Qur’anic Reflections: Moses and the Magicians in Surah Yunus 75-83

A deep-dive reflection on fear, pride, deception, truth, confidence, and hope among human beings. 

This is a reflection on a few short but deeply instructive verses from Surah Yunus (Chapter 10) of the Qur’an, which not only narrate to us one of the most dramatic scenes in Prophetic history, but which have profound relevance for us living in today’s society.
The whole Surah contains many lessons about many prophets. However, in this blog post we will be focusing on a set of Ayaat (verses) about Prophet Musa, otherwise known by his Biblical name, Moses (alayhim as-salam – peace be upon him). This story also appears in the second book of the Bible, the Book of Exodus (with some differences, but the essence remains the same).

The Qur’anic verses we are focusing on here are 75 to 83, outlined below:

75. Then We sent after them Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and his establishment with Our signs, but they behaved arrogantly and were a criminal people.

76. So when there came to them the truth from Us, they said, “Indeed, this is obvious magic.”

77. Moses said, “Do you say [thus] about the truth when it has come to you? Is this magic? But magicians will not succeed.”

78. They said, “Have you come to us to turn us away from that upon which we found our fathers and so that you two may have grandeur in the land? And we are not believers in you.”

79. And Pharaoh said, “Bring to me every learned magician.”

80. So when the magicians came, Moses said to them, “Throw down whatever you will throw.”

81. And when they had thrown, Moses said, “What you have brought is [only] magic. Indeed, Allah will expose its worthlessness. Indeed, Allah does not amend the work of corrupters.

82. And Allah will establish the truth by His words, even if the criminals dislike it.”

83. But no one believed Moses, except [some] youths among his people, for fear of Pharaoh and his establishment that they would persecute them. And indeed, Pharaoh was haughty within the land, and indeed, he was of the transgressors.

 

Let us go on a journey and explore the lessons of each of these 9 verses, before arriving at a concluding lesson that connects them all together.

75. Then We sent after them Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and his establishment with Our signs, but they behaved arrogantly and were a criminal people.

Ayah 75 starts the story with Musa and Haroun (peace be upon them) being sent by Allah to the Pharaoh to convey the Message of Tawhid, to warn him to free the Israelites, and end the oppression of his people. There is a back-story to this, detailed in other parts of the Qur’an (such as Surahs Taha and Shu’ara), which is helpful for us to know.

The Pharaoh (or Fir’awn) is described in the Qur’an as the most oppressive of all tyrants.

To understand a fraction of his tyranny, one only needs to consider how he enslaved the entire people of the Bani Israel, and the way in which he ordered all Israelite baby boys to be slaughtered simply because of his personal paranoia.

When Musa (as) was first commanded to go to Fir’awn, he was anxious and frightened. The sudden revelation that he was a prophet, and knowing he now had this weighty mission on his shoulders, was a shocking experience for Musa. He humbly asked Allah to help him deal with his fears – thus first he asked Allah to cure his stutter, which he felt would obstruct his ability to deliver the Message; and then he asked Allah to send him support so that he would not have to do this all alone – and so Allah granted prophethood to his brother Haroun too, as a source of strength and companionship (see Surah Taha: 25-35).

In the above verse, Surah Yunus: 75, we find out that Musa (as) was right to have had such fears. He was being sent to speak to the most powerful man on earth, a man who proclaimed himself as a god, who persecuted his people, and forced them to worship him. Allah confirms that the reaction of the Pharaoh and his chiefs was one of arrogance. Thus we are being reminded from the outset that truth, sincerity, and humility is often met with pride, superiority, and disdain – if this is something you have ever experienced, then automatically you feel a connection with Prophet Musa; you feel you are part of this story now, and can empathise with him as the story unfolds.

76. So when there came to them the truth from Us, they said, “Indeed, this is obvious magic.”

When Musa (as) entered the court of the Pharaoh, he showed him and his chiefs the miraculous signs Allah had sent to him: his own staff, which now could turn into a huge snake, and a dazzling brightness that came forth from his hand. When the Pharaoh saw these miracles, he responded with the following haughty and dismissive words: “indeed this is obvious magic“.

What is really interesting about this reply is that ‘magic’ was a skill and craft that the Pharaonic Kingdom specialised in! We are told every great civilisation is famous for one particular craft or field of knowledge. Sorcery was ancient Egypt’s; according to Egyptologist Jan Assman, this sorcery was used to maintain rule through coercion, to create a mystical aura around the Pharaoh, and to convince the people of their belief system (1997: 4). Magic was a bit like a mass hypnosis cast over the people.

