Ṭāhā 20:65-70

Qālū yā Mūsā immā an tulqiya wa immā an nakūna awwala man alqā · Qāla bal alqū, fa-idhā ḥibāluhum wa ʿiṣiyyuhum yukhayyalu ilayhi min siḥrihim annahā tasʿā · Fa-awjasa fī nafsihi khīfatan Mūsā · Qulnā lā takhaf innaka anta'l-aʿlā · Wa alqi mā fī yamīnika talqaf mā ṣanaʿū, innamā ṣanaʿū kaydu sāḥir, wa lā yufliḥu's-sāḥiru ḥaythu atā · Fa-ulqiya's-saḥaratu sujjadan qālū āmannā bi-rabbi Hārūna wa Mūsā

"They said: 'O Moses! Either you cast, or let us be the first to cast.' · 'No, you cast,' he said. And there were their ropes and their staffs, seeming to him from their sorcery to be moving swiftly. · Moses sensed a fear within himself. · 'Do not fear; you are the higher,' We said. · 'Cast what is in your right hand; it will swallow what they have made. What they have made is only a sorcerer's trick. The sorcerer does not prosper, wherever he may come.' · At that the sorcerers were cast down in prostration. 'We believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses,' they said."

This scene was treated in detail at al-Shuʿarāʾ on 26/43-49. What was recorded there: that the root ل-ق-ي occurs six times in seven verses and that at the sixth the voice turns passive (fa-ulqiya's-saḥaratu sājidīn — "they were cast down"); the word talqafu (ل-ق-ف — to snatch up and swallow); the relation of the oath bi-ʿizzati Firʿawn to the name al-ʿAzīz in that sūra; and the expression mā yaʾfikūn. I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it here.

What belongs here is the difference between the two tellings, and the whole of it can be verified from the text:

Four differences are worth recording.

One — only in Ṭāhā is Moses's fear named. Fa-awjasa fī nafsihi khīfatan Mūsā.

The root و-ج-س — occurs here for the first time in the series. The sense the lexicographers give: to sense a very faint sound or movement; for something to dawn within one. Wajs — a sound barely made out. The word conveys fear at the moment it becomes noticeable.

And a point of word order must be recorded: fī nafsihi — "within himself"; khīfatan indefinite — "a fear"; and the subject (Mūsā) is left to the very end of the sentence.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is these three things: the verse records the fear at its smallest, inward and passing. It is not a fear that shows outwardly. And the text does not conceal it — the same honesty recorded at Maryam on 19/23 and at al-Qaṣaṣ on 28/15-16. I rely on those treatments.

Two — Ṭāhā names separately what appeared to the eye: yukhayyalu ilayhi.

The root خ-ي-ل: imagination, a thing's appearing to the eye otherwise than it is. From the same root come khayāl (an image with no reality) and mukhtāl (one who sees himself as great). The verb is passive: "so it seemed to him".

I record this as an observation: the verse does not say that the ropes and staffs really moved. What it says is how the appearance came to the eye. That is, sorcery is named in the verse not as a transformation of objects but as an operation upon perception. This can be verified from the text's own word.

Three — Ṭāhā gives a general verdict about sorcery: wa lā yufliḥu's-sāḥiru ḥaythu atā — "the sorcerer does not prosper, wherever he may come". This sentence is not in al-Shuʿarāʾ.

Four — the order of the names in the declaration of faith differs: in Ṭāhā rabbi Hārūna wa Mūsā, in al-Shuʿarāʾ rabbi Mūsā wa Hārūn.

I record this as a datum of the text and issue no ruling. In the classical commentaries the difference in order is explained by the harmony of the verse-endings (Ṭāhā's endings close on an -ā sound), and other explanations of Aaron's being placed first are transmitted. The explanation from the verse-endings is an observation that can be verified from the text: all the verse-endings of the sūra close with alif maqṣūra, and Mūsā fits that pattern while Hārūn does not. I give this as an observation about the language, not as a claim of a definite cause.

The word of the reassurance must be recorded: al-aʿlā — "the higher". Root ع-ل-و.

And this word, as recorded at al-Qaṣaṣ, was the spine of Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ (inna Firʿawna ʿalā fi'l-arḍ / lā yurīdūna ʿuluwwan fi'l-arḍ). And the Qurʾān also records from Pharaoh's own mouth the words anā rabbukumu'l-aʿlā (al-Nāziʿāt 79/24 — treated at al-Nāziʿāt).

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the two verses use the same elative: the same word, in one place claimed for oneself, in the other bestowed. And there is a note in Ṭāhā's sentence: innaka anta — that is, the superiority is given not as an attribute belonging to him but as a position declared for that moment.

This change of voice was treated at al-Shuʿarāʾ on 26/46, and the note recorded there holds here exactly as it stands: "fa-sajada's-saḥaratu ('they prostrated') could have been said; it was not. The passive voice conveys that the prostration was not a planned decision but an irresistible response." I rely on that treatment.

The only difference peculiar to Ṭāhā is the word of state: sujjadan (Ṭāhā) / sājidīn (al-Shuʿarāʾ). Sujjadan is the broken plural of sājid, and the lexicographers record that this pattern conveys intensity. I transmit this as an observation about the language.