“They said: ‘O Musa! Either you throw first or we be the first to throw?’ Musa said: ‘Nay, throw you (first)!’ Then behold! their ropes and their sticks, by their magic, appeared to him as though they moved fast.” [Ta-Ha 20:65-66] It appeared to the onlooker as if these sticks and ropes were snakes, moving fast in the valley. They were only sticks and ropes, but the magicians, through what they had learned, made what they demonstrated before the people look different in their eyes to what it really was. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “by their magic, appeared to him as though they moved fast.” [Ta-Ha 20:66] And in Surah al-A’raf Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “He [Musa] said: ‘Throw you (first).’ So when they threw, they bewitched the eyes of the people, and struck terror into them, and they displayed a great magic.” [al-A’raf 7:116] But in fact their sticks and ropes did not change; it was the people’s sight which changed because of the sihr, so they thought they were snakes, because of the illusion brought about by the magicians. Some people call this taqmir, which is when the magician does things to make a person not sense reality as it really is, so his eyes do not see what is really there and things may be taken from his shop or his home without him realizing it, i.e., he does not know what is really happening. So he may see a rock as a chicken or as an egg, and so on, because reality has been changed in his eyes because of the confusion wrought by the magician, and because his eyes have been bewitched. There are things that the magicians do with certain substances to make people’s eyes not see what is really happening. This is the kind of magic which Allah describes as “great” [i.e. serious, powerful] in Soorat al-A’raf (interpretation of the meaning): “… So when they threw, they bewitched the eyes of the people, and struck terror into them, and they displayed a great magic.” [al-A’raf 7:116] Reference: Majmu’ Fatawa Wa Maqalat Mutanawwi’ah by Sheikh ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz Ibn Baz, p. 65. And Allah knows best.