So if magic was a tool that the Pharaoh depended on so much for his own power, how is it that he also mentions it to downplay Allah’s miracles? Surely, if these people actually valued and believed in their own special skills, they would have praised Musa (as) for appearing to be such an expert in magic? What this tells us, then, is that people in power, people who have influence, and people who want to feel superior over others, usually know that their tools and methods are empty and fake. They know deep down that their power and glory are all a deception – just a show built on artificial foundations. But – and this is the sad and dangerous part – that does not matter, as long as everyone else beneath them believes this ‘show’ is real…’fake it till you make it’, so the saying goes…

77. Moses said, “Do you say [thus] about the truth when it has come to you? Is this magic? But magicians will not succeed.”

Prophet Musa’s reaction was that of a person who was shocked and dismayed. When a person is used to being truthful, and is sincere in recognising and accepting the truth, then falsehood and deliberate covering up of the truth by others seems strange and alarming to them. Their fitrah (disposition) is expectant of good.

Despite his shock, Prophet Musa’s next words show this was not enough to deter him. Nor did he doubt the message he was given just because people in power were dismissive of it. When Musa (as) stated with complete confidence, “but magicians will not succeed“, he was not only predicting (rightly) what would happen next when the magicians entered the story, but he was also declaring that the truth he had come with would succeed precisely because it was not magic.

Sometimes people wonder what the difference is between arrogance and confidence. Well here in just a couple of verses, Allah has perfectly exemplified the difference for us: the Pharaoh was arrogant – an arrogance that came from his ego and sense of his own superiority. Musa (as) was confident – a confidence that stemmed not from himself alone, but from a certainty that Allah was with him, and that what he was striving for was for the sake of Allah.

And this confidence in fact grew from a place of humility and dependence on Allah; it was precisely Musa’s acknowledgement of his own limitations, remember, that allowed him to ask from Allah in the first place, and to turn to Allah so fully. After that, he knew that any skills and means he had to confront the Pharaoh were given to him by Allah – so if the source of one’s strength is God, how can it ever fail? That is the difference between arrogance and confidence. A believer who trusts in Allah is one who is both humble and confident.

78. They said, “Have you come to us to turn us away from that upon which we found our fathers and so that you two may have grandeur in the land? And we are not believers in you.”

Just as honest people generally do not expect others to deny truths that are so obvious, because they themselves would not do that, so do we find the opposite to be the case. That means, when people are used to being deceitful themselves, they can’t recognise the truth. Plus they are so cynical, that they find it hard to believe anyone else would be honest. The Pharaoh used magic and deceit to lead others away from the truth, so of course he projected this on to Musa (as) and accused him of trying to do the same. For the Pharaoh, everything he did in life, every intention of his, was in order to have “grandeur in the land”, so of course he assumed others thought in the same way, and wanted the same things.

Not only that, but as with all oppressive tyrants, Fir’awn was hugely paranoid. When a person gains or achieves something in corrupt and unlawful ways, deep down they know they don’t actually deserve it. It could be an entire kingdom; it could be that wealth or home gained through unlawful means; it could be that job or promotion that a person got by stepping on others, through nepotism, and ‘favours’; it could be one’s popularity and ‘followers’ gained through constant bragging. Such a person forever feels insecure as a result – they are on shallow foundations, knowing their ‘success’ and curated image can crumble within a moment, just like a deck of cards.

But along came these two honest people, prophets of Allah, who wanted neither power nor grandeur, and yet seemed to have such confidence…Fir’awn had never encountered such a thing. All the people he had ever met were fawning servants, or rival kings who thought and behaved just like him. He didn’t understand Musa (as)’s intentions or source of strength – and that made Musa (as) even more of a threat.

79. And Pharaoh said, “Bring to me every learned magician.”

Having dismissed Musa (as)’s message as “obvious magic“, as a way to belittle him, isn’t it strange that Fir’awn then turned to his magicians as a show of strength? He and his chiefs were so wrapped up in their delusions, so caught up in the corrupt system they themselves built and inherited, that they seemed to be unable to imagine anything beyond – even when they knew their system was flawed. Facing a problem? It must be magic. Need a solution? It has to be magic.

Believers have to be a lot more aware of the ways we also fall into this trap. We too are living within these illusions created by corrupt systems of power: capitalism, materialism, neoliberalism, communism, racism, supremacism, war, competition. More wealth, more attention, more fame, more followers, more metrics, more noise, more comparisons, more busy, more unhappiness. Check that the solutions to your problems are not in fact being sold to you by those very same problems – because that won’t give much escape or respite.

