Prophet Moussa

He is Moussa ibn 'Imran ibn Qahith ibn 'Azar ibn Lawi ibn Ya'qoub ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim (peace be upon them all).

"And mention in the Book Moussa: he was sincerely devoted: and he was a messenger, a prophet: We called him from the right side of the Tour: and We brought him near in confidence: and We bestowed upon him from Our mercy his brother Haroun: a prophet."

Surat Maryam, 51-53

He is mentioned through the message, the prophethood, the sincere devotion, the being spoken to and the being brought near: and He stated about him that He made his brother Haroun a prophet. Allah the Most High has mentioned him in many scattered places of the Quran: and mentioned his story in multiple places: developed, intermediate and abridged: and we have spoken about all of that in its places. We shall set out here his biography, from its beginning to its end, from the Book and the Sunna, and from what has come down in the transmitted reports among the Israelite traditions which the early generations and others have mentioned: if Allah wills: and in Him is the trust and upon Him is reliance.

"Ta-Sin-Mim. These are the verses of the clear Book. We recite to you from the story of Moussa and Fir'awn, with truth, for a people who believe. Fir'awn exalted himself in the land and made its people into factions: oppressing a group of them: slaughtering their sons and sparing their women: he was of the corrupters.

And We desire to bestow favor upon those who were oppressed in the land: and make them leaders: and make them the inheritors: and establish them in the land: and show Fir'awn and Haman and their soldiers what they feared from them."

Surat al-Qassas, 1-6

Allah the Most High summarizes the story then expands it after this: He mentions that He, glorified is He, recites to His prophet the news of Moussa and Fir'awn with truth: that is, with the truthfulness such that its hearer seems to be an eyewitness of the affair shown to him. "Fir'awn exalted himself in the land and made its people into factions" that is: he behaved tyrannically and arrogantly: he transgressed and committed injustice: he preferred the worldly life and turned away from the obedience of the Most High Lord. "and made its people into factions" that is: he divided his flock into sections, groups and kinds: oppressing a group of them: who are the people of Bani Israil: who descend from the prophet of Allah Ya'qoub ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, the intimate friend of Allah. They were then the choicest of the people of the earth: and Allah subjected to them this unjust, deceiving, disbelieving, immoral king: he enslaved them and employed them in the lowliest crafts and trades: the harshest and the lowest.

And despite that he slaughtered their sons and spared their women: he was of the corrupters. What carried him to this ugly deed: is that Bani Israil studied among themselves what they transmitted from Ibrahim al-Khalil: that from his descendants a boy would come forth by whose hand would be the ruin of the king of Egypt: and that, and Allah knows best, when there occurred to Sara, the wife of the intimate friend, what occurred from the king of Egypt: his intention to do evil to her: and the protection of Allah for her.

This glad tiding was famous among Bani Israil: the Copts spoke of it among themselves: and it reached Fir'awn in his session of evening conversation with his emirs and princes while they conversed with him. He then ordered the killing of the sons of Bani Israil: out of precaution against the existence of this boy: and no precaution avails against the decree.

As-Suddi reported from Abu Salih and Abu Malik, from Ibn 'Abbas: and from Murra, from Ibn Mas'oud: and from some people of the Companions: that Fir'awn saw in his sleep as if a fire was advancing from the direction of Bayt al-Maqdis and burning the houses of Egypt and all the Copts: without harming Bani Israil. When he awoke, this terrified him: he gathered the priests, the poets and the sorcerers: and asked them about that: this is a boy who will be born from Bani Israil: who will be the cause of the destruction of the people of Egypt by his hand. For this he ordered the killing of the boys and the leaving of the girls. "And We desire to bestow favor upon those who were oppressed in the land, and they are Bani Israil: and make them leaders: and make them the inheritors" that is: to whom the kingship of Egypt and its lands will pass. "and establish them in the land: and show Fir'awn and Haman and their soldiers what they feared from them" that is: We shall make the weak strong: the subdued dominant: and the humiliated honored. And all of this came to pass for Bani Israil: as He said:

"And We caused the people who were oppressed to inherit the eastern regions and the western ones of the land which We have blessed: and the good word of your Lord was fulfilled upon Bani Israil for what they endured."

Surat al-A'raf, 137

And He, the Most High, said: "and We brought them out of gardens, springs, treasures and an honorable station: thus: and We caused Bani Israil to inherit all that." (ad-Doukhane, 25-28) The detail of that will come in its place: if Allah the Most High wills.

The point is that Fir'awn took every precaution so that Moussa would not exist: he made men and midwives who went around the pregnant women: and knew the date of their delivery: no woman gave birth to a male without those slaughterers slaughtering him at once. According to the People of the Book: he only ordered the slaughter of the boys to weaken the power of Bani Israil: so that they would not resist them if they overpowered them or fought them. In this there is scrutiny: rather it is false: this only occurred after the mission of Moussa: so he began to kill the infants: and when he came to them with the truth from Us: "they said: kill the sons of those who believed with him and spare their women. (al-Mouminoun, 25) "we have been harmed before you came to us: and after you came to us.

(Ta-Ha, 47) The correct view is that Fir'awn first ordered the killing of the boys only as a precaution against the existence of Moussa.

This, O tyrannical king, puffed up by the multitude of your soldiers: the power of your might and the breadth of your authority: the Immense One, who cannot be overcome nor opposed, and whose decrees are never contradicted, has decreed that this newborn against whom you take precautions: and for whose sake you have killed countless souls: shall be raised only in your house and upon your bed: shall be fed only with your food and drink in your home: and it is you who will adopt him: raise him and educate him: without glimpsing the secret of his meaning: then your ruin shall be in your lower world and your hereafter, by his hand: as recompense for your opposing what came to you of the clear truth: and your belying what was revealed to him: so that you may know, you and the rest of creation, that the Lord of the heavens and the earth is the Doer of what He wills: and that He is the Strong, the Firm: possessed of tremendous might, of power, of strength and of will which has no turning back.

More than one exegete has mentioned that the Copts complained to Fir'awn of the scarcity of Bani Israil: because of the killing of their male children: and they feared that the grown ones would die out along with the killing of the little ones: and that they themselves would become the ones who carry out the hard labors that Bani Israil used to carry out. Fir'awn ordered the killing of the children one year: and leaving them one year: Haroun was born, in the year of toleration of killing the children: and Moussa was born, in the year of their killing. His mother was hard pressed by him: and she took precautions from the first moment she conceived with him: the signs of pregnancy did not show on her. When she gave birth: she was inspired to make for him a chest: she bound it in a rope: her house adjoined the Nile: and she would nurse him: when she feared someone: she would place him in that chest and send him onto the river: while holding the end of the rope beside her: when they went away: she would pull him back to her by it.

"And We revealed to the mother of Moussa: nurse him: then when you fear for him: cast him into the river: and do not fear nor grieve: We shall return him to you: and make him of the messengers. The family of Fir'awn picked him up: that he might be for them an enemy and a grief: Fir'awn and Haman and their soldiers were sinners. The wife of Fir'awn said: comfort of the eye for me and for you: do not kill him: perhaps he will benefit us: or we may take him as a son: while they perceived not."

Surat al-Qassas, 7-8

This revelation is a revelation of inspiration and guidance: your Lord revealed to the bee: "make houses in the mountains, in the trees and in what they build: then eat of all the fruits: and follow the ways of your Lord, made easy." (an-Nahl, 68-69) It is not a revelation of prophethood: as Ibn Hazm claimed: and more than one theologian: but the first is the correct one: as Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari reported from the doctrine of the People of the Sunna and the Community. The name of the mother of Moussa is Yawakh: and it is said: Ayyadhikht.

The point is that she was guided to what we have mentioned: and it was cast into her privacy and her awe: do not fear nor grieve: for if he goes away: Allah will return him to you: and Allah will make him a prophet, a messenger: who will raise His word in this world and the hereafter. So she did what she was commanded: and one day she sent him: and she was distracted from tying the end of the rope beside her: he went with the Nile: and passed by "that he might be for them an enemy and a grief": some of them said: this is the lam of the final outcome: and it is apparent if it is connected to His saying: "the family of Fir'awn picked him up": whereas if it is made connected to the content of the speech: which is that the family of Fir'awn were destined to pick him up: that he might be for them an enemy and a grief: then the lam becomes causative of something else: and Allah knows best.

This second interpretation is strengthened by His saying: "Fir'awn and Haman, who is the evil vizier, and their soldiers who followed them both were in error" that is: in opposition to the correct: so they deserved this punishment and regret.

The exegetes have mentioned that the maidservants picked him up from the sea in a chest closed upon him: they did not dare to open it: until they placed him before the wife of Fir'awn: Asiya bint Muzahim ibn 'Ubayd ibn ar-Rayyan ibn al-Walid: who was the Fir'awn of Egypt in the time of Youssouf. She was of Bani Israil: of the tribe of Moussa: rather she was his paternal aunt: reported by as-Suhayli: and Allah knows best. Her praise and the commendation of her will come in the story of Maryam bint 'Imran: and both of them will be on the Day of Resurrection among the wives of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in Paradise. When she opened the door and lifted the veil: she saw his face gleaming with those prophetic lights and that Moussan majesty: when she saw him and her gaze fell upon him: she loved him with an intense love: and when there came

"what is this ?": he ordered his slaughter: she asked him for him as a gift and defended him: "comfort of the eye for me and for you": Fir'awn said to her: as for you, yes: and as for me, no: that is: I have no need of him: and the trial is entrusted to reason. "perhaps he will benefit us": and Allah granted her what she hoped of benefit: as for this world: Allah guided her through him: as for the hereafter: He lodged her in His Paradise because of him: "or we may take him as a son": and that is because the two of them adopted him: since no child was born to them. "while they perceived not" that is: they did not know what Allah intends with them: destining them to pick him up: from the great punishment against Fir'awn and his soldiers. According to the People of the Book: the one who picked up Moussa and raised him was the daughter of Fir'awn: his wife is not mentioned at all: and this is among their error concerning the Book of Allah.

Allah the Most High said: "the heart of the mother of Moussa became empty: she almost disclosed him: had We not fortified her heart: that she might be of the believers. And she said to his sister: follow him: so she watched him from a distance: while they perceived not. And We had forbidden him the wet nurses before: so she said: shall I direct you to the people of a house who will keep him for you and who are sincere toward him ? So We restored him to his mother: that her eye might be comforted: and not grieve: and that she might know the promise of Allah is true: but most of them know not.

(al-Qassas, 10-13)

Ibn 'Abbas, Moujahid, 'Ikrima, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Abu 'Ubayda, al-Hasan and Qatada said: "the heart of the mother of Moussa became empty" that is: of everything of the affairs of this world except

the matter of Moussa. "she almost disclosed him" that is: so that his matter would appear and he would be asked about openly. "follow him" that is: follow his trail and seek his information for me. "so she watched him from a distance": Moujahid said: from afar: I made her look at him as if she did not want him.

"while they perceived not": and that is because Moussa, when he settled in the house of Fir'awn: they wanted to feed him with a suckling: he accepted no breast and took no food: they were at a loss about his affair: and strove in that: that is: to feed him by every possible means: he did not do it. "And We had forbidden him the wet nurses before": so they sent him with the midwives and the women to the market: perhaps they would find one matching his suckling: and while they were standing by him and the people pressing around him: his sister saw him: without showing that she recognized him: "shall I direct you to the people of a house who will keep him for you and who are sincere toward him ? Ibn 'Abbas said: when she said that: how would you know of their sincerity and their compassion for him ? Out of desire for kinship with the king: and hope of his benefit.

So they let her go: and went with her to their home: his mother took him: when she nursed him: he grasped her breast: and began to suck it and nurse from it: they rejoiced at that with intense joy: the bearer of glad tidings went to Asiya to inform her of that: she summoned her to her house: offered her that she be with her: and that she treat her well: "I have a husband and children: and I cannot manage this unless you send him with me."

So she sent him with her: arranged for her stipends: and granted her the expenses, the clothing and the gifts: she returned with him, holding him, to her camp: Allah had united his union with her union: Allah the Most High said: "So We restored him to his mother: that her eye might be comforted: and not grieve: and that she might know the promise of Allah is true" that is: as We promised her his return and his being sent: this is his return: and it is a proof of the truthfulness of the glad tiding of his being sent: "but most of them know not."

Allah blessed Moussa by this the night He spoke to him: "and We had already favored you another time: when We revealed to your mother what is revealed: cast him into the chest: cast him into the river: and the river will throw him onto the shore: an enemy to Me and an enemy to him will take him: and I bestowed upon you love from Me. (Ta-Ha, 37-39) And that is because no one sees him without loving him: "and that you be raised before My eyes": Qatada said: that is: you eat, delight yourself and are fed with the finest foods: and wear the best of garments: under My gaze: and all of that by My guarding and My protecting of you in what I did with you and for you: and His power over matters which none other than I can manage: as your sister walks and says: shall I direct you to the one who will keep him: "So We returned you to your mother: that her eye might be comforted: and not grieve: you killed a soul: We saved you from distress: and We tried you with a trial.

(Ta-Ha, 40) The hadith of the trial will come in its place after this: if Allah the Most High wills: and in Him is the trust and upon Him is reliance.

"And when he reached his maturity and became established: We gave him judgment and knowledge: and thus We reward the doers of good. And he entered the city at a time of inattention of its people: and found therein two men fighting: this one from his faction: and this one from his enemies. The one from his faction sought his help against the one from his enemies: so Moussa struck him: and he died. He said: this is from the work of the devil: he is a clear, misleading enemy.

He said: my Lord: I have wronged myself: so forgive me: so He forgave him: He is the All-Forgiving, the Merciful. He said: my Lord: for the favor You bestowed upon me: I will never be a supporter of the criminals."

Surat al-Qassas, 14-19

After mentioning that the Most High bestowed favor on his mother by his return to her: and His kindness in that: and His blessing upon her: He began to mention that when he reached his maturity and became established: which is the completion of creation and character: the age of forty in the view of the majority: Allah gave him judgment and knowledge: which is the prophethood and message his mother was given glad tidings of: "We shall return him to you: and make him of the messengers." Then He began to mention the cause of his leaving the land of Egypt: and his going to the land of Madyan and his residing there: until the term was complete: and the period expired: and what there was of the speech of Allah to him: and His honoring him with what He honored him: as will come.

"he entered the city at a time of inattention of its people": Ibn 'Abbas, Sa'id ibn Jubayr, 'Ikrima and Qatada said: at midday: between the two 'isha prayers. "he found therein two men fighting" that is: they were striking one another and scuffling: "this one from his faction" that is: an Israelite: "and this one from his enemies" that is: a Copt: said by Ibn 'Abbas, Qatada, as-Suddi and Mohammad ibn Ishaq.

