26:37 “Let them summon every experienced magician.” 26:38 The magicians were gathered at the appointed time, on the appointed day. 26:39 The people were told: “Come one and all; let us gather together here. 26:40 “Maybe we will follow the magicians, if they are the winners.” 26:41 When the magicians came, they said to Pharaoh, “Do we get paid, if we are the winners?” 26:42 He said, “Yes indeed; you will even be close to me.” 26:43 Moses said to them, “Throw what you are going to throw.” They threw their ropes and sticks, and said, “By Pharaoh’s majesty, we will be the victors.” Moses threw his staff, whereupon it swallowed what they fabricated. The magicians fell prostrate. They said, “We believe in the Lord of the universe. “The Lord of Moses and Aaron.” He said, “Did you believe with him before I give you permission? He must be your teacher, who taught you magic. You will surely find out. I will cut your hands and feet on alternate sides. I will crucify you all.” They said, “This will not change our decision; to our Lord we will return. “We hope that our Lord will forgive us our sins, especially that we are the first believers.”
When the magicians, that Pharaoh summoned to challenge Moses, saw the miracle that Moses produced by God’s leave they immediately became believers. This is because they knew that what they just witnessed was not the mere sleight of hand, but as experts in their field they instantly realized what they saw with their own eyes was nothing short of an absolute miracle. And this impact caused them to immediately fall prostrate and reach a level of conviction that they were willing to give their lives over.
In Classical Arabic if the word is written in the past tense adding the oo sound over the first root letter implies that the sbuject noun is the one which the act is being carried over. So for instance, أَنْزَلَ (anzala) would be translated as “he sent” while أُنْزِلَ (unzila) would be translated as “he was sent” such that something was sent to him.
What is interesting is that the Arabic word used in the verses about the magicians falling prostrate is أُلْقِيَ (ul’qiya) as opposed to أَلْقَىٰ (alqaw). This would mean that the magicians were thrown down, as opposed to they fell down prostrating.
26:44 They threw their ropes and sticks, and said, “By Pharaoh’s majesty, we will be the victors.”
For some time I wondered why this phrase was used and think I finally understand the reason and it is directly related to the conviction that the magicians had once they saw the truth. To help explain this ask yourself do you truly believe in God? If so, then you must believe that God is right next to you at this very moment and for every moment of your entire life.
2:186 When My servants ask you about Me, I am always near. I answer their prayers when they pray to Me. The people shall respond to Me and believe in Me, in order to be guided.
8:24 O you who believe, you shall respond to GOD and to the messenger when he invites you to what gives you life. Y ou should know that GOD is closer to you than your heart, and that before Him you will be summoned.
If we truly believed in this how would that impact us? If you want to know what this would be like consider what happend when God attempted to manifest Himself to a mountain.
7:143 When Moses came at our appointed time, and his Lord spoke with him, he said, “My Lord, let me look and see You.” He said, “You cannot see Me. Look at that mountain; if it stays in its place, then you can see Me.” Then, his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, and this caused it to crumble. Moses fell unconscious. When he came to, he said, “Be You glorified. I repent to You, and I am the most convinced believer.”
The Quran is the word of a God and a sign and miracle from Him, and God informs us that even if this was revealed to a mountain what would happen.
59:21 If we revealed this Quran to a mountain, you would see it trembling, crumbling, out of reverence for GOD. We cite these examples for the people, that they may reflect.
Now consider again the magicians who at a moment saw with absolute certainty the proof of God fully presented to them, and realize that they had no choice but to be thrown down prostrating at a such a miraculous event. Yet the laymen who saw the same thing had no value to what they just witnessed.
19:58 These are some of the prophets whom GOD blessed. They were chosen from among the descendants of Adam, and the descendants of those whom we carried with Noah, and the descendants of Abraham and Israel, and from among those whom we guided and selected. When the revelations of the Most Gracious are recited to them, they fall prostrate, weeping.