With this verse it’s also worth remembering that the Pharaoh liked to declare “ana rabbukumul-a’la” – “I am your lord, most high” (Surah Nazi’at: 24). He wanted everyone to think he was a god. And yet here we see he couldn’t even challenge these two unarmed men by himself! All that wealth, all that might, all that image, all that arrogance, but actually Fir’awn was always dependent on others – on his chiefs and his magicians and his slaves. He only felt grand when he was validated and worshipped by these other people. He bore none of the attributes of the True Rabb (Lord)- least of all the name Al-Ghani, the Self-Sufficient, which belongs to Allah alone. As with every fraud, it doesn’t take much to scratch beneath the surface and see their weakness; and often they are the ones to expose themselves, as the Pharaoh did.

You find that to be the case with a lot of powerful or influential people, or people who aspire to that level. They are frightened to be seen without friends or followers, desperate to have important allies, fearful of upsetting them, always having to ingratiate them.  The heart that yearns for others’ approval is always agitated, on edge. The person who relies on Allah does not need any of that, and their heart is still and at peace.

80. So when the magicians came, Moses said to them, “Throw down whatever you will throw.”

81. And when they had thrown, Moses said, “What you have brought is [only] magic. Indeed, Allah will expose its worthlessness. Indeed, Allah does not amend the work of corrupters.

82. And Allah will establish the truth by His words, even if the criminals dislike it.”

Let’s take these three verses together. On the day of the Great Contest, about 70 (or more) of the kingdom’s top sorcerers, most skilled in the dark arts of sihr, arrived to duel with Prophet Musa. In another surah we are told the sorcerers asked “Shall you throw first or should we throw?” (see Surah Taha: 65). Undeterred by their numbers, we see in the verses above that Musa (as) invited them to throw first. One way of interpreting this is that Musa (as) remained confident that whatever they chose to put on display, it would inevitably be beaten by the power sent from Allah, so he was not afraid for them to go first. We can also view Musa (as)’s response as his way of finding out what he was up against, to know the full extent of the challenge facing him. How can anyone defeat a power they have never seen before? Confronting a test that you have to overcome takes a lot of courage.

As the sorcerers threw their own sticks, they drew upon all their knowledge of black magic. What happened next was a terrifying, disturbing sight – 70 sticks seemed to turn into 70 wriggling snakes, the ground was covered in them. Even though Musa (as) had trust in Allah and had been courageous up until this point, in another Surah we are told that fear took hold of him (Taha: 67). He may have been a great prophet, but he was also human like the rest of us – and which person would not be petrified by this sight. Not only that, even though he had seen how Allah had turned his own rod into a snake on the last occasion, how would his one stick-turned-snake match all 70 of the magicians’ snakes? Would the rod even change into a snake this time? All these thoughts must have been going through Musa (as)’s mind as he stood there all alone, with the added pressure of having everyone, including the Pharaoh, watching, gripped with anticipation – waiting and expecting him to fail.

We all face these moments of fear; we face doubts about our ability to overcome the challenges this dunya throws at us – whether it’s in school, in our workplaces, in society, against the media, or against powerful people wanting to spread evil. How can we ever hope to succeed when the system around us is corrupt and rewards those who are corrupt? How can we win while remaining honest, when others seem to have more might, or have the backing of the rich and powerful and get far in life through dishonesty?

The answer to this is to study the attitude and words that Musa (as) uttered next. At that moment when his courage wavered, he turned to Allah, and Allah renewed his strength and confidence, and inspired him to say: “what you have brought is only magic“.

The illusion only lasts for as long as you forget it is an illusion. But the moment you remember it is fake and call it out, the spell and its power is broken!

It’s not that the magicians’ spells didn’t work – they certainly did. Their sticks did look like they were snakes, and if Musa (as) did not remember this was all fake, they would have won. Do we look at the power, fame, and success people gain all while disobeying Allah, and think it’s all real? Does that cause us to lose confidence? Does that cause us to lose hope? Does that cause us to give up? Or even worse, does that cause us to imitate them as we concede their way is the only route to success? At that moment of despondency or wavering, remember how Musa (as) was not duped by what he saw, and declared “Allah will expose its worthlessness.” Not only was the sorcerers’ display of magic worth nothing, Musa (as) also knew without any doubt that Allah would lift the deception and prove its worthlessness to everyone. Their magic would never be successful in the long run.

So if you feel downhearted about your own efforts, while others seem to ‘get far’ by doing the wrong things, then remind yourself they too are practicing a sort of ‘sihr’ – pacts with the shayateen in which they sell their souls and morality to gain short-lived success. That success you see is just an illusion. But you have to know that, and not let it have power over you, and not let it frighten you, in order to overcome it.

Musa (as) did exactly that – even though he experienced some initial fear and difficulty. He restored his trust in Allah, and remembered that just as Allah would not let the magic succeed, He would also ensure that the Truth will succeed, even if people tried to stop it. So if we are striving for the cause of Truth, and not just for our own ego and nafs, then Musa (as)’s example teaches us to be confident that we too will succeed, inshAllah.