"the one from his faction sought his help against the one from his enemies": that is because Moussa had standing in the dwellings of Egypt: because of his connection to the adoption of Fir'awn and his upbringing in his house: and Bani Israil had become honored: and their heads raised: because they nursed him: and they were his maternal uncles: that is: through suckling. When that Israelite sought the help of Moussa against that Copt: that is: he struck him with the gathered force of his palm: with a staff that was with him: "so Moussa struck him" that is: so he died from it. That Copt was a disbeliever: a polytheist against Allah the Immense: Moussa did not intend his killing at all: he only intended to rebuke him and deter him: and despite that Moussa said: "this is from the work of the devil: he is a clear, misleading enemy. He said: my Lord: I have wronged myself: so forgive me: so He forgave him: He is the All-Forgiving, the Merciful. He said: my Lord: for the favor You bestowed upon me" that is: of honor and standing: "I will never be a supporter of the criminals."

"So he became in the city fearful, anticipating: then the one who sought his help the day before cried out to him for help. Moussa said to him: you are indeed a clear deviator. Then when he intended to strike the one who was an enemy to them both: he said: ô Moussa: do you intend to kill me as you killed a soul yesterday: you only want to be a tyrant in the land: and you do not want to be of the reformers. And a man came from the farthest part of the city running: he said: ô Moussa: the notables are deliberating about you to kill you: so leave: I am to you of the sincere advisers.

So he left it fearful, anticipating: he said: my Lord: save me from the wrongdoing people."

Surat al-Qassas, 18-21

Allah the Most High informs that Moussa became in the city of Egypt fearful: that is: of Fir'awn and his notables: that they might know that this slain man whose affair was raised to them was only killed by Moussa in support of a man from Bani Israil: so their suspicions grew strong that Moussa was of them: and a great matter would follow from that: so he began to walk in the city in the morning of that day: fearful, anticipating: that is: turning around. And while he was thus: that Israelite man who had sought his help the day before cried out to him: that is: shouted to him and sought his aid against another who had fought him: so Moussa rebuked him and blamed him for the abundance of his evil: and his quarreling: he said to him: "you are indeed a clear deviator.

Then he intended to strike that Copt: who was an enemy to Moussa and to the Israelite: to deter him from him and free him of him: and when he resolved on that and turned toward the Copt: he said: "ô Moussa: do you intend to kill me as you killed a soul yesterday: you only want to be a tyrant in the land: and you do not want to be of the reformers. This speech, it was the Israelite who said it: the one who had learned what Moussa had done the day before: and it is as if he, when he saw Moussa advancing toward the Copt: believed that he had come to him because of the rebuke he had made to him before with his saying: "you are indeed a clear deviator": so he said what he said to Moussa: and disclosed the matter that had occurred the day before: so the Copt went: and Fir'awn took Moussa as an enemy: and this is what many people have not mentioned besides him.

It is possible that the speaker of this was the Copt: and that when he saw him advancing toward him: he feared him: and saw from his nature a good victory for the Israelite: so he said what he said by way of conjecture and intuition: that this one is perhaps the killer of that slain man yesterday: or that he understood from the words of the Israelite, when he cried out to him against him: what indicated this: and Allah knows best.

The point is that it reached Fir'awn that Moussa is the killer of that slain man of yesterday: so he sent

in search of him: and a sincere man outstripped them by a nearer road: "ô Moussa: the notables are deliberating about you to kill you: so leave" that is: from this town: "I am to you of the sincere advisers" that is: in what I say to you. "So he left it fearful, anticipating" that is: he left the city of Egypt at once: on his way: not being guided to any road nor knowing it: "my Lord: save me from the wrongdoing people."

"And when he directed himself toward Madyan: he said: perhaps my Lord will guide me to the sound way. And when he came to the water of Madyan: he found there a people watering: and he found besides them two women holding back their flock. He said: what is your matter ? They said: we do not water until the shepherds depart: and our father is an old advanced man.

So he watered for them: then turned back to the shade: and said: my Lord: I am in need of whatever good You send down to me."

Surat al-Qassas, 22-24

Allah the Most High informs of the departure of His servant, His messenger and His interlocutor from Egypt: fearful, anticipating: that is: turning around: fearing that someone of the people of Fir'awn might overtake him: he does not know where to direct himself: nor where to go: and that is because he had not left Egypt before. "he directed himself toward Madyan" that is: he headed for a road to travel in: "he said: perhaps my Lord will guide me to the sound way" that is: perhaps this road will lead to the intended goal: and so it happened: it brought him to the goal: and what a goal ! "when he came to the water of Madyan": which was a well from which they drew: Madyan is the city in which Allah destroyed the people of the Ayka: the people of Chou'ayb: and their destruction preceded the time of Moussa, in one of the two opinions of the scholars. "he found there a people watering: and he found besides them two women holding back their flock" that is: they were holding back their flock so that it would not mix with the sheep of the people.

According to the People of the Book: they were seven daughters: and this too is of the error: perhaps he had seven: but only two of them used to water: and this plural is possible if that is preserved: otherwise the apparent is that he had only two daughters.

"he said: what is your matter ? They said: we do not water until the shepherds depart: and our father is an old advanced man" that is: we cannot reach the water except after the departure of the shepherds: because of our weakness: and the reason we tend this flock is the weakness of our father and his great age. "So he watered for them": the exegetes said: the shepherds, when they finished their watering: would place a great rock on the mouth of the well: these two women would come: and pasture their flock among the remainder of the sheep of the people: on that day Moussa came: and lifted that rock alone: then watered for the two: and watered their flock: then returned the rock as it was: it could only be lifted by ten men. He watered only two ewes: and they sufficed the two: then he turned back to the shade: which was the shade of a samour tree. Ibn Jarir reported

from Ibn Mas'oud that he saw it green, rising. He said: "my Lord: I am in need of whatever good You send down to me." He traveled from Egypt to Madyan: eating nothing but herbs and tree leaves: and he was barefoot: the sandals fell from his feet: he sat in the shade: he who is the chosen one of Allah from His creation: his belly stuck to his back from hunger: the greenness of the herbs could be seen inside his cavity: and he did not even have a date to split. When he said: "my Lord: I am in need of whatever good You send down to me": the woman heard.

"Then one of the two came to him walking with shyness: she said: my father calls you: that he may reward you for watering for us. When he came to him: and told him the story: he said: do not fear: you have escaped from the wrongdoing people. One of the two said: ô my father: hire him: indeed the best one you hire is the strong, the trustworthy. He said: I wish to marry you to one of these two daughters of mine: on condition that you serve me eight years: but if you complete ten: it will be from you: I do not wish to impose hardship on you: you will find me, if Allah wills, of the righteous.

He said: that is between you and me: whichever of the two terms I complete: there will be no injustice to me: and Allah is over what we say a guarantor."

Surat al-Qassas, 25-28

When Moussa sat in the shade: "my Lord: I am in need of whatever good You send down to me": the two women, it is said, heard him: they went to their father: he disapproved of their quick return: they informed him of what had happened of the affair of Moussa: he ordered one of them to go to him and call him: one of them came to him walking with shyness

that is: with the gait of freeborn women. 'Umar said: she was covering her face with the flap of her garment. "my father calls you: that he may reward you for watering for us": she declared this to him expressly: lest her speech suggest suspicion: and this is of the perfection of her modesty and her protection. When he came to him: "and told him the story" that is: informed him of his case: and what had happened of his affair: in leaving the land of Egypt fleeing its Fir'awn: "he said: do not fear: you have escaped from the wrongdoing people" that is: you have left their authority: you are no longer under their dominion.

They differed about this old man: who is he ? He is Chou'ayb: and this is the famous view among many: among those who stated it expressly: al-Hasan al-Basri and Malik ibn Anas: and it is stated explicitly in a hadith: but its isnad is subject to scrutiny. A group declared that Chou'ayb lived a long life after the destruction of his people: until Moussa met him: and married his daughter. Ibn Abi Hatim and others reported from al-Hasan al-Basri: that the companion of Moussa was named Chou'ayb: and he was the master of the water: but he was not the prophet of the people of Madyan: he is the nephew of Chou'ayb: the cousin of this one: a believing man from the people of Chou'ayb: a man

named Yathroun: Yathroun, the priest of Madyan: that is: its elder and its scholar. Ibn 'Abbas said: his name is Yathroun: and he is the nephew of Chou'ayb: the lord of Madyan.

The point is that when he took him in and honored his lodging: and told him what had happened of his affair: gave him the glad tiding that he had escaped: then one of the two daughters said to her father: "ô my father: hire him" that is: for the pasturing of your flock: then she praised him: as strong and trustworthy. 'Umar, Ibn 'Abbas, Chourayh the judge, Abu Malik, Qatada and Mohammad ibn Ishaq said: when she said that: her father said to her: and how do you know this ? He lifted a rock which only ten can lift: and when you came with him: I made you walk ahead of me: stay behind me: and if the road divides: throw me a pebble by which I know the way. The most perceptive of people are three: the companion of Youssouf when he said to his wife: make his lodging honorable: and the companion of Moussa when she said: "ô my father: hire him: indeed the best one you hire is the strong, the trustworthy": and Abu Bakr when he appointed 'Umar ibn al-Khattab as successor.

"He said: I wish to marry you to one of these two daughters of mine: on condition that you serve me eight years: but if you complete ten: it will be from you: I do not wish to impose hardship on you: you will find me, if Allah wills, of the righteous." A group of the companions of Abu Hanifa argued from this the validity of sale: if someone sold one of these two slaves or these two garments: "I wish to marry you to one of these two daughters of mine": in this there is scrutiny: for this is solicitation: not contracting:

and Allah knows best. The companions of Ahmad argued the validity of hire against food and clothing: as custom proceeds with it: and they took comfort in the hadith reported by Ibn Majah in his biographies in his book: Mohammad ibn al-Masfi al-Himsi reported to us: Bawayh ibn al-Walid reported to us: from Muslima ibn 'Ali: from Sa'id ibn Abi Ayyoub: from al-Harith ibn Yazid: from 'Ali ibn Raba'h: I heard 'Utba ibn Nadir say: we were with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): he recited until he reached the story of Moussa: and said: Moussa hired himself for eight years: or ten: for the chastity of his private part and the food of his belly. And from this angle it is not valid: for Muslima ibn 'Ali al-Khouchani ad-Dimachqi al-Balati is weak according to the imams: his solitary report is not used as proof: Abu Zur'a reported to us: Yahya ibn 'Abdullah ibn Bakir reported to us: Ibn Lah'ah reported to me.

And Abu Zur'a reported to us: Safwan reported to us: al-Walid reported to us: 'Abdullah ibn Lah'ah reported to us: from al-Harith ibn Yazid al-Hadrami: from 'Ali ibn Raba'h al-Lakhmi: I heard 'Utba ibn Nadir as-Soulami narrate: that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Moussa hired himself for the chastity of his private part and the food of his belly.

"that is between you and me: whichever of the two terms I complete: there will be no injustice to me: and Allah is over what we say a guarantor." Moussa said to his father-in-law: the matter is as you said: whichever of the two terms I complete: there will be no injustice to me: and Allah of our statement is hearer and witness: and guarantor over me and over you. And despite that: Moussa did not complete only one of the two terms: but completed both of them: and fulfilled both: which are the ten years, whole and complete.

Mohammad ibn 'Abd ar-Rahim reported to us: Sa'id ibn Soulayman reported to us: Marwan ibn Cha'ja reported to us: from Salim al-Aftas: from Sa'id ibn Jubayr: a Jew of the people of al-Hira asked me: which of the two terms did Moussa complete ? I replied: I do not know: until I go to the sage of the Arabs and ask him. I came: and I asked Ibn 'Abbas: he completed the longer of the two and the sweeter of the two: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), when he said: done: it is done. Al-Boukhari is alone in reporting it from this angle.

And an-Nasa'i reported it in the hadith of the trial: as will come: by the path of al-Qassim ibn Abi Ayyoub: from Sa'id ibn Jubayr. Ibn Jarir reported it from Ahmad ibn Mohammad at-Tousi: and Ibn Abi Hatim from his father: both from al-Houmaydi: from Soufyan ibn 'Ouyayna: Ibrahim ibn Yahya ibn Abi Ya'qoub informed me: from al-Hakam ibn Aban: from 'Ikrima: from Ibn 'Abbas: that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked Jibril: which of the two terms did Moussa complete ? He completed both of them and fulfilled both: and this Ibrahim is not known: except by this hadith. Al-Bazzar reported it from Ahmad ibn Aban al-Qourachi: from Soufyan ibn 'Ouyayna: from Ibrahim ibn A'youn: from al-Hakam ibn Aban: from 'Ikrima: from Ibn 'Abbas: from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and he mentioned it.

Sanid reported it from Houshaym: from Ibn Jourayj: from Moujahid, in mursala form: that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked Jibril about that: Jibril asked Israfil: and Israfil asked the Lord (exalted is He): the more excellent of the two and the more complete of the two: and the like: reported by Ibn Abi Hatim from the hadith of Youssouf ibn Sarh, in mursala form. Ibn Jarir reported it by the path of Mohammad ibn Ka'b: he was asked: which of the two terms did Moussa complete ? He fulfilled both and completed both. Al-Bazzar and Ibn Abi Hatim reported it from the hadith of 'Owayd ibn Abi 'Imran al-Jouni: who is weak: from his father: from 'Abdullah ibn as-Samit: from Abu Dharr: that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked: which of the two terms did Moussa complete ?

He said: the more complete of the two and the more excellent of the two. And if it is asked: which of the two women did he marry ? The younger of the two. Al-Bazzar and Ibn Abi Hatim reported it by the path of 'Abdullah ibn Lah'ah: from al-Harith ibn Yazid al-Hadrami: from 'Ali ibn Raba'h: from 'Utba ibn Nadir: that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Moussa hired himself for the chastity of his private part and the food

of his belly. When the term was fulfilled: ô Messenger of Allah: which of the two terms ? The more excellent of the two and the more complete of the two: and when he intended to part from Chou'ayb: he ordered his wife to ask her father to give her from his flock what they would live on: he gave her what his flock begot that year: of every color: and his flock was black, beautiful: Moussa set out: he split his staff from its end: then placed it in the bottom of the basin: then led the water into it and gave them drink: Moussa stood facing the basin: they all turned of different colors: except a ewe or two: having no fouchou, nor dabboub, nor 'azzouz, nor tha'oul, nor kamcha that escapes the palm: if you opened the Cham: you would find the remains of that flock: the fouchou: broad of haunch: long of udder which it drags: the dabboub: narrow of haunch: small of udder like two nipples: and the kamcha: the one whose udder the palm cannot grasp because of its smallness.

