﴿ قَالَ ءَامَنتُمْ لَهُۥ قَبْلَ أَنْ ءَاذَنَ لَكُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ لَكَبِيرُكُمُ ٱلَّذِى عَلَّمَكُمُ ٱلسِّحْرَ فَلَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ ۚ لَأُقَطِّعَنَّ أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُم مِّنْ خِلَٰفٍۢ وَلَأُصَلِّبَنَّكُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ ﴾

“Said [Pharaoh]: “Have you come to believe in him ere I have given you permission? Verily, he must be your master who has taught you magic! But in time you shall come to know [my revenge]: most certainly shall I cut off your hands and your feet in great numbers, because of [your] perverseness, and shall most certainly crucify you in great numbers, all together!””

The embracing of the Faith by the magicians was a cause of great disgrace to Pharaoh. So, in order to salvage his position, he dubbed the whole incident a conspiracy. He alleged that they had colluded with Moses and that they had intentionally pretended to be defeated by him, so that Moses’s greatness could be impressed on the people’s hearts. Pharaoh announced his decision to the magicians that they would be punished for sedition; that their hands and legs would be cut off at random and they would be publicly crucified. In spite of these draconian orders, the magicians were not discouraged. Those very same magicians who had earlier pledged their allegiance to Pharaoh (verse 41) and asked to be rewarded, now fearlessly proclaimed that whatever Pharaoh did, they were not going to be dissuaded from accepting Moses’s religion. The reason for this high morale of theirs was the discovery of Faith. A man bears a loss when, by this loss, he expects to find something greater. Before embracing the faith, the greatest things the magicians could hope to have now were Pharaoh’s approval and his reward. But on embracing true religion, God and His Paradise now appeared to them to be greater than all else. That is why they were now ready to bear the losses of those very things which, prior to embracing the Faith, they had held too dear to part with.