Pharaoh's sorcerers before Moses

Pharaoh gathered his sorcerers and said 'assemble for me every learned sorcerer'; they met at the appointed time, and he asked them 'do you believe in the one you believed in, or in me?' They threw down their cords and staffs before Moses, and the people saw what seemed to be sorcery moving by itself al-A'raf 113 al-A'raf 116.

Then Moses cast his staff and it swallowed what they had brought of sorcery; the sorcerers knew it was the work of a king, not of mortals, and said 'we believe in the Lord of Aaron and Moses' al-A'raf 120 Ta Ha 70.

Pharaoh threatened them with crucifixion if they were not firm for him; they answered 'we will never prefer you over our signs', prostrated to God willingly and unwillingly, and the Qur'an records that they were among the first of Pharaoh's people to believe al-A'raf 120 al-A'raf 126.

This episode is the Qur'an's most famous depiction of sorcery; tafsir works read it as the first open contest between prophetic miracles and the works of sorcerers, and it is a key entry point for understanding the distinction between sihr and karama as the browser uses those terms ¹.