The soundness of the raising of this hadith is subject to scrutiny: and it may be mawqouf: Mohammad ibn al-Mouthanna reported to us: Mou'adh ibn Hicham reported to us: my father reported to us: from Qatada: when the prophet of Allah Moussa called his companion to the term fixed between them: every ewe gave birth according to her color: her offspring is yours: he proceeded: and placed a silhouette on the water: when she saw the silhouette: she was startled: made a full turn: and they all gave birth speckled: except one single ewe:

and he took their offspring that year: and the men of his isnad are trustworthy: and Allah knows best. It has come before, from the transmission of the People of the Book: concerning Ya'qoub, when he parted from his uncle Laban: that he granted him what was born of his flock, speckled: and he did the like of what is reported about Moussa: and Allah knows best.

"And when Moussa had completed the term: and traveled with his family: he perceived from the side of the Tour a fire: he said to his family: stay: I have perceived a fire: perhaps I will bring you from it an account: or a brand from the fire: perhaps you will warm yourselves. But when he came to it: he was called from the right side of the valley: in the blessed spot: from the tree: ô Moussa: I am Allah: the Lord of the worlds: and throw down your staff. But when he saw it writhing as if it were a jinn: he turned in flight: and did not return: ô Moussa: approach and do not fear: indeed you are of the secure. Insert your hand into your collar: it will come out white without evil: and draw in your wing to you, without fear: those are two proofs from your Lord to Fir'awn and his notables: they were a defiantly disobedient people."

Surat Ta-Ha, 10 ; al-Qassas, 29-32

It has come before that Moussa completed the two terms and fulfilled them both: when Moussa completed the term: and from Moujahid: he completed ten: and ten after them. "and traveled with his family" that is: from his father-in-law: departing: more than one exegete and others have mentioned that he longed for his family: so he set out to visit them in the land of Egypt: in a concealed form.

When he traveled with his family: with him two boys of theirs: and a flock he had acquired during the duration of his stay: that took place by agreement on a dark, cold night: they went astray on their way: and found no walking on the familiar road: he showed his firebrands and it showed nothing: the darkness and the cold became intense: and while he was thus: he saw from afar a fire blazing on the side of the Tour: which is the western mountain of him, at his right: "stay: I have perceived a fire": and it is as if, and Allah knows best, he saw it before them: for this fire is in reality a light: "has the story of Moussa come to you: when he saw a fire: and said to his family: stay: I have perceived a fire: perhaps I will bring you from it a brand: or find upon the fire a guidance. (Ta-Ha, 9-10) This indicates the existence of darkness: and their going astray from the road.

And he gathered the whole in a sura in His saying, the Most High: "when Moussa said to his family: I perceive a fire: I will bring you from it an account: or bring you a flaming brand: perhaps you will warm yourselves." (an-Naml, 7) And he brought them from it an account: and what an account ! "and found upon it a guidance": and what a guidance ! "and snatched from it a light": and what a light ! "but when he came to it: he was called from the right side of the valley, in the blessed spot, from the tree: ô Moussa: I am Allah, the Lord of the worlds." (al-Qassas, 30) And He, the Most High, said in a sura: "but when he came to it: he was called: blessed is whoever is at the fire and around it: and glory to Allah, the Lord of the worlds." (an-Naml, 8)

that is: glory to Allah who does what He wills: and decrees what He wants: "ô Moussa: it is I, Allah, the Mighty, the Wise. (an-Naml, 9) And He said in a sura: "and when he came to it: he was called: ô Moussa: I am your Lord: remove your sandals: you are in the sacred valley Touwa: and I have chosen you: so listen to what is revealed: I am Allah: there is no god except Me: so worship Me: and establish prayer for My remembrance: the Hour is coming: I almost conceal it: that every soul may be recompensed for what it strives: let not the one who does not believe in it and follows his desire turn you away from it: or you would perish. (Ta-Ha, 11-16) More than one exegete said: when Moussa headed for that fire which he had seen: and reached it: he found it blazing in a green bush tree: all of that fire in blaze: and all of the greenness of that tree in increase: he stood amazed: and that tree was at the slope of a western mountain of him, at his right: as the Most High said: "and you were not at the western side when We decreed to Moussa the command: and you were not of the witnesses.

(al-Qassas, 44-45) Moussa was in a valley named Touwa: he was facing the qibla: and that tree at his right: from the side of the west: his Lord called him in the sacred valley Touwa: and first ordered him to remove his sandals: in magnification, glorification and veneration of that blessed spot: and especially in that blessed night. According to the People of the Book: he placed his hand on his face: from the intensity of that light: out of awe of him: and fear for his sight.

"I am Allah, the Lord of the worlds: I am Allah: there is no god except Me: so worship Me: and establish prayer for My remembrance" that is: I am Allah, the Lord of the worlds: there is no god but Him: worship and the establishment of prayer are not valid except for Him. Then He informed him that this world is not a residence: the enduring home is the Day of Resurrection: which must exist and be: "that every soul may be recompensed for what it strives" that is: of good and evil. And He urged and exhorted him to work for it: and avoid the one who does not believe in it: of those who disobeyed their Master: and followed their desire. Then He said to him, addressing him and fellow-feeling with him: "and what is that in your right hand, ô Moussa ?

that is: this is your staff which you have known since you have kept it ? He said: "it is my staff: I lean upon it: and I beat down leaves for my sheep: and I have in it other purposes. that is: rather this is my staff which I know: and verify. He said: "cast it down, ô Moussa.

He cast it: and there it was: a serpent moving. And this is a great miracle: be and it is: and He is the Doer by choice.

According to the People of the Book: he asked for a proof of his truthfulness from one who would deny him among the people of Egypt: "what is this in your hand ? My staff. Cast it to the ground." He cast it: and there it was: a serpent moving: Moussa fled from before it: the Lord ordered him to stretch out his hand: and seize it by its tail: when he got hold of it: it turned back into a staff in his hand. "and throw down your staff": when he saw it writhing as if it were a jinn: "he turned in flight: and did not return"

that is: it became a mighty serpent: of enormous bulk: and fangs striking together: while being of the swiftness of the movement of the jann: the jann and the janan: it is slender: but very quick in agitation and movement: this one thus combined bulk and great swiftness: when Moussa beheld it: "ô Moussa: approach and do not fear: indeed you are of the secure. When he returned at the command of Allah the Most High to seize it: "seize it and do not fear: We will return it to its first state. It is said: he feared it intensely: he placed his hand in the sleeve of his cloak: then placed his hand in the middle of its mouth: by its tail: when he got hold of it: there it was returned as it was: a staff with two branches: glory to the Omnipotent, the Immense, Lord of the easts and the wests. Then the Most High ordered him to insert his hand into his collar: then ordered him to draw it out: and there it was gleaming like the moon: white without evil: that is: without leprosy nor vitiligo.

"insert your hand into your collar: it will come out white without evil: and draw in your wing to you, without fear: those are two proofs from your Lord to Fir'awn and his notables: they were a defiantly disobedient people. It is said: its meaning: when you fear: place your hand on your heart: your agitation will subside. And this, though specific to him: by the blessing of faith in it, true faith: whoever applies it on the basis of emulating the prophets benefits from it. And He said in a sura: "and insert your hand into your collar: it will come out white without evil: among nine signs to Fir'awn and his people: they were a defiantly disobedient people.

(an-Naml, 12)

that is: these two signs: which are the staff: and the hand: "those are two proofs from your Lord to Fir'awn and his notables: they were a defiantly disobedient people" and despite that: "seven other signs": making nine demonstrative signs: which are those mentioned at the end of a sura: where the Most High says: "We gave Moussa nine clear signs: so ask Bani Israil: when he came to them: Fir'awn said to him: I think, ô Moussa, that you are bewitched. He said: you know that none sent these down except the Lord of the heavens: and of the earth: as clear proofs: and I think, ô Fir'awn, that you are destroyed. (al-Isra, 101-102) And these are the ones developed in a sura: in His saying: "and We seized the family of Fir'awn: with years of drought: and a deficiency of fruits: that they might remember. But when the good came to them: they said: this is due to us: and if an evil touched them: they deemed Moussa and those with him an evil omen: no indeed: their omen is with Allah: but most of them know not.

And they said: whatever sign you bring us: to bewitch us with: we will not believe in you. So We sent upon them the flood: and the locusts: and the lice: and the frogs: and the blood: distinct signs: but they were arrogant: and were a criminal people. (al-A'raf, 130-133) The discussion of that will come in its place. And these nine signs are other than the ten words: for the nine are signs of Allah's power: and the ten of His legal prescriptions.

We have drawn attention to this: because the matter became confused for some transmitters: who thought that these are those: as we have established in the commentary of the end of a sura of Bani Israil.

The point: when Allah, glorified is He, commanded Moussa to go to Fir'awn: "he said: my Lord: I killed of them a soul: so I fear they will kill me. And my brother Haroun: is more eloquent than I in tongue: so send him with me: as support: confirming me: I fear they will deny me. (al-Qassas, 33-34) He said: "We will strengthen your arm through your brother: and give you both authority: and they will not reach you: with Our signs: you two: and those who follow you: will be the predominant. (al-Qassas, 35) The Most High says, informing about His servant, His messenger and His interlocutor Moussa: in his answer to his Lord: when He commanded him to go to his enemy: whom he had fled from the dwellings of Egypt escaping his tyranny and injustice: when there occurred of his affair what occurred of the killing of that Copt: that is why he said: "my Lord: I killed of them a soul: so I fear they will kill me.

And my brother Haroun: is more eloquent than I in tongue: so send him with me: as support: confirming me: I fear they will deny me" that is: make him with me: a helper: and support: and vizier: who helps and assists me in fulfilling your mission to them: for he is more eloquent than I in tongue: and clearer in exposition. Allah the Most High said: "We will strengthen your arm through your brother: and give you both authority" that is: a proof: "and they will not reach you with Our signs" that is: they will not attain you with any harm: because of your standing with Our signs: "you two: and those who follow you: will be the predominant. And He said in a sura: "go to Fir'awn: he has transgressed. He said: my Lord: expand for me my breast: and ease for me my task: and untie a knot from my tongue: that they may understand my speech.

(Ta-Ha, 24-28) He was affected in his tongue with a lisp: because of that ember he placed on his tongue: when

Fir'awn wanted to test his intelligence: when

he took him by his beard while he was small: and intended to kill him: Asiya feared for him: he is a child. She tested him by placing a date and an ember before him: he reached for the date: the king diverted his hand to the ember: he took it: and placed it on his tongue: and he was affected with a lisp because of it: so he asked for the removal of a part of it: to the measure that his speech would be understood: and did not ask for its total removal: for the messengers only ask according to need. For this reason a remainder stayed in his tongue: and for this Fir'awn, may Allah curse him, said: "and he can hardly speak clearly" that is: he may expound his intention: and express what is in his mind and heart. Then Moussa said: "and appoint for me a vizier from my family: Haroun, my brother: strengthen through him my back: and associate him in my task: that we glorify You much: and remember You much: You are indeed of us Seeing.

He said: you have been granted your request, ô Moussa. (Ta-Ha, 29-36) that is: We answered you regarding all that you asked: and gave you what you sought. And this is of his standing with his Lord: when he interceded that Allah reveal to his brother: and He revealed to him: and this is a great rank: and he was with Allah an intercessor whose intercession is answered. "and We bestowed upon him from Our mercy his brother Haroun: a prophet.

And Umm al-Mouminin 'Aïcha heard a man say to people: which brother was a guarantor of his brother ? The people fell silent: it is Moussa ibn 'Imran: when he interceded for his brother to be a prophet to whom revelation comes. "and We bestowed upon him from Our mercy his brother Haroun: a prophet."

And the Most High said in a sura: "and when your Lord called Moussa: go to the wrongdoing people: the people of Fir'awn: will they not fear ? He said: my Lord: I fear they will deny me: and my breast will constrict: and my tongue will not be fluent: so send for Haroun: and they have against me a sin: so I fear they will kill me. He said: no: go both of you with Our signs: We are with you, listening. And when you both come to Fir'awn: say: we are the messengers of the Lord of the worlds: send with us Bani Israil: and do not torture them: we have come to you with a sign from your Lord: and peace upon whoever follows the guidance: it has been revealed to us that the punishment is upon whoever denies: and turns away.

(Ta-Ha, 43-48) Then the two came to him: and said this to him: and conveyed to him that with which they were sent: of calling him to the worship of Allah alone without partner: and that he release the captives of Bani Israil from his grip, his subjugation and his tyranny: and leave them to worship their Lord wherever they wish: and devote themselves to His oneness: His invocation: and their supplication to Him. So Fir'awn puffed up within himself: behaved rebelliously and tyrannically: and looked at Moussa with the eye of contempt and belittling: "did we not raise you among us as a child: and did you not stay among us years of your life ? that is: are you not the one we raised in our house: and treated well: and favored for a duration of time ? And this indicates that the Fir'awn to whom he was sent: is the one he fled from: contrary to what is with the People of the Book: that the Fir'awn he fled from died during the duration of his stay in Madyan: and that the one to whom he was sent is another Fir'awn.

"and you did your deed which you did: and you were of the ungrateful" that is: you killed the Copt man: and fled from us: and denied our favor:

"he said: I did it then: while I was of the astray" that is: before revelation came to him: and descended upon him: and I fled from you when I feared you: "so my Lord granted me judgment: and made me of the messengers." (Chou'ara, 20-21) Then he said in answer to Fir'awn: concerning what he had favored him with: of upbringing and kindness to him: "and this is the favor: you reproach me: that you enslaved Bani Israil." (Chou'ara, 22) that is: and this favor you mentioned: that you were good to me: and that I am a single man of Bani Israil: is compensated by your use of this great people in its entirety: and your enslaving them in your works, your service and your occupations.

