou wilt: Thou canst only doom as to this present life: of a truth we have believed on our Lord that he may pardon us our sins and the sorcery to which thou hast forced us, for God is better, and more abiding than thou.15
As for him who shall come before his Lord laden with crime-for him verily is
Hell: he shall not die in it and he shall not live.
But he who shall come before Him, a believer, with righteous works,-these! the loftiest grades await them:
Gardens of Eden, beneath whose trees16 the rivers flow: therein shall they abide for ever. This, the reward of him who hath been pure."
Then revealed we to Moses, "Go forth by night with my servants and cleave for them a dry path in the sea;
Fear not thou to be overtaken, neither be thou afraid."
And Pharaoh followed them with his hosts, and the whelming billows of the sea overwhelmed them,17 for Pharaoh misled his people, and did not guide them.
O children of Israel! we rescued you from your foes; and We appointed a meeting with you on the right side of the mountain; and We caused the manna and the quail to descend upon you:
"Eat," said We, "of the good things with which we have supplied you; but without excess, lest my wrath fall upon you; for on whom my wrath doth fall, he perisheth outright.
Surely however will I forgive him who turneth to God and believeth, and worketh righteousness, and then yieldeth to guidance.
But what hath hastened thee on apart from thy people,18 O Moses?"
He said, "They are hard on my footsteps: but to thee, O Lord, have I hastened, that thou mightest be well pleased with me."
He said, "Of a truth now have we proved thy people since thou didst leave them, and Samiri19 had led them astray."
And Moses returned to his people, angered, sorrowful.
He said, "O my people! did not your Lord promise you a good promise? Was the time of my absence long to you? or desired ye that wrath from your Lord should light upon you, that ye failed in your promise to me?"
They said, "Not of our own accord have we failed in the promise to thee, but we were made to bring loads of the people's trinkets, and we threw them into the fire and Samiri likewise cast them in, and brought forth to them a corporeal lowing20 calf: and they said, "This is your God and the God of Moses, whom he hath forgotten."'
What! saw they not that it returned them no answer, and could neither hurt nor help them?
And Aaron had before said to them, "O my people! by this calf are ye only proved: surely your Lord is the God of Mercy: follow me therefore and obey my bidding."
They said, "We will not cease devotion to it, till Moses come back to us."
He said, "O Aaron! when thou sawest that they had gone astray, what hindered thee from following me? Hast thou then disobeyed my command?"
He said, "O Son of my mother! seize me not by my beard, nor by my head: indeed I feared lest thou shouldst say,
Thou hast rent the children of Isreal asunder, and hast not observed my orders."'
He said, "And what was thy motive, O Samiri?" He said, "I saw what they saw not: so I took a handful of dust from the track21 of the messenger of God, and flung it into the calf, for so my soul prompted me."
He said, "Begone then: verily thy doom even in this life shall be to say, 'Touch me not.'22 And there is a threat against thee, which thou shalt not escape hereafter. Now look at thy god to which thou hast continued so devoted: we will surely burn it and reduce it to ashes, which we will cast into the sea.
Your God is God, beside whom there is no God: In his knowledge he embraceth all things."
Thus do We recite to thee histories of what passed of old; and from ourself have we given thee admonition.
Whoso shall turn aside from it shall verily carry a burden on