Prophet Mūsā: Part 2 — The Calling and the Magicians Who Believed
Section 31 of 36 · Lives of the Prophets
It Will Swallow What They Made
وَأَلْقِ مَا فِى يَمِينِكَ تَلْقَفْ مَا صَنَعُوٓا۟ ۖ إِنَّمَا صَنَعُوا۟ كَيْدُ سَـٰحِرٍ ۖ وَلَا يُفْلِحُ ٱلسَّاحِرُ حَيْثُ أَتَىٰ
“And throw what is in your right hand, and it will devour what they have concocted. What they have concocted is but a sleight of a magician. And the magician does not succeed wherever he comes from.”” (20:69)
Wa alqi mā fī yamīnik — and throw that which is in your right hand. Now the 70 magicians have their sticks and their ropes shaking and moving, and then Allah (swt) tells Mūsā: throw what is in your right hand; it will swallow up everything that they have made. This is the plot of a magician, and the plots of magicians are not successful, wherever they are.
What is the difference between the stick of Mūsā and the sticks of the magicians? The difference is that the stick of Mūsā had a living soul in it, which transformed the stick into a real snake. So it swallowed up all of their ropes.