"Fir'awn said: and what is the Lord of the worlds ? He said: the Lord of the heavens: and of the earth: and of what is between them: if you are certain. He said to those around him: do you not hear ? He said: your Lord: and the Lord of your first forefathers. He said: your messenger: who has been sent to you: is mad. He said: the Lord of the east: and of the west: and of what is between them: if you reasoned." (Chou'ara, 23-28) The Most High mentions what was between Fir'awn and Moussa: of answers, disputing and debate: and what the interlocutor established against Fir'awn the vile: of rational, spiritual argument: then sensory. That is because Fir'awn, may Allah curse him: manifested denial of the Creator (exalted is He): and claimed that he was the deity: and gathered (the people): and proclaimed: "I am your lord most high." (an-Nazi'at, 24) "ô notables: I know not for you any god other than me." (al-Qassas, 38) And he, in this position, was obstinate:

he knows he is a nourished servant: and that Allah is the Creator, the Producer, the Fashioner: the true deity: they denied it while their souls were certain of it: in injustice: and exaltation: "so look how was the end of the corrupters. (an-Naml, 14) That is why he said to Moussa: in denying his message: "and what is the Lord of the worlds ? "We are the messengers of the Lord of the worlds": as if he said to them: and who is the Lord of the worlds: whom you claim sent you both and raised you ? "the Lord of the heavens: and of the earth: and of what is between them: if you are certain.

He means the Lord of the worlds: creator of these observed heavens and earth: and of what is between them of renewed creatures: of clouds, winds, rain, vegetation and animals: which every certain person knows did not create themselves: and must have a maker, a producer and a creator: who is Allah: there is no god but He: the Lord of the worlds. He said: that is Fir'awn, to those around him of his emirs: his courtiers and his viziers: in mockery and belittling of what Moussa established: "do you not hear ? meaning this speech of his. "He said: your Lord: and the Lord of your first forefathers.

that is: He who created you: and those before you: of fathers, ancestors and past generations through the ages: for everyone knows he did not create himself: nor his father nor his mother: and did not appear without a maker: rather the Lord of the worlds brought him into existence: and created him. And these two positions are

these: "We will show them Our signs in the horizons: and within themselves: until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth." (Foussilat, 53) And despite all of this: Fir'awn did not wake from his slumber: nor remove himself from his error: but continued in his tyranny and obstinacy: and disbelief: "he said: your messenger who has been sent to you: is mad. He said: the Lord of the east: and of the west: and of what is between them: if you reasoned." that is: He who subjected these shining stars: who courses the revolving spheres: creator of darkness: and of light: and Lord of the earth: and of the sky: Lord of the first ones: and of the last ones: creator of the sun: and of the moon: and of the wandering stars: and the fixed suspended ones: creator of the night with its darkness: and the day with its light: and all of it under His subjugation, His subjecting and His setting in motion, moving: and in an orbit they glorify: succeeding one another in all times: and revolving: He, the Most High: the Creator, the Owner: disposing of His creation as He wills.

When the proofs were established against Fir'awn: and his pretenses cut off: and nothing remained to him of speech but obstinacy: he turned to the use of his power, his standing and his tyranny: "he said: if you take a god other than me: I will surely make you of the imprisoned. He said: even if I brought you something clear ? He said: so bring it: if you are of the truthful. So he cast his staff: and there it was: a serpent, clear: and he drew out his hand: and there it was: white for the observers." (Chou'ara, 29-33) And these are the two proofs by which Allah aided him: which are the staff: and the hand. And this is a position in which appeared the great miracle: by which intellects and sights were dazzled: when he cast his staff: and there it was: a serpent, clear: that is: great of form: marvelous of bulk and terror: and of an immense, dreadful, dazzling appearance: Fir'awn:

when he witnessed that and beheld it: a severe terror seized him: and a great fear: to the point that he suffered a great diarrhea more than forty times in one single day: whereas before that he did not relieve himself except once in forty days: his condition reversed. And likewise when Moussa inserted his hand into his collar: and extracted it: he brought it out like the brilliance of the moon: gleaming with a light that dazzles the sights: and when he returned it to his collar: it reverted to its first state: and despite all of this: Fir'awn, may Allah curse him, profited nothing from it: but continued in his state: and manifested that all this was magic: and sought to counter it with sorcery: and sent to gather them from all his kingdom: and from those of his subjects: under his subjugation and authority: as the expansion and explanation will come in its place: of the manifestation of Allah, the clear truth: and the dazzling, decisive proof against Fir'awn: and his notables: and the people of his state and his religion: and to Allah praise and favor.

"And I stayed years: among the people of Madyan: then I came according to a decree: ô Moussa: and I chose you for Myself: go: you: and your brother: with My signs: and do not slacken in My remembrance: go both of you to Fir'awn: he has transgressed: but speak to him with gentle speech: perhaps he will remember: or fear. They said: our Lord: we fear he will transgress against us: or exceed all limits. He said: fear not: I am with you both: I hear: and I see."

Surat Ta-Ha, 40-46

The Most High says, addressing Moussa: in that with which He spoke to him the night He revealed to him: and bestowed prophethood upon him: "you were under My eye: when you were in the house of Fir'awn: and under My shade, My guarding and My kindness: then I brought you out of the land of Egypt: to the land of Madyan: by My will, My power and My management: you stayed years among the people of Madyan: then you came according to a decree" that is: from Me for that: "and do not slacken in My remembrance" when you presented yourselves to him: and came to visit him: for that is an aid to you both in addressing him: and answering him: and giving him counsel: and establishing the proof against him. Allah the Most High says: "My servant, any servant who invokes Me while he is sound of mind": and the Most High said: "ô you who believe: when you meet a company: stand firm: and remember Allah much: that you may succeed." (al-Anfal, 45)

"go both of you to Fir'awn: he has transgressed: but speak to him with gentle speech: perhaps he will remember: or fear." And this is of His patience, the Most High: and His generosity: His kindness and His mercy toward His creature: with His knowledge of Fir'awn's disbelief: his tyranny and his arrogance: and he was then the most abject of His creation: and He had sent to him His chosen one from His creation in that time: and despite that He said to them: and commanded them to call him to Him with that which is best: with gentleness and kindness: and to treat him as one from whom it is hoped he will remember: or fear: "invite to the way of your Lord: with wisdom and good instruction: and dispute with them in the best manner." (an-Nahl, 125) "and do not dispute with the People of the Book: except in the best manner: except those of them who did injustice." (al-Ankabout, 46) "but speak to him with gentle speech": excuse yourselves to him: you have a Lord: and a return: and before you a Paradise:

and a Fire. Say to him: from Me forgiveness and pardon are nearer than anger and punishment. ô the one who endears himself to those who oppose him: how then with the one who follows him and calls upon him ? They said: "our Lord: we fear he will transgress against us: or exceed all limits.

And that is because Fir'awn was an obstinate tyrant: a rebellious devil: possessing in the lands of Egypt a long, wide power: and standing, soldiers, armies and tyranny: they feared him from the human standpoint: and feared he would prevail over them at the beginning of the matter: so the Most High strengthened them: He the Most Exalted: "fear not: I am with you both: I hear and I see. "We are with you, listening. "When you both come to Fir'awn: say: we are the messengers of your Lord: so send with us Bani Israil: and do not torture them: we have come to you with a sign from your Lord: and peace upon whoever follows the guidance: it has been revealed to us that the punishment is upon whoever denies and turns away.

(Chou'ara, 16-17) The Most High mentions that He commanded them to go to Fir'awn: to call him to Allah the Most High: to worship Him alone without partner: and to send with them Bani Israil: and free them from his captivity, his subjugation and his tyranny: "and do not torture them" "we have come to you with a sign from your Lord" which is the great proof: in the staff and the hand: "and peace upon whoever follows the guidance": a beneficial restriction, greatly eloquent. Then they threatened him: and warned him of denial: "it has been revealed to us that the punishment is upon whoever denies and turns away" that is: denies the truth with his heart: and turns away from action with his limbs.

As-Suddi and others have mentioned: that when he returned from the land of Madyan: he visited his mother

and his brother Haroun: while they were dining on food containing the toufichal: which is the turnip: he ate with them: then said: ô Haroun: Allah has commanded me and you that we call Fir'awn to His worship: so rise with me. So they set out heading for the door of Fir'awn: and there it was closed: they informed that the messengers of Allah are at the door: they began to mock them: and ridicule them. Some of them claimed that they were not admitted to him except after a long while: he admitted them after two years: for no one dared to seek permission for them: and Allah knows best. Moussa advanced to the door: and knocked with his staff: Fir'awn was irritated: and ordered them brought: so they stood before him: and called him to Allah as He had commanded them.

According to the People of the Book: Allah said to Moussa: Haroun the Lawite: meaning: of the descendants of Lawi ibn Ya'qoub: will come forth: and meet you. And He commanded him to take with him the elders of Bani Israil to Fir'awn: and commanded him to display what He had given him of signs: "I will harden his heart: so he will not release the people: and abound with My signs: and My wonders: in the land of Egypt. And Allah revealed to Haroun to go out to his brother: and meet him in the wilderness: near the mountain of Hourib: when he met him: Moussa informed him of what his Lord had commanded him: when they entered Egypt: they gathered the elders of Bani Israil: and went to Fir'awn: who is Allah ? I do not know Him: and I do not send Bani Israil.

"he said: and who is your Lord, ô Moussa ? He said: our Lord is He who gave each thing its creation: then guided it. He said: what then of the former generations ? He said: their knowledge is with my Lord: in a Book: my Lord neither errs: nor forgets" (Ta-Ha, 49-52) that is: they, even if they worshipped other than Him: that is not a proof for you: nor indicates the contrary of what I say: for they are ignorant like you: and everything they did is traced upon them in the Zabour: small and great: and my Lord will recompense them for that: and He wrongs no one the weight of an atom: because all the deeds of the servants are written with Him: in a Book from which nothing is lost: and my Lord forgets nothing.

Then he mentioned the greatness of the Lord: and His power to create things: "who made for you the earth a bed: and traced for you in it paths: and sent down from the sky water: so We brought out by it pairs of various plants: eat: and pasture your livestock: in that are signs: for those of understanding" (Ta-Ha, 53-54) that is: for the possessors of sound, upright intellects: and of a right nature, not sick. He is therefore, the Most High, the Creator, the Provider. "ô people: worship your Lord: who created you: and those before you: that you may become righteous. He who made for you the earth a bed: and the sky a structure: and sent down from the sky water: and brought out by it of the fruits: provision for you: so do not assign to Allah equals: while you know.

(al-Baqara, 21-22) And when he mentioned the reviving of the earth by rain: and its trembling by bringing out its vegetation: "from it" that is: from the earth: "We created you: and in it We return you: and from it We bring you out another time. (Ta-Ha, 55) as the Most High said: "as He originated you: you will return. (al-A'raf, 29) "and He it is who originates the creation: then repeats it: and it is easier for Him: and to Him belongs the highest similitude: in the heavens and the earth: and He is the Mighty, the Wise. (ar-Roum, 27)

"So We showed him all Our signs: but he denied: and refused. He said: have you come to us: to drive us out of our land with your magic: ô Moussa ? We will surely bring you magic like it: so appoint between us and you an appointment: we will not fail it: neither we: nor you: in a place equal. He said: your appointment is the day of adornment: and the people assembled in the forenoon.

(Ta-Ha, 56-58) The Most High informs of Fir'awn's wretchedness: and his great ignorance: and the smallness of his mind: in his denial of the signs of Allah: and his arrogance at following them: "this you have brought: is magic: and we will counter you with its like. Then he asked of Moussa: that he set an appointment at a known time: and a known place: and this was among the greatest aims of Moussa: that the signs of Allah: and His proofs and His demonstrations appear openly: before the people: that is why he said: "your appointment is the day of adornment" which was a feast day among their feasts: and a gathering for them: "and the people assembled in the forenoon" that is: from the beginning of the day: at the time of the intensity of the sun's light: so that the truth would be more apparent: and clearer.

He did not ask for it to be at night: in darkness: so that impossibilities and falsehood might circulate on them: but asked that it be in daytime: openly: for he was upon insight from his Lord: and upon certainty that Allah will make His word appear: and His religion: even if the noses of the Copts be hurt.

So Fir'awn turned away: gathered his plot: then came. Moussa said to them: "woe to you: do not forge against Allah a lie: or He will obliterate you with a punishment: and he has failed who forges. So they disputed over their affair among themselves: and kept their counsel secret. They said: these two are magicians: who intend to drive you out of your land with their magic: and do away with your exemplary way: so gather your plot: then come in line: today he will triumph who prevails.

(Ta-Ha, 61-64) The Most High informs that Fir'awn went: and gathered from his land the sorcerers: and the land of Egypt at that time was full of sorcerers: virtuous: whose craft was at the utmost: so they gathered for him from every land: and every place: and they became a numerous host: and a vast crowd. They were eighty thousand: said Mohammad ibn Ka'b. Seventy thousand. Thirty-six thousand.

Nineteen thousand. And he said: fifteen thousand. They were twelve thousand. They were seventy men.

And it was reported from him also: that they were forty young boys of Bani Israil: whom Fir'awn ordered to go to the masters: to learn sorcery: "and what You forced us to do: of sorcery" "and Allah is better: and more enduring" (Ta-Ha, 73) in this there is scrutiny.

Fir'awn attended: and his emirs: and the people of his state: and the people of his land: from early morning: that is because Fir'awn proclaimed among them that they attend that great occasion: "perhaps we will follow the sorcerers if they are the victorious. (Chou'ara, 59) Moussa advanced to the sorcerers: admonished them: and forbade them from practicing the false magic: which entails opposing the signs of Allah: and His proofs: "woe to you: do not forge against Allah a lie: or He will obliterate you with a punishment: and he has failed who forges. So they disputed over their affair among themselves": it is said: its meaning: they differed among themselves: one saying: this is the speech of a prophet: and not a sorcerer: rather he is a sorcerer: and Allah knows best.

"they said: this one and his brother Haroun are two sorcerers: sovereigns: proficient in this craft: and their intent is that the people gather around them: that they prevail over the king: and his court: and uproot you, you and your last: and conspire against you with this craft: "so gather your plot: then come in line: today he will triumph who prevails. And they said the first speech to deliberate: and counsel one another: and come with all they had of scheming: and deception: and trickery: and magic: and slander. Far, far: by Allah the conjectures lied: and the opinions erred: how can slander: and magic: and delirium: oppose the miracles beyond custom: which the Judge operated by the hand of His interlocutor servant: and His generous messenger: aided by the proof that dazzles the sights: and in which intellects and minds are lost. "so gather your plot" that is: all that you have: "then come in line" that is: in a single mass.

Then they encouraged one another to advance in this position: for Fir'awn had promised them: and given them hope: "and the devil promises you nothing but deception. (an-Nisa, 120)

"They said: ô Moussa: either you cast: or we will be the first to cast. He said: rather you cast: and thereupon their ropes: and their staffs: seemed to him from their magic that they move. And Moussa felt in himself fear. We said: fear not: indeed you are the superior: and cast what is in your right hand: it will swallow what they have made: they have made only the plot of a magician: and the magician will not succeed: wherever he goes.

