Acting upon a distant object in the very way a person with physical contact can act upon what is near—this falls within the familiar, attainable deeds of human beings.

But as for transmuting concrete substances into forms utterly alien to their nature—such as wood turning into a sentient creature that moves by choice, swallowing staffs and ropes while itself remaining unchanged—this lies outside the scope of human power altogether, whether common or extraordinary; no psychic force can bring it about.

Hence, when Pharaoh’s magicians witnessed the event, they recognized that it stood beyond the realm of sorcery:
“Then the magicians fell down in prostration and said, ‘We believe in the Lord of all creation, the Lord of Moses and Aaron.’”

This astounding, supra-normal occurrence establishes both the existence of the Creator and the prophethood of His messengers. The very fact that it happened in that setting yields certain knowledge that it came from the All-Powerful, Free-Acting One so as to vindicate Moses and grant him victory over the magicians, as the Most High says:
“Moses felt a fear within himself. We said, ‘Do not fear; indeed, you shall be the uppermost. Cast what is in your right hand—it will swallow what they have fabricated. What they have produced is only a magician’s trick, and the magician never prospers wherever he goes.’” (Q 20:67-69)

Likewise, the bringing forth of the she-camel for Ṣāliḥ from the heart of a rocky hill is beyond the capacities of souls and every other natural force.

For this reason the leading figures among these philosophers denied such miracles, or else reduced them to mere allegories, saying, for instance, that Moses cast “the staff of knowledge,” which swallowed up “the ropes and staffs of ignorance,” just as one man overcomes another with his argument. Such interpretations stem from the Qarmaṭian school; their falsity is self-evident, they contradict the reports transmitted by mass narration, and they run counter to what the Muslims and the Jews have unanimously affirmed.