﴿ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنْ هَٰذَٰنِ لَسَٰحِرَٰنِ يُرِيدَانِ أَن يُخْرِجَاكُم مِّنْ أَرْضِكُم بِسِحْرِهِمَا وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ ٱلْمُثْلَىٰ ﴾

“saying [to one another]: "These two are surely sorcerers intent on driving you from your land by their sorcery, and on doing away with your time-honoured way of life.”

إِنْ هَـٰذَانِ لَسَاحِرَ‌انِ يُرِ‌يدَانِ أَن يُخْرِ‌جَاكُم مِّنْ أَرْ‌ضِكُم بِسِحْرِ‌هِمَا وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِ‌يقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَىٰ Said they, "Certainly, these two are sorcerers who wish to drive you out from your land and do away with your excellent way of life. (20:63) The word مُثْلَىٰ is the feminine of which means "most excellent". The meaning is that the Egyptians believed that their religion which regarded the Pharaoh as god was the best and Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and Sayyidna Harun (علیہ السلام) wanted to destroy it and supplant their own religion in its place. The word طَرِیقَہ (translated in the text as 'way of life' ) is also used to describe the chiefs and leading citizens and according to Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ and Sayyidna ` Ali ؓ the word has been used here in this sense namely that these two men wished to finish off all their leaders and important citizens and it was therefore, the duty of the Egyptian magicians to unite and use their best endeavours to defeat the enemy