(Ta-Ha, 66-69) When the sorcerers were chosen: and Moussa and Haroun stood facing them: "either you cast before us: or we cast before you. "Rather you cast. And they had taken to ropes: and staffs: into which they had incorporated mercury: and other instruments: by which those ropes: and staffs agitate: an agitation that makes the beholder think they move: by their own choice: whereas they move only because of that: at that point they bewitched the eyes of the people: and terrified them: "by the might of Fir'awn: indeed we are we the predominant. (Chou'ara, 44) "so when they cast: they bewitched the eyes of the people: and terrified them: and produced a great magic.

(al-A'raf, 116) "and thereupon their ropes: and their staffs: seemed to him from their magic that they move. And Moussa felt in himself fear" that is: he feared for the people that they would be seduced by their magic: and their impossibilities: before he cast what was in his hand: for he places nothing until he is commanded: "fear not: indeed you are the superior: and cast what is in your right hand: it will swallow what they have made: they have made only the plot of a magician: and the magician will not succeed: wherever he goes. Thereupon Moussa cast his staff: and said: "what you have brought: is magic: Allah will nullify it: Allah does not set right the work of the corrupters: and Allah establishes the truth by His words: despite the dislike of the criminals. (Younous, 81-82) "so Moussa cast his staff: and there it was: swallowing what they fabricated.

(al-A'raf, 117) "so the truth was established: and nullified was what they did: so they were overcome there: and returned humiliated: and the sorcerers were cast down prostrating: they said: we believe in the Lord of the worlds: the Lord of Moussa: and of Haroun. (al-A'raf, 122) And that is because Moussa, when he advanced: and cast it: it became a great serpent with legs: according to what more than one scholar of the early generations mentioned: and a huge neck: and a monstrous, disturbing form: to the point that the people drew away from it: and fled running: and kept away from its place: and it set upon what they cast of the ropes: and staffs: and began swallowing it: one by one: at the fastest of movement:

and the people were looking at it: and marveling at it. As for the sorcerers: they saw what stunned them: and undid them in their affair: and learned of a matter that was not in their thought: nor their hope: nor enters under their crafts: and occupations: at that moment: and there: they verified by the knowledge they had that this is not magic: nor jugglery: nor impossibilities: nor illusions: nor falsehood: nor slander: nor error: but truth: which none but the True can do: who raised this one aided by the truth: Allah unveiled from their hearts the veil of heedlessness: and illuminated them with what He created in them of guidance: and removed from them the hardness: they turned to their Lord: and fell to Him prostrating: and said openly before those present: we believe in the Lord of Moussa: and of Haroun.

"and the sorcerers were cast down prostrating: they said: we believe in the Lord of Haroun: and of Moussa. He said: you believed in him: before I gave you permission: he is your chief: who taught you magic: so I will surely cut off: your hands: and your feet: on opposite sides: and I will crucify you: on the trunks of palm trees: and you will know: which of us is more severe in punishment: and more enduring. They said: we will not prefer you: over what has come to us: of clear proofs: and He who created us: so decree whatever you are to decree: you only decree this worldly life: we believe in our Lord: that He forgive us our sins: and what You forced us to do: of sorcery: and Allah is better: and more enduring. Whoever comes to his Lord as a criminal: for him is Hell: he neither dies in it: nor lives: and whoever comes to Him as a believer: having done righteous deeds: for those are the highest degrees: the gardens of Eden: beneath which rivers flow: abiding therein: and that is the reward of whoever purifies himself."

Surat Ta-Ha, 70-76

Sa'id ibn Jubayr, 'Ikrima, al-Qassim ibn Abi Bizza and al-Ouzâ'i said: when the sorcerers prostrated: they saw their dwellings: and their palaces: in Paradise: being prepared for them: and adorned for their arrival: for this they paid no heed to Fir'awn's intimidation: nor his threat: nor his promised punishment. That is because when Fir'awn saw these sorcerers converted: and having made known Moussa: and Haroun among the people: with this beautiful quality: this alarmed him: and he saw a matter that stunned him: and blinded his insight: and his sight: and in him were scheming: and cunning: and deception: and an eloquent craft in turning away from the path of Allah: "you believed in him: before I gave you permission" that is: why did you not consult me about what you did of the terrible matter: before my subjects. Then he intimidated: and threatened: flashed and thundered: lied: and estranged: "he is your chief: who taught you magic" and said in the other verse: "this is indeed a plot: you plotted it in the city: to drive out its people from it: so you will know.

(al-A'raf, 123) And this which he said is of the slander: which every rational individual knows what it contains: of disbelief, lying and delirium: such speech does not even pass on children: for all the people: of the people of his state and others: know that Moussa never saw these (sorcerers) one day of time: how then could he be their chief: who taught them magic ? And he did not gather them: nor know of their gathering: until Fir'awn was the one who summoned them: and chose them: from every deep pit: and every far valley: and from the cities of the land of Egypt: and its peripheries: and the towns: and the countryside.

Allah the Most High said in a sura

"Then We raised after them Moussa: with Our signs: to Fir'awn: and his notables: but they wronged them: so look how was the end of the corrupters. And Moussa said: ô Fir'awn: I am a messenger: from the Lord of the worlds: it is incumbent upon me: to say nothing about Allah: except the truth: I have come to you with a proof from your Lord: so send with me Bani Israil. He said: if you have come with a sign: then bring it: if you are of the truthful. So he cast his staff: and there it was: a serpent, clear: and he drew out his hand: and there it was: white for the observers.

He said: the notables of the people of Fir'awn: this is a learned magician: who intends to drive you out of your land: so what do you order ? They said: postpone him: and his brother: and send into the cities gatherers: who will bring you every learned magician. The sorcerers came to Fir'awn: they said: there is indeed for us a reward: if we are we the predominant. He said: yes: and you will then be of those brought near.

They said: ô Moussa: either you cast: or we will be we the casters. He said: you cast. So when they cast: they bewitched the eyes of the people: and terrified them: and produced a great magic. And We revealed to Moussa: cast your staff: and there it was: swallowing what they fabricated.

So the truth was established: and nullified was what they did: so they were overcome there: and returned humiliated: and the sorcerers were cast down prostrating: they said: we believe in the Lord of the worlds: the Lord of Moussa: and of Haroun. Fir'awn said: you believed in him: before I gave you permission: this is indeed a plot: you plotted it in the city: to drive out its people from it: so you will know: I will surely cut off: your hands: and your feet: on opposite sides: then I will crucify you all. They said: to our Lord: we are those returning: and you take no revenge on us: except that we believed: in the signs of our Lord: when they came to us: our Lord: pour upon us patience: and take us: submissive."

Surat al-A'raf, 103-126

And the Most High said in a sura:

"Then We sent after them Moussa: and Haroun: to Fir'awn: and his notables: with Our signs: but they were arrogant: and were a criminal people. And when the truth came to them from Us: they said: this is clear magic. Moussa said: do you say of the truth: when it came to you: that this is magic: and the magicians do not succeed ? They said: have you come to us: to turn us away from what we found our forefathers upon: and that greatness be for you two in the land: and we are not believers in you two.

And Fir'awn said: bring me every learned magician. And when the sorcerers came: Moussa said to them: cast what you are casting. So when they cast: Moussa said: what you have brought is magic: Allah will nullify it: Allah does not set right the work of the corrupters: and Allah establishes the truth by His words: despite the dislike of the criminals."

Surat al-Mouminoun, 28 ; Younous, 78-82

And the Most High said in a sura:

"he said: if you take a god other than me: I will surely make you of the imprisoned. He said: even if I brought you something clear ? He said: so bring it: if you are of the truthful. So he cast his staff: and there it was: a serpent, clear: and he drew out his hand: and there it was: white for the observers.

He said: to the notables around him: this is a learned magician: who intends to drive you out of your land: with his magic: so what do you order ? They said: postpone him: and his brother: and send into the cities gatherers: who will bring you every learned magician. So the sorcerers were gathered for an appointment of a known day: and it was said to the people: are you assembled: perhaps we will follow the sorcerers: if they are the victorious. And when the sorcerers came: they said to Fir'awn: is there indeed for us a reward: if we are we the predominant ?

He said: yes: and you will then be of those brought near. Moussa said to them: cast what you are casting. So they cast their ropes: and their staffs: and said: by the might of Fir'awn: indeed we are we the predominant. So Moussa cast his staff: and there it was: swallowing what they fabricated.

So the sorcerers were cast down prostrating: they said: we believe in the Lord of the worlds: the Lord of Moussa: and of Haroun. He said: you believed in him: before I gave you permission: he is your chief: who taught you magic: so you will know: I will surely cut off your hands: and your feet: on opposite sides: then I will crucify you all. They said: no harm: to our Lord: we are those returning: we hope that our Lord forgives us our sins: as we were the first of the believers."

Surat Chou'ara, 29-51

The point: Fir'awn lied: and slandered: "he is your chief: who taught you magic": and came with a slander that the scholars know: "this is indeed a plot: you plotted it in the city: to drive out its people from it: so you will know. And His saying: "I will surely cut off your hands: and your feet: on opposite sides" means: he cuts the right hand: and the left leg: and vice versa: "then I will crucify you all" that is: he will make them examples: and exterminated: so that no one of his subjects: and the people of his religion: follows their example: "and I will crucify you on the trunks of palm trees" that is: upon the trunks of palm trees: for they are higher: and more visible: "and you will know: which of us is more severe in punishment: and more enduring" meaning: in this world.

They said: "we will not prefer you: over what has come to us: of clear proofs" that is: we will not obey you: and abandon what is fixed in our hearts: of proofs: and decisive demonstrations: "so decree whatever you are to decree: you only decree this worldly life" that is: your judgment upon us is only in this worldly life: when we pass from it to the hereafter home: we will come to the judgment of the One to whom we submitted: and followed His messengers: "we believe in our Lord: that He forgive us our sins: and what You forced us to do: of sorcery" that is: and His reward: better than what they promised us: of being brought near: and enticement: "and more enduring" that is: and more lasting than this perishing home.

"They said: no harm: to our Lord: we are those returning: we hope that our Lord forgives us our sins" that is: what we committed of sins: and forbidden things: "as we were the first of the believers" that is: of the Copts: to Moussa: and Haroun: "and you take no revenge on us: except that we believed: in the signs of our Lord: when they came to us" that is: we have no sin with you: except our faith in that with which our messenger came to us: and our following the signs of our Lord: when they came to us: "our Lord: pour upon us patience" that is: strengthen us upon what we are tried with: of the punishment of this obstinate tyrant: and the severe power: rather the rebellious devil: "whoever comes to his Lord as a criminal: for him is Hell: he neither dies in it: nor lives" it is said to him: beware of being of them: and he was of them.

"and whoever comes to Him as a believer: having done righteous deeds: for those are the highest degrees" that is: the high stations: "the gardens of Eden: beneath which rivers flow: abiding therein: and that is the reward of whoever purifies himself": so strive to be of them. The decrees which cannot be overcome: nor opposed: stood between him and that: and the decree of the Most Exalted, the Great: that Fir'awn, may Allah curse him: is of the people of the Hellfire: to experience the painful punishment: boiling water is poured over his head. And it is said to him: in the tone of reproach: and rebuke: him the disgraced: and the banished: taste: you are indeed: the mighty: the noble.

And the apparent from these contexts: is that Fir'awn, may Allah curse him: crucified them: and tortured them. 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas said: they were in the early day: sorcerers: and became by its end: virtuous martyrs. "our Lord: pour upon us patience: and take us: submissive."

Section. When there occurred what occurred of the great matter: which is the defeat inflicted by Fir'awn: and his people of the Copts: in that colossal occasion: and the sorcerers converted: who sought help from their Lord: that only increased in them: disbelief: obstinacy: and distance from the truth.

Allah the Most High said, after the preceding stories, in a sura: "and the notables of the people of Fir'awn said: will you leave Moussa: and his people: to spread corruption in the land: and abandon you: and your gods ? He said: we will kill their sons: and spare their women: and we are over them: dominant. Moussa said to his people: seek help from Allah: and be patient: the earth belongs to Allah: He causes to inherit it whom He wills: of His servants: and the outcome: is for the righteous. They said: we have been harmed: before you came to us: and after you came to us.

He said: perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy: and give you succession in the land: and see how you act. (al-A'raf, 127-129) The Most High mentions that the notables of the people of Fir'awn: who are the emirs: and the grandees: incited their king Fir'awn: to the harm of the prophet of Allah Moussa: and to answering him, instead of believing in what he came with: with disbelief, rejection and harm: they said: "will you leave Moussa: and his people: to spread corruption in the land: and abandon you: and your gods ? they mean, may Allah curse them: that his call to the worship of Allah alone without partner: and the prohibition of worshipping other than Him: is corruption: relative to the belief of the Copts: may Allah curse them:

that is: and your worship. It bears two things: the first: "and abandon: your religion": the other reading strengthens it. The second: "and abandon: the worship of you": for he claimed to be a deity: may Allah curse him: "he said: we will kill their sons: and spare their women" that is: lest their fighters multiply: "and we are over them: dominant" that is: victorious: "Moussa said to his people: seek help from Allah: and be patient: the earth belongs to Allah: He causes to inherit it whom He wills: of His servants: and the outcome: is for the righteous" that is: when they undertook to harm you: and assault you: seek help from your Lord: and endure your trial: "the earth belongs to Allah: He causes to inherit it whom He wills: of His servants: and the outcome: is for the righteous" that is: so be you of the righteous: that the outcome may be yours: "and Moussa said: ô my people: if you have believed in Allah: then rely upon Him: if you are submissive.

They said: in Allah we rely: our Lord: make us not: a trial for the wrongdoing people: and save us by Your mercy: from the disbelieving people. (Younous, 84-86) "we have been harmed: before you came to us: and after you came to us" that is: the children were killed: before your coming: and after your coming to us: "he said: perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy: and give you succession in the land: and see how you act. And Allah the Most High said in a sura: "We did send Moussa: with Our signs: and a clear authority: to Fir'awn: and Haman: and Qaroun: but they said: a magician: a liar. (al-Mouminoun, 23-24) And Fir'awn was the king: and Haman the vizier: and

and Qaroun: was an Israelite: of the people of Moussa: only he was upon the religion of Fir'awn and his notables: and had very abundant wealth: as his story will come later: if Allah the Most High wills.