Because Musa (as) overcame the fear and no longer saw any power in the sorcerers’ magic, he then had the confidence to do his part. When he threw down his rod, it turned into an enormous snake, greater than the likes anyone had seen before – a real snake, not just an illusion. And then it physically ate up every single one of the magicians’ moving sticks.

Musa (as) was the undisputed winner. And everyone had witnessed the miracle with their own eyes. Just as Musa (as) had believed and expected would happen, Allah established the truth.

83. But no one believed Moses, except [some] youths among his people, for fear of Pharaoh and his establishment that they would persecute them. And indeed, Pharaoh was haughty within the land, and indeed, he was of the transgressors.

But, after all that…noone believed Musa (as)! Except for a few people who had no power or influence anyway.

Allah is always real with us – there are no sugar-coated lessons, we are given the truth and shown the realities of this dunya, timeless as they are throughout the ages.

Many people really are like this. They can be staring at the truth, they can be offered something honest and full of wisdom…but if it isn’t coming from someone powerful who the media, or other influential people, or a huge number of followers, tell us is worth listening to, then it is completely ignored.

Before the contest, Pharaoh and his chiefs knew that their system of magic was false, but they were still able to depend on it because they had convinced their people it was true. Now, however, even their people had witnessed the fact it was all a deception. They still could not turn their backs on it – but this time they followed out of fear, not sincere belief.

Again, this happens in society today too. People can see a system or environment is false or corrupt, they may even hate it, they may even complain it is making them unhappy or causing them stress – whether it’s their jobs, or a certain way of life, or certain habits, or having to be around certain people. But despite the misery it causes, they cannot give it up – fear of missing out or losing out; fear of being the odd one out; or fear of having society turn against you. And so you have the strange situation where no-one even believes in that system anymore, but everyone still follows it and upholds it out of fear. What a sorry state.

The only people who will question themselves and the system, and will be willing to sacrifice it, are those who gain the least from it: either they did not invest in the system, or were excluded from it, so they have little to lose and are able to see more clearly. And so it was with Musa (as), that the few people (amongst the ancient Egyptians) who acknowledged the truth of what they had just seen and then decided to act on it, were the youth.

Concluding Lessons

The story of Moses and the magicians ends at this point in this particular Surah, and moves on to other aspects of Musa (as)’s mission. It may seem at first, reading that last verse, that the whole episode had a sad ending. Even though Musa (as) won the duel, few people believed, and Pharaoh remained arrogant just as he was at the start! Did nothing change then?

No, that is not the case.

A lot changed…some really important things happened as a result of this dramatic episode. But, the changes that happened were still kept invisible to many. On the surface, the Pharaoh continued to prove how ‘mighty’ he was – even more so than before in fact. Even with such an obvious exposure of the deception at the heart of his reign, his power seemed to be unbreakable – that would be enough to make people utterly hopeless. Was there nothing that could challenge him? But the story doesn’t end here, and in fact, the contest between Musa (as) and the magicians had sent silent ripples of defiance and revolution throughout the land…and even within the very heart of the Pharaoh’s own palace…

Many times, in fact, Allah keeps the results of our efforts hidden from us, at least at the beginning. It is a test of our perseverance, trust, and sincerity. So if you ever wonder whether your efforts have been wasted because the negative situation around you has not improved at all, remember this story. Try to think and ask yourself: what is the Sihr of our time? And remember how Allah relayed to us the words of Musa (as) so that we could take heed for our situations today:

“What you have brought is [only] magic. Indeed, Allah will expose its worthlessness. Indeed, Allah does not amend the work of corrupters. And Allah will establish the truth by His words, even if the criminals dislike it.”

Step out of the corruption, recognise the illusion, call out the deception, don’t waver from the truth, and have confidence in the Help of Allah.

***

Image 1: ‘Book of the Dead‘, Last Judgment of Hu-nefer, 1275 BC, Thebes – The Book of the Dead was an ancient Egyptian text with spells, prayers, and incantations that was meant to help the dead in the afterlife.

Image 2: Great pyramids of Giza

Image 3: A colossal seated statue of Ramesses II at the entrance of Luxor Temple (almost 46 feet/14meters in height). Built around 1279-1213 BC.

Image 5: From the ‘Book of Gates’, in the Tomb of Ramesses I, Valley of the Kings, Thebes. The image shows the chaos-causing serpent-demon, Apep – believed by ancient Egyptians to live in the underworld, and sometimes thought of as an ‘Eater of Souls’. Serpents were often feared in Ancient Egypt – so the magicians turning their sticks into ‘moving snakes’ might have done so to create fear and confusion in their opponent.

*JazakumAllah khair to everyone whose valuable knowledge, tafsir, discussions, and reflections contributed to this post. May Allah increase the benefit.