﴿ قَالَ ءَامَنتُمْ لَهُۥ قَبْلَ أَنْ ءَاذَنَ لَكُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ لَكَبِيرُكُمُ ٱلَّذِى عَلَّمَكُمُ ٱلسِّحْرَ ۖ فَلَأُقَطِّعَنَّ أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُم مِّنْ خِلَٰفٍۢ وَلَأُصَلِّبَنَّكُمْ فِى جُذُوعِ ٱلنَّخْلِ وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ أَيُّنَآ أَشَدُّ عَذَابًۭا وَأَبْقَىٰ ﴾

“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 I shall most certainly cut off your hands and feet in great numbers, because of [your] perverseness, and I shall most certainly crucify you in great numbers on trunks of palm-trees: and [I shall do this] so that you might come to know for certain as to which of us [two] can inflict a more severe chastisement, and [which] is the more abiding!"”

This was not merely a competition between two types of persons to see who could perform the greatest feats; it was actually a confrontation between monotheism and polytheism. In other words, this competition was to decide whether truth was on the side of the one true God or the many gods of the idolaters. As Pharaoh’s ‘greatness’ was completely based on polytheism, he could not tolerate its defeat and pronounced the severest punishment for the magicians, according to the law of ancient Egypt. When Pharaoh was defeated in the field of arguments and reasoning, he tried to suppress the truth by force. This has been the general mentality of those in power in all ages, whether their power be dynastic or democratic in origin.