When he came to them with the truth from Us: "they said: kill the sons of those who believe with him: and spare their women: and the plot of the disbelievers: is only in error. (al-Mouminoun, 25-26) And this killing of the boys: after the mission of Moussa: was only by way of humiliation and abasement: and the diminishment of the notables of Bani Israil: lest they have a power by which they defend themselves: or fall upon the Copts because of it: and the Copts of them feared them: be: and it is. "And Fir'awn said: let me: that I kill Moussa: and let him call upon his Lord: I fear he will change your religion: or cause corruption to appear in the land. (al-Mouminoun, 26) Fir'awn became a reminder: and this is of him: for Fir'awn, in his claim, fears for the people that Moussa lead them astray.

"And Moussa said: I have sought refuge in my Lord: and your Lord: against every arrogant one: who does not believe in the day of account. (al-Mouminoun, 27) that is: I sought refuge in Allah: and sought shelter with Him: and His protection: from Fir'awn or another prevailing over me with evil: "against every arrogant one" that is: an obstinate tyrant: who does not obey me:

nor stops: nor fears the punishment of Allah: and His retribution: for he holds no belief in a return: nor a reward: that is why he said: against every arrogant one: who does not believe in the day of account.

"And there came a believing man from the family of Fir'awn: who concealed his faith: will you kill a man: because he says: my Lord is Allah: while he has come to you with the clear proofs from your Lord ? And if he is a liar: his lie is upon him: and if he is truthful: there will strike you some of what he promises you: Allah does not guide: the one who is an extravagant liar. ô my people: yours is the kingship: today: being dominant in the land: so who will rescue us: from the might of Allah: if it comes to us ? Fir'awn said: I show you only: what I see: and I guide you only: to the path of right conduct." (al-Mouminoun, 28-29) This man is the cousin of Fir'awn: and concealed his faith from his people: fearing them for himself. Some people claimed he was an Israelite: and this is far-fetched: and contrary to the context: in wording: and meaning: and Allah knows best.

Ibn 'Abbas said: of the Copts none believed in Moussa: except this one: and the one who came from the farthest part of the city: and the wife of Fir'awn: reported by Ibn Abi Hatim. Of those whose name is Chama'an: with the chin: only the believer of the family of Fir'awn is known: reported by as-Suhayli. And there is: that his name is Jabr: and Allah knows best.

The point: that this man concealed his faith: when Fir'awn, may Allah curse him, undertook

to kill Moussa: and resolved on that: and consulted his notables about it: this believer feared for Moussa: and was delicate in answering Fir'awn: with speech combining encouragement: and intimidation: and said the word of truth: by way of counsel: and opinion: and it is established in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): "the best of striving: is a word of justice: before an unjust ruler": and this is of the highest ranks of this station: for Fir'awn cannot be more unjust than he: and no speech is more just than this: for it contains the protection of the blood of a prophet. It is possible that he hinted to them: by manifesting his faith: and declared to them what he was concealing: and the first is more apparent: and Allah knows best. "will you kill a man: because he says: my Lord is Allah ?

that is: for the reason he said: my Lord is Allah: such a one: is not answered: by such: but with honoring: and respect: and peaceful treatment: and abandoning revenge: for since he has come to you with the clear proofs from your Lord: that is: with the miracles that indicate his truthfulness in what he brought: from the One who sent him: if you leave him in peace: you would be in safety: for if he is a liar: his lie is upon him: and it does not harm you: and if he is truthful: and you confronted him: there will strike you some of what he promises you: that is: and you wonder that a lesser punishment than what he threatens you with may reach you: how then: if all of it befell you ? And this

speech, in this position: is of the highest stations: of delicacy: of precaution: and of the complete intellect. "ô my people: yours is the kingship: today: being dominant in the land": he warns them: against stripping: this mighty king: for dynasties never had to do with religion: without being stripped: of their kingship: and humbled: after their glory: and so it happened to the family of Fir'awn: they remained in doubt: and suspicion: and opposition: and hostility: to what Moussa brought them: until Allah brought them out: of what they were in: of kingship: and possessions: and houses: and palaces: and blessing: and enjoyment: then they were driven: to the sea: humiliated: and their souls were transferred: after loftiness: and elevation: to the lowest of the low: that is why this believing, truthful man: the righteous, rightly guided: the follower of the truth: counseling his people: "ô my people: yours is the kingship: today: being dominant in the land" that is: superior to the people: ruling over them: "so who will rescue us: from the might of Allah: if it comes to us ?

that is: even if you were multiples of what you are in: of numbers: and equipment: and strength: and might: that would not benefit us: nor repel from us: the might: of the Owner of the dominions: "I show you only: what I see" that is: I tell you only: what is with me: "and I guide you only: to the path of right conduct" and he lied: in each of these two sayings: and these two premises: for it was realized: and known in his inward: and in himself: that what Moussa brought: is the truth: from Allah: unavoidably: and he only displayed the opposite: out of transgression: and aggression: and tyranny: and disbelief.

"he said: you know that none sent these down: except the Lord of the heavens: and of the earth: as clear proofs: and I think, ô Fir'awn, that you are destroyed. And when Our signs came to them, manifest: they said: this is clear magic: and they denied them while their souls were convinced of them: unjustly: and haughtily: so look: how was: the end: of the corrupters. (al-Isra, 102 ; an-Naml, 14) "and I guide you only: to the path of right conduct": he lied also: for he was not: upon right conduct: in the matter: but upon frivolity: error: and delirium: and was first of those who worshipped: idols: and images: then called his people: the ignorant: astray: to follow him: and approve of him: and believe him: in what he claimed: of the impossible disbelief: in his claim that he is lord: Allah be exalted, the Possessor of majesty and generosity: "And Fir'awn proclaimed among his people: ô my people: do I not have: the kingship of Egypt: and these rivers: flowing beneath me ? Then do you not see ?

Or am I not: better: than this one: who is contemptible: and can hardly speak clearly ? Then why have not been cast upon him: bracelets of gold: or why have not come with him: the angels: in ranks ? So he made light: of his people: and they obeyed him: they were a people defiantly disobedient. So when they displeased Us: We took vengeance upon them: and drowned them all: and made them: a precedent: and an example: for the later ones.

(az-Zoukhrouf, 51-56) So he showed him: the greatest proof: he denied: and disobeyed: then turned away: running: "so he gathered: and called out: and said: I am your lord most high. So Allah seized him: of the punishment: of the hereafter: and the first: indeed in that is a lesson: for whoever fears. (an-Nazi'at, 23-26) "And We did send Moussa: with Our signs: and a clear authority: to Fir'awn: and his notables: but they followed the command of Fir'awn: and the command of Fir'awn: was not right-sighted. He will precede his people: on the Day of Resurrection: and lead them into the Fire: and wretched as a watering place: what is led there: and they were followed: in this one: by a curse: and on the Day of Resurrection: wretched as support: what is given as support.

(Houd, 98-99) "I show you only: what I see": and in His saying: "and I guide you only: to the path of right conduct."

"he said: my Lord: support me: against the corrupting people. (al-Mouminoun, 26) And when Our messengers came to Ibrahim: with the glad tidings: "they said: we will destroy: the people of this town: for its people were wrongdoers. He said: there is Lout in it. They said: we know best: who is in it: we will save him: and his family: except his wife: she was: of those who lagged behind.

And when Our messengers came to Lout: he was grieved by them: and his breast constricted: because of them: they said: fear not: nor grieve: we will save you: and your family: except your wife: she was: of those who lagged behind: we will send down: upon the people of this town: a punishment: from the sky: for what they used to commit: of wickedness: and We left from it: a clear sign: for people who reason.

(al-Ankabout, 31-35) The ally of Allah warns them: if they deny: the messenger of Allah: Moussa: that there befall them: what befell: the nations before them: of punishments: and exterminations: whose transmission: is established: with them: and with others: what befell: the people of Nouh: and 'Ad: and Thamoud: and those after them: until their time: by which Allah established: the proofs: upon all the people of the earth: in the truthfulness: of what the prophets brought: by what He sent down: of punishment: upon their deniers: enemies: and what Allah saved: of those who followed them: among the allies: and His fear: on the Day of Resurrection: which is the day of mutual calling: that is: when the people call one another: turning away in flight: if they were able: and there is no way: to that: "the man will say that day: where is the refuge ? No: no refuge: toward your Lord: that day: is the resting place.

(al-Qiyama, 10-12) "ô company of jinn: and of mankind: if you are able to pass beyond: the regions of the heavens: and of the earth: then pass: you will not pass: except by authority: which of the favors of your Lord: do you deny ? There will be sent upon you both: a flame: of fire: and brass: and you will not defend yourselves: which of the favors of your Lord: do you deny ? (ar-Rahman, 33-35): with the shadda upon the dal: that is: the day of flight: it may be the Day of Resurrection: and may be a day when Allah brings down upon them: the might: in which they would wish to flee: and then there is: no deliverance: nor escape: "and when they perceived Our might: thereupon they fled from it: do not flee: and return to what you exulted in: and your dwellings: perhaps you will be questioned.

(al-Anbiya, 12-13) Then he informed them: of the prophethood of Youssouf: in the lands of Egypt: what there was of his: of kindness to creation: in their lower life: and their hereafter: and this of his descendants: and offspring: and he calls the people: to the oneness of Allah: and His worship: and not associating with Him: any of His creatures: and informed about the people of the Egyptian homes in that time: "you have remained in doubt: of what he came to you with: until when: he died: you said: Allah will never send: after him: a messenger" that is: and you lied: in this: "thus Allah leads astray: the one who is an extravagant: suspicious person: those who dispute: about the signs of Allah: without any authority having come to them" that is: they reject the proofs of Allah: and His demonstrations: and His indications: of His oneness: without proof: nor demonstration: with them: from Allah: for this is a matter: which Allah despises: to the utmost of contempt: that is: He hates: the one of the people: who clings to it: and of creation: who adorns himself with it: "thus Allah seals: upon every heart: arrogant: tyrannical" read with the annexation: and with the epithet: and both are inseparable: that is: thus: when the hearts oppose the truth: and oppose it only without proof: Allah seals upon them: that is: He stamps them.

"And Fir'awn said: ô Haman: build for me a tower: that I may reach the ways: the ways of the heavens: and look upon the god of Moussa: and I think he is a liar. And thus: was made fair-seeming to Fir'awn: his evil deed: and he was averted from the way: the plot of Fir'awn: is only in ruin. (al-Mouminoun, 36-37) Fir'awn denied Moussa: in his claim that Allah sent him: and Fir'awn claimed to his people what he denied: and slandered: "I know not for you: any god: other than me: so light for me: ô Haman: a fire: upon the clay: and make for me a tower: that I may climb up: to the god of Moussa: and I think: he is of the liars.

(al-Qassas, 38) "that I may reach the ways: the ways of the heavens" that is: its roads: and its passages: "and look upon the god of Moussa: and I think he is a liar" and this bears two meanings: the first: the world: has a Lord: other than me: the second: in his claim: that Allah sent him: and the first is more likely: from the apparent state of Fir'awn: for he denied the apparent: of affirming the Creator: "and look upon the god of Moussa" that is: so I ask him: did he send him: or not: "and I think he is a liar" that is: in his claim: of that: and the aim of Fir'awn: was to turn the people away: from believing Moussa: and urge them: to deny him: "And thus: was made fair-seeming to Fir'awn: his evil deed: and he was averted from the way": read: Ibn 'Abbas: and Moujahid said: he says: except in loss: that is: false: nothing of his aim which he pursued will be attained: for there is no way: for mankind: to reach the sky: by their powers: ever: I mean the nearest heaven: how then: the heavens above it: and the height: beyond that: which none knows: but Allah.

More than one exegete has mentioned that this tower: which is the palace: that his vizier Haman built for him: no building was built higher than it: and that it was built of fire-baked bricks: "so light for me: ô Haman: a fire: upon the clay: and make for me a tower": and according to the People of the Book: Bani Israil were mocked in churning milk: and of what was imposed upon them of Pharaonic burdens: that they help with nothing: of what they need: rather they themselves were the ones who gathered: its earth: and its straw: and its water: and each day a set amount was demanded from them: if they failed to do it: they were beaten: and humiliated: with the utmost humiliation: and they suffered: the utmost harm: "we have been harmed: before you came to us: and after you came to us: he said: perhaps your Lord will destroy your enemy: and give you succession in the land: and see how you act." And He promised them: that the outcome would be for them: over the Copts: and so it happened: and this is of the indications: of prophethood.

And let us return to the counsel of the believer: and his exhortation: and his argument: "And the one who believed said: ô my people: follow me: I will guide you: to the path of right conduct. ô my people: this worldly life: is only enjoyment: and the hereafter: is the home of settling: whoever works an evil deed: is not recompensed: except its like: and whoever works a righteous deed: male: or female: while he is a believer: those will enter Paradise: provided therein: without account." (al-Mouminoun, 38-40) He calls them: to the path of right conduct: and the truth: which is following the prophet of Allah

Moussa: and believing him: in what he brought from his Lord: then he detached them from the lower, deceitful world: fleeting: inevitably expiring: and urged them: to seek reward: with Allah: who loses not the work of the worker: with Him: the All-Powerful: whose dominion of everything is in His hand: who gives: on the little: much: and by His justice: one is not recompensed: for the evil deed: except its like: and he informed them: that the hereafter: is the home of settling: whose attainment, as a believer: having worked righteous deeds: brings the lofty gardens: and the secure chambers: and the abundant, exceeding goods: and the everlasting provisions: that never waste away: and the good: of which all they have is in increase.

Then he began to nullify what they were upon: "And ô my people: why do I call you: to salvation: and you call me: to the Fire ? You call me: to disbelieve in Allah: and associate with Him: that of which I have no knowledge: and I call you: to the Mighty: the Pardoning: no doubt: the one to whom you call me: has no call: in this world: nor in the hereafter: and our return: is to Allah: and the extravagant: are the companions of the Fire: so you will remember: what I say to you: and I entrust my affair to Allah: Allah is Seer of the servants. So Allah protected him: from the evils: of what they plotted: and there encircled the family of Fir'awn: the worst of punishment: the Fire: to which they are exposed: morning: and evening: and the day the Hour rises: make enter: the family of Fir'awn: the harshest of punishment. (al-Mouminoun, 41-45) Be: and it is: and they: call him: to the worship of Fir'awn: the ignorant: astray: accursed: "And ô my people: why do I call you: to salvation: and you call me: to the Fire ?

