20 Preface فَأَراهُ الآيَةَ الكُبرىٰYusuf AliThen did (Moses) show him the Great Sign.1What was the Great Sign? Some Commentators understand by it the “White Shining Hand”: see n. 2550 to 20:22-23. Others think it was the miracle of the rod that became a “snake active in motion”: see 20:20, n. 2549. These were among the Greater Signs: 20:23. In 17:101 there is a reference to nine clear Signs given to Moses, and these are specified in detail in n. 1091 to 7:133. the fact is, there were many Signs given, “openly self-explained,” but Pharaoh and his men “were steeped in arrogance-a people given to sin” (7:133). the pre-eminently Great Sign was therefore the fact of Moses being sent to Pharaoh, which subsequently converted the magicians and the more learned Egyptians to the true God (20:70-73), though Pharaoh and his Chiefs resisted and suffered for their sins. (R).