قَالُوا۟ يَـٰمُوسَىٰٓ إِمَّآ
أَن تُلْقِىَ وَإِمَّآ
أَن نَّكُونَ نَحْنُ ٱلْمُلْقِينَ
قَالَ أَلْقُوا۟ ۖ فَلَمَّآ
أَلْقَوْا۟ سَحَرُوٓا۟ أَعْيُنَ
ٱلنَّاسِ وَٱسْتَرْهَبُوهُمْ
وَجَآءُو بِسِحْرٍ عَظِيمٍ
They said: “O Musa!
Either you throw
(first), or shall we have
the (first) throw”
He (Musa) said:
“Throw you (first).”
So when they threw,
they bewitched
the eyes of the people,
and struck terror
into them, and they
displayed a great trick
The magicians challenged Musa, when they said,
إِمَّآ أَن تُلْقِىَ وَإِمَّآ
أَن نَّكُونَ نَحْنُ الْمُلْقِينَ
Either you throw (first), or shall we have the (first) throw) before you.
In another Ayat, they said,
﴿وَإِمَّآ أَن نَّكُونَ
أَوَّلَ مَنْ أَلْقَى
Or we be the first to throw (Taha 65)
Musa said to them, you throw first. It was said that the wisdom behind asking them to throw first, is that – Allah knows best – the people might witness the magicians’ sorcery first. When the magicians had cast their spell and captured the eyes, the clear and unequivocal truth came, at a time when they all anticipated and waited for it to come, thus making the truth even more impressive to their hearts. This is what happened. Allah said,
فَلَمَّآ أَلْقُوْاْ سَحَرُواْ أَعْيُنَ
النَّاسِ وَاسْتَرْهَبُوهُمْ
So when they threw, they bewitched the eyes of the people, and struck terror into them
meaning, they deceived the eyes and made them think that thet trick was real, when it was only an illusion, just as Allah said,
فَأَوْجَسَ فِى نَفْسِهِ خِيفَةً مُّوسَى
قُلْنَا لاَ تَخَفْ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الاٌّعْلَى
وَأَلْقِ مَا فِى يَمِينِكَ تَلْقَفْ
مَا صَنَعُواْ إِنَّمَا صَنَعُواْ كَيْدُ سَاحِرٍ
وَلاَ يُفْلِحُ السَّـحِرُ حَيْثُ أَتَى
So Musa conceived fear in himself. We (Allah) said: “Fear not! Surely, you will have the upper hand. And throw that which is in your right hand! It will swallow up that which they have made. That which they have made is only a magician’s trick, and the magician will never be successful, to whatever amount (of skill) he may attain” (Taha 67-69)
Ibn `Abbas commented that the magicians threw, “Thick ropes and long sticks, and they appeared to be crawling, an illusion that they created with their magic.”