You call me: to disbelieve in Allah: and associate with Him: that of which I have no knowledge: and I call you: to the Mighty: the Pardoning:

then he explained to them: the nullity: of what they were upon: of worshipping other than Allah: of equals: and idols: and that they possess: neither benefit: nor harm: "no doubt: the one to whom you call me: has no call: in this world: nor in the hereafter: and our return: is to Allah: and the extravagant: are the companions of the Fire" that is: he possesses: neither disposition: nor authority: in this home: how would he possess it: on the day of decree ? And as for Allah: He is the Creator: the Provider: of the righteous: and the wicked: and He is the One who gave life to the servants: causes them to die: and resurrects them: He makes enter: the willing of them: Paradise: and their disobedient: the Fire: "so you will remember: what I say to you: and I entrust my affair to Allah: Allah is Seer of the servants.

Allah the Most High said: "So Allah protected him: from the evils: of what they plotted" that is: by his denial he was saved: from what afflicted them: of punishment: for their disbelief in Allah: "and encircled" that is: encircled: "the family of Fir'awn: the worst of punishment: the Fire: to which they are exposed: morning: and evening" that is: their souls are exposed: in their barzakh: morning: and evening: to the Fire: "and the day the Hour rises: make enter: the family of Fir'awn: the harshest of punishment": and we have spoken: of the indication of this verse: upon the punishment of the grave: in its place: and to Allah the praise.

The point: that Allah the Most High destroyed them not: except after establishing the proofs against them: and sending the messenger to them: and removing the pretexts from them: and taking the proof against them: from them: sometimes by intimidation

and other times by encouragement: "And We seized the family of Fir'awn: with years of drought: and a deficiency of fruits: that they might remember. But when the good came to them: they said: this is due to us: and if an evil touched them: they deemed Moussa: and those with him: an evil omen: no indeed: their omen: is with Allah: but most of them: know not. And they said: whatever sign: you bring us: to bewitch us with: we will not believe in you. So We sent upon them: the flood: and the locusts: and the lice: and the frogs: and the blood: distinct signs: but they were arrogant: and were a criminal people.

(al-A'raf, 130-133) The Most High informs: that He tried: the family of Fir'awn: and his people of the Copts: with years of drought: which are the years of barrenness: in which nothing is cultivated: nor does the udder benefit: "and a deficiency of fruits" which is the scarcity: of the fruits of trees: "that they might remember" that is: but they did not benefit: nor take heed: but rebelled: and continued: in their disbelief: and their obstinacy: "But when the good came to them" which is the fertility: and the like: "they said: this is due to us" that is: this: we deserve: and this: befits us: "and if an evil touched them: they deemed Moussa: and those with him: an evil omen" that is: they say this: by their ill omen: this evil has befallen us: it is because of them: it is their blessing: and their good neighborliness: but their hearts are: unrecognizing: arrogant: averse: to the truth: when evil came: they attributed it to him: and when they saw good: they attributed it to themselves: "no indeed: their omen: is with Allah" that is: Allah recompenses them for this: the most abundant: of rewards: "but most of them: know not.

"And they said: whatever sign: you bring us: to bewitch us with: we will not believe in you" that is: whatever you bring us: of signs: which are the miracles: beyond custom: we will not believe in you: nor follow you: nor obey you: even if you come to us: with every proof: and thus Allah informed of them: in a sura: "those against whom the word of your Lord has been fulfilled: will not believe: even if every proof comes to them: until they see: the painful punishment. (Younous, 96-97) "So We sent upon them: the flood: and the locusts: and the lice: and the frogs: and the blood: distinct signs: but they were arrogant: and were a criminal people."

As for the flood: it is the abundance of rains: that destroy crops: and fruits: and this is what Sa'id ibn Jubayr: and Qatada: and as-Suddi: and ad-Dahhak said: and from Ibn 'Abbas: it is the abundance of death: the flood: water: and the plague: in every case: a command: that passed over them: Ibn Jarir: and Ibn al-Mardawayh reported: by the path of Yahya ibn Yaman: from al-Minhal ibn Khalif: from al-Hajjaj: from al-Hakam ibn Mayna'a: from 'Aïcha: "the flood: is death" and this is gharib.

As for the locusts: they are known: Abu Dawud reported: from Abu 'Uthman: from Salman al-Farisi: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked: about the locusts: he said: they are: the most numerous: of the soldiers of Allah: I do not eat them: nor do I forbid them: and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): left: eating them: this is by way of loathing them: as he left: eating the dhabb: and abstained: from eating onion: garlic: and leek: when it was established: in the hadith: from 'Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa: we undertook: with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): seven expeditions: we ate: the locusts: and we have spoken: of what came down concerning it: of hadiths: and athars: in its place. The point: that he swept away their greenness: and left them: neither crops: nor fruits: nor anything fresh: nor anything rich.

As for the lice: it is the worm: that comes out of wheat: and according to him: they are the small locusts: that have no wings: and this is what Moujahid: 'Ikrima: and Qatada said: Sa'id ibn Jubayr said: they are small black creatures: which are the fleas: Ibn Jarir reported: from the masters of the Arabic language: that they are the hamnan: which are the small monkeys: above the makmaqa: it entered with them: into the houses: and the beds: and they had no place to settle: nor could they because of it: close the eye: nor live: 'Ata' ibn as-Sa'ib interpreted it: as this known lice: and al-Hasan al-Basri recited it: likewise: with the lightening.

As for the frogs: they are known: they clothed them: until they fell: into their foods: and their vessels: to the point that one of them: when he opened his mouth: to eat: or drink: a frog fell into his mouth: of those frogs.

As for the blood: he had mixed all their water with it: they drew from the Nile: nothing: without finding it: corrupt blood: nor from a river: nor a well: nor anything: without it being: blood: in the present instant: all of this: and Bani Israil obtained: nothing: of it: at all: and this is of the perfection: of the dazzling miracle: and the decisive proof: that all this: befalls them: by the act of Moussa: and befalls their latter ones: and this happens to no one: of Bani Israil: and herein is the most indicative: of proofs.

The enemy of Allah: Fir'awn: when the sorcerers believed: returned: overcome: and fettered: then he willed nothing: but remaining upon disbelief: and persisting in evil: so Allah pursued him: with the signs: He seized him: with years of drought: then sent upon them: the flood: then the locusts: then the lice: then the frogs: then the blood: distinct signs: so He sent the flood: which is the water: it overflowed upon the face of the earth: then stagnated: they could neither plough: nor do anything: until they suffered hunger: when that reached them: and when the punishment fell upon them: they said: "ô Moussa: invoke for us: your Lord: by what He pledged with you: if you remove from us the punishment: we will surely believe you: and send with you: Bani Israil.

(Chou'ara, 47) So Moussa invoked: his Lord: and He removed it from them: when they gave him nothing: of what they had said: Allah sent upon them: the locusts: which ate the trees: as far as it reached me: to the point they would eat: the nails of the doors: of iron: until their houses: and dwellings fell: so they said: as they had said: he invoked his Lord: and He removed it from them: when they gave nothing: of what they had said: Allah sent upon them: the lice: it was mentioned to me: that Moussa ordered: walking: to a dune: to strike it: with his staff: he walked: to a huge, great dune: and struck it with it: they rained down

upon them: in quantity: until it overwhelmed: the houses: and the foods: and denied them: sleep: and rest: when they were exhausted by it: they said to him: as they had said: he invoked his Lord: and He removed it from them: when they gave nothing: of what they had said: Allah sent upon them: the frogs: they filled: the houses: the foods: and the vessels: no one uncovered: a garment: nor food: without finding in it: the frogs: having overwhelmed it: when that exhausted them: they said to him: as they had said: he invoked his Lord: and He removed it from them: when they gave nothing: of what they had said: Allah sent upon them: the blood: so the waters of the family of Fir'awn became: blood: they drew: from no well: nor river: nor scooped: from any vessel: without it reverting: corrupt blood: the meaning of blood: is nosebleed: reported by Ibn Abi Hatim.

"And when the punishment fell upon them: they said: ô Moussa: invoke for us: your Lord: by what He pledged with you: if you remove from us the punishment: we will surely believe you: and send with you: Bani Israil. But when We removed from them: the punishment: until a term: they were to reach: thereupon they broke their word. So We took vengeance upon them: and drowned them: in the river: for they denied Our signs: and were: of them: heedless." (al-A'raf, 134-136) The Most High informs: of their disbelief: their tyranny: their persistence: in error: and ignorance: their arrogance: at following the signs of Allah: and believing His messenger: despite that by which he was aided: of signs: immense: dazzling: and proofs: eloquent: decisive: which Allah showed them: in plain sight: and made for them: an indication: and demonstration: and each time they saw: a sign: beheld it: and it exhausted them: and wore them out: they swore: and promised Moussa: that if he removed from them

this: they would surely believe him: and send with him: who is of his party: and each time: that sign was lifted from them: they returned: to worse: than what they were upon: and turned away: from what came to them: of the truth: and paid it no heed: so Allah sends upon them: another sign: harder: than the one before: and stronger: they say: and lie: and promise: without fulfilling: "if You remove from us the punishment: we will surely believe you: and send with you: Bani Israil." So He removes from them: that fatal punishment: then they return: to their ignorance: broad: and long: this: and the Immense: the Forbearing: the All-Powerful: gives them respite: without hastening upon them: defers them: and advances: the warning: to them: then seized them: after the establishment of the proof against them: and the warning to them: with a seizure: of the Mighty: All-Powerful: and made them: a lesson: an exemplary punishment: and a precedent: for whoever resembles them: of the disbelievers: and an example: for whoever takes warning by them: among His servants: the believers.

"And We sent Moussa: with Our signs: to Fir'awn: and his notables: he said: I am the messenger: of the Lord of the worlds. But when he came to them: with Our signs: thereupon they laughed at them: and We show them not: a sign: but it is greater: than its sister: and We seized them: with punishment: that they might return. They said: ô magician: invoke for us: your Lord: by what He pledged with you: we are indeed guided. But when We removed from them: the punishment: thereupon they broke their word: and Fir'awn proclaimed: among his people: he said: ô my people: do I not have: the kingship of Egypt: and these rivers: flowing beneath me ?

Then do you not see ? Or am I not: better: than this one: who is contemptible: and can hardly speak clearly ? Then why have not been cast upon him: bracelets of gold: or why have not come with him: the angels: in ranks ? So he made light: of his people: and they obeyed him: they were a people defiantly disobedient.

So when they displeased Us: We took vengeance upon them: and drowned them all: and made them: a precedent: and an example: for the later ones."

Surat az-Zoukhrouf, 46-56

The Most High mentions: His sending of His noble interlocutor servant: to Fir'awn: the base: and the vile: and that the Most High aided His messenger: with signs: clear: demonstrative: deserving: of being answered: with belief: and veneration: and of their turning away: from what they were in: of disbelief: and returning: to the truth: and the straight path: but thereupon they laughed at them: and mocked them: and from the path of Allah: turn away: and from the truth: deviate: so Allah sent upon them: the signs: in succession: one following: the other: and every sign: greater: than its sister: which precedes it: for that which is emphasized: is more eloquent: than what precedes: "and We seized them: with punishment: that they might return. They said: ô magician: invoke for us: your Lord: by what He pledged with you: we are indeed guided.

the term magician: in their time: was neither a defect: nor a fault: for their scholars: at that time: are the sorcerers: that is why they addressed him so: in their need of him: and their supplication to him: "But when We removed from them: the punishment: thereupon they broke their word. Then the Most High informed: of Fir'awn's boasting: of his kingship: and the greatness of his land: and its beauty: and the channels of the rivers: in it: which are the arms: they cut: before the Nile flood: then he boasted: of himself: and his adornment: and took to belittling: the messenger of Allah: Moussa: and despising him: for being: and can hardly speak clearly: he means: his speech: because of what was: in his tongue: of the remainder: of that lisp: which is an honor for him: and a perfection: and beauty: and was not a hindrance: for him: that Allah the Most High speak to him: and reveal to him: and send down: after that: the Tora: upon him: and Fir'awn belittles him: may Allah curse him: for his having no

bracelets: in his hand: nor adornment: upon him: and that: is of the adornment: of women: it befits not: the manliness: of men: how then: the messengers: who are: more complete: in intellect: and more perfect: in knowledge: and higher: in aspiration: and more detached: from this world: and more knowing: of what Allah has prepared: for His allies: in the hereafter: "or why have not come with him: the angels: in ranks ? the matter: has no need: of that: if the intent: is that the angels venerate him: the angels venerate: and humble themselves: before one who is: below: Moussa: the angels indeed lay: their wings: for the seeker of knowledge: he is content: with what is done: how then: their humility: and their veneration: of Moussa: the interlocutor: upon him: the prayer: the salutation: and the veneration ?

And if the intent: is their testifying for him: to the message: he was aided: with miracles: by which there is proof: with certainty: for those of understanding: and whoever: aims at: the truth: and the right: and whoever is blinded: to what came with him: of the proofs: and the clear demonstrations: he who looks: at the shells: and abandons: the kernel: of the minds: and the seal is upon his heart: the Lord: of lords: and the stamp upon him: of what it contains: of doubt: and suspicion: such is the state: of Fir'awn: the Copt: blind: liar: "so he made light: of his people: and they obeyed him" that is: he made light: their intellects: and led them gradually: from one state: to a state: until they believed him: in his claim: of lordship: may Allah curse him: and disgrace them: "they were a people defiantly disobedient.

So when they displeased Us" that is: made Us angry: "We took vengeance upon them" that is: by drowning: and humiliation: and the stripping: of glory: and the exchange: into disgrace: and punishment: after the blessing: and wretchedness: after affluence: and the Fire: after the ease of living: we seek refuge: in Allah the Great: and His ancient power: from that: "and made them: a precedent" that is: for whoever follows them: in the qualities: "and an example" that is: for whoever takes warning by them: and fears: the warning

of their destruction: of those reached by the clarity: of their report: when Moussa came to them: with Our signs: clear: "they said: this is nothing: but magic: fabricated: and we never heard: this: among our first forefathers. (al-Qassas, 36) "and Moussa said: my Lord knows best: who came: with the guidance: from Him: and whose will be: the outcome: of the home: the wrongdoers: do not succeed. (al-Qassas, 37) "and Fir'awn said: ô notables: I know not: for you: any god: other than me: so light for me: ô Haman: a fire: upon the clay: and make for me a tower: that I may look upon: the god of Moussa: and I think: he is of the liars.

And he was arrogant: he: and his soldiers: in the land: without right: and they thought: that to Us: they would not return: So We seized him: and his soldiers: and cast them: into the river: so look: how was: the end: of the wrongdoers: and We made them: leaders: who call: to the Fire: and on the Day of Resurrection: they will not be helped: and We made: to follow them: in this one: of the world: a curse: and on the Day of Resurrection: they are: of the disgraced.

(al-Qassas, 38-42) The Most High informs: that when they grew arrogant: at following the truth: and their king claimed: the false kingship: and they approved him: in it: and obeyed him therein: the anger of the Lord: All-Powerful: the Mighty: who cannot be overcome: nor opposed: became intense: against them: so He took vengeance on them: with the most intense: of vengeance: and drowned them: him: and his soldiers: in one morning: none of them escaped: and no dwelling of theirs remained: but he had already been drowned: and entered the Fire: and they were pursued: in this home: by a curse: between the two worlds: and on the Day of Resurrection: wretched: as support: what is given as support: and on the Day of Resurrection: they are: of the disgraced.

Mention of the destruction of Fir'awn and his soldiers. When the Copts of Egypt plunged: into their disbelief: their tyranny: and their obstinacy: following their king: Fir'awn: and opposing the prophet of Allah: His messenger: and His interlocutor: Moussa ibn 'Imran: and Allah established: against the people of Egypt: the great, decisive proofs: and showed them: miracles: beyond custom: that dazzled the sights: and baffled the intellects: and they despite that: took no heed: nor stopped: nor turned away: nor returned: and none of them believed: but a few: three: who are: the wife of Fir'awn: whose story the People of the Book do not know: and the believer: of the family of Fir'awn: whose speech: his exhortation: his counsel: and his argument against them: came before: and the sincere man: who came running: from the farthest part of the city: "ô Moussa: the notables are deliberating about you: to kill you: so leave: I am to you: of the sincere advisers.

said Ibn 'Abbas: as Ibn Abi Hatim reported from him: and his meaning: is other than the sorcerers: for they were of the Copts: rather believed in him: a group: of the Copts: of the people of Fir'awn: and the sorcerers: all of them: and the whole people: of Bani Israil: "but believed in Moussa: none of the youth: of his people: except: through fear: of Fir'awn: and his notables: that they would try them: and Fir'awn: was indeed: high-handed: in the land: and he is indeed: of the extravagant. (Younous, 83) "none: of the youth: of his people": related: to Fir'awn:

for the context: indicates: that: "believing in Moussa": for its nearness: and the first: is more apparent: as is established: in its place: and their faith: was hidden: for fear: of Fir'awn: and his tyranny: his force: and his authority: and of his notables: that they denounce them: to him: and he try them: over their religion: Allah the Most High said: informing of Fir'awn: "and Fir'awn: was indeed: high-handed: in the land" that is: a tyrant: obstinate: exalting himself: without right: "and he is indeed: of the extravagant" that is: in all his affairs: his concerns: and his conditions: yet he was a germ: whose collapse was at hand: and an evil fruit: whose picking had ripened: and an accursed lineage: whose destruction: was inevitable: "and Moussa said: ô my people: if you have believed: in Allah: then rely upon Him: if you are submissive." (Younous, 84)

"They said: in Allah we rely: our Lord: make us not: a trial: for the wrongdoing people: and save us: by Your mercy: from the disbelieving people." (Younous, 85-86) He commands them: to reliance upon Allah: and seeking: His help: and seeking refuge: with Him: so they resolved: upon that: and Allah made for them: from what they were in: an escape: and a way out: "and We revealed: to Moussa: and his brother: prepare for your people: houses in Egypt: and make your houses: qibla: and establish prayer: and give glad tidings to the believers." (Younous, 87) Allah the Most High revealed: to Moussa: and his brother Haroun: to take: for their people: distinct houses: among themselves: apart from the houses of the Copts: to be ready: to depart: when they are commanded to: so that some: may know: the houses: of others: "and make your houses: qibla": it is said: mosques: its meaning: the abundance: of prayer: in them: said Moujahid: Abu Malik: Ibrahim an-Nakha'i: ar-Rab'i: ad-Dahhak: Zayd ibn Aslam: and his son 'Abd ar-Rahman: and others:

and its meaning: in this: seeking help: against what they were in: of harm: severity: and straitness: "and seek help: through patience: and prayer: it is indeed heavy: except for the humble." (al-Baqara, 45) And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): when a matter distressed him: prayed. Its meaning: that they were not at that time: able: to display their worship: in their gatherings: and their temples: so they were commanded: to pray: in their houses: in compensation: for what escaped them: of displaying: the emblem: of the true religion: in that time: which their situation: required: hiding: for fear: of Fir'awn: and his notables: "and give glad tidings to the believers": and this does not contradict either: the second meaning: and Allah knows best: Sa'id ibn Jubayr said: "and make your houses: qibla" that is: facing one another.

"and Moussa said: our Lord: You have given: Fir'awn: and his notables: adornment: and wealth: in the worldly life: our Lord: that they lead astray: from Your way: our Lord: obliterate upon their wealth: and harden their hearts: that they believe not: until they see: the painful punishment. He said: your supplication: is answered: you both: keep to the straight path: and follow not: the path: of those: who know not. (Younous, 88-89) This is a great supplication: by which prayed: the interlocutor of Allah: Moussa: against the enemy of Allah: Fir'awn: in anger for Allah: against him: for his arrogance: at following the truth: and his blocking: of the path of Allah: and his hostility: his tyranny: his rebellion: his persistence: upon falsehood: and his defying: the truth: clear: manifest: sensory: and spiritual: and the decisive: demonstration: "our Lord: You have given: Fir'awn: and his notables" he means: his people: of the Copts: and those who were: upon his religion: and practiced his religion: "adornment: and wealth: in the worldly life: our Lord: that they lead astray: from Your way"

that is: and by this one is seduced: who esteems: the affair: of this world: so the ignorant one thinks: they are upon something: for these: are such wealth: and such adornment: of garments: and fine, comfortable mounts: and elegant houses: and built palaces: and appetizing foods: and splendid views: and the mighty: kingship: and the establishment: and the broad: standing: in the world: not the religion: "our Lord: obliterate upon their wealth": Ibn 'Abbas: and Moujahid said: that is: destroy it: and Abu al-'Aliya: and ar-Rab'i ibn Anas said: make it carved stones: of the like of its former shape: it reached us: that their crops became: stones: and made: their food: stones: all their wealth became: stones: this was mentioned: to 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz: bring me: a sack: he brought him: a sack: and there: it contained: (food): and eggs: that had rotted: turned: stones: reported by Ibn Abi Hatim: "and harden their hearts: that they believe not: until they see: the painful punishment": Ibn 'Abbas said: that is: seal upon them: and this: supplication: in anger: for Allah: the Most High: and His religion: and His demonstrations: so Allah the Most High answered it: and realized it: and accepted it: as He answered: Nouh: concerning his people: "my Lord: leave not upon the earth: of the disbelievers: any dweller: indeed if You leave them: they lead astray: Your servants:

and beget not: except wicked: disbelievers. (an-Nouh, 26-27) that is why the Most High said: addressing Moussa: when he invoked: against Fir'awn: and his notables: and his brother Haroun vouched for: his supplication:

Bani Israil sought permission: from Fir'awn: to go out: to a feast for them: he permitted them: while hating it: but they prepared: for the departure: and made ready for it: and in the affair: was a scheme: against Fir'awn: and his soldiers: that they free themselves: of them: and depart: from them: and Allah the Most High commanded them: as the People of the Book relate: to borrow: adornments: from them: so they lent them: a great quantity: they went out: by night: and traveled: continuously: departing: at once: seeking: the lands of the Cham: when Fir'awn knew: of their going: his rage burst upon them: to the utmost: and his anger intensified: against them: and he began: to spur: his army: and gather: his soldiers: to overtake them: and annihilate them:

"and We revealed to Moussa: travel by night: with My servants: you will be followed. Then Fir'awn sent: into the cities: gatherers: these: are indeed: a band: small: and they are indeed: against us: enraging: and we are indeed: all: on guard. So We brought them out: of gardens: and springs: and treasures: and an honorable station: thus: and We gave Bani Israil: inheritance of it: so they pursued them: at sunrise. And when the two companies saw one another: the companions of Moussa said: we are indeed overtaken.

He said: no: my Lord is with me: He will guide me. And We revealed to Moussa: strike: with your staff: the sea: so it parted: and each part: was: like the great mountain: and We drew near: those: and the others: and We saved Moussa: and those with him: all: then We drowned: the others: indeed in that is a sign: and most of them: were not: believers: and your Lord: is indeed: the Mighty: the Merciful."

Surat ash-Chou'ara, 52-67 ; ad-Doukhane, 25-28

When Fir'awn rode: with his soldiers: seeking: Bani Israil: tracking: their trail: he was: in an army: dense: and numerous:

he had: of horses: one hundred thousand: black: stallions: and the equipment of his soldiers: exceeded: one million: and six hundred thousand: and Allah knows best: Bani Israil were: around: six hundred thousand: fighters: not counting the children: and between their departure: from Egypt: in the company of Moussa: and their entry: into it: in the company of their father: Israil: four hundred twenty-six: years: solar.

The point: that Fir'awn overtook them: with the troops: and reached them: at sunrise: and the two companies saw one another: nothing remained: neither doubt: nor confusion: and each of the two parties: beheld his opponent: and verified him: and saw him: and nothing remained: but fighting: and engagement: and battle: at that moment: the companions of Moussa said: "we are indeed overtaken": and that is because they were constrained: on their way: toward the sea: they have therefore: neither way: nor outlet: except its crossing: and its wading: and this: which no one can do: nor is capable of: and the mountains: at their left: and at their right: towering: and steep: and Fir'awn had enclosed them: and confronted them: they beheld him: with his soldiers: and his armies: and his multitude: and his equipment: and they were at the utmost: of fear: and panic: of him: having measured: his power: of humiliation: and denial: so they complained: to the prophet of Allah: of what they were in: of what they beheld: "no: my Lord is with me: He will guide me.

and he was: at the rear: so he advanced: to the fore: and looked at: the sea: surging: with its waves: and increasing: the foam of its agitation: here: I was commanded: and with him: his brother Haroun: and Youcha' ibn Noun: who on that day: was among the lords: of Bani Israil: and their scholars:

and their great worshippers: Allah had revealed to him: and made him a prophet: after Moussa: and Haroun: as we shall mention: later: if Allah the Most High wills: and with them also: the believer: of the family of Fir'awn: and they all standing: and Bani Israil in their entirety: on watch. The believer of the family of Fir'awn kept plunging: with his horse: repeatedly: into the sea: is its crossing possible ? It is not possible: and he said to Moussa: ô prophet of Allah: here: I was commanded ? Yes.

When the matter escalated: and the situation tightened: and the affair grew intense: and Fir'awn: and his soldiers: drew near: in their seriousness: their preparation: their multitude: and their equipment: and their anger: and their rage: and the eyes became dazed: and the hearts: rose to the throats: at that moment: the Forbearing: the Immense: the All-Powerful revealed: strike with your staff: the sea: when he struck it: He said to it: split: by the permission of Allah: he named it: the name of Abu Khalid: and Allah knows best.

"and We revealed to Moussa: strike: with your staff: the sea: so it parted: and each part: was: like the great mountain": it is said: that it split: into twelve ways: for each tribe: a way: in which they walk: it also became: windows: for them to see one another: in this there is scrutiny: for water: is a transparent substance: if there is behind it: light: he reported it: be: and it is: Allah commanded: the wind of the dour: which blew upon: the state of the sea: and dried it: until it became: firm ground: into which sink not: the hooves: of horses: and beasts.

"and We revealed to Moussa: travel: with My servants: and strike: for them: in the sea: a dry path: fearing no pursuit: nor being overtaken. So they followed them: Fir'awn: and his soldiers: covered them: from the sea: what covered them: and Fir'awn led astray: his people: and guided them not.

(Ta-Ha, 77-79) The point: when the affair of the sea: came to this state: by the permission: of the Lord: the Great: the Severe: who cannot be avoided: Moussa was commanded: to bring across: Bani Israil: so they descended into it: at speed: hopeful: hastening: and they had seen: of the great matter: that which baffles: the beholders: and guides: the hearts: of the believers: when they crossed it: and passed it: and the last of them: came out: and separated from it: that was: at the arrival: of the first: of the soldiers of Fir'awn: to it: and their coming: upon him: so Moussa intended: to strike: the sea: with his staff: that it return: as it was: lest Fir'awn: and his soldiers: have access: to it: nor a way: over it: the All-Powerful: Possessor of majesty: commanded him: therefore: to leave: the sea: upon this state: as He said: He the Truthful: in speech:

"that you deliver to me: the servants of Allah: I am to you: a trustworthy messenger: and that you not rise: above Allah: I come to you: with a clear authority: and I have sought refuge in my Lord: and your Lord: lest you stone me: and if you do not believe in me: leave me. So he invoked his Lord: that these: are a criminal people: travel: therefore: with My servants: by night: you will be followed: and leave the sea: still: they are an army: to be drowned. How many they left: of gardens: and springs: and crops: and an honorable station: and blessing: in which they delighted: thus: and We gave them in inheritance: to another people: the sky and the earth wept not over them: and they were not: given respite: and We did save: Bani Israil: from humiliating punishment: from Fir'awn: he was indeed: high-handed: of the extravagant: and We chose them: knowingly: above the worlds: and We gave them: of the signs: containing: a clear trial."

Surat ad-Doukhane, 18-33

"and leave the sea: still" that is: calm: in its form: do not change it: from this quality: said 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas: Moujahid: 'Ikrima: ar-Rab'i: ad-Dahhak: Qatada: Ka'b al-Ahbar: Sammak ibn Harb: 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam: and others: when he left it: in its form: and its state: and Fir'awn arrived: and saw what he saw: and beheld what he beheld: this great sight: terrified him: and there was verified: what he was verifying: before that: that this is of the work: of the Lord of the Throne: the Noble: so he hesitated: and did not advance: and regretted: within himself: his setting out: in pursuit of them: and the situation is such: where regret: profits not: but he showed his soldiers: defiance: and treated them: with treachery: and the disbelieving heart: and the immoral nature: carried him: to say: to those he made light of: and who obeyed him: look: how the sea has receded before me: that I may reach My servants: the fugitives from my hand: who left: my obedience: and my land: and he feigned: that he would go: after them: and hoped: to escape: far, far: and he advanced at times: and halted at times: they mentioned: that Jibril: appeared: in the form: of a horseman: riding: a sturdy mare: he passed: before: the stallion: of Fir'awn: may Allah curse him: it neighed toward her: and advanced toward her: Jibril hastened: before him: and plunged: into the sea:

and outdistanced: the steed: succeeding: and striking swiftly: and Fir'awn possesses: neither for himself: nor for another: neither harm: nor benefit: when the soldiers saw him: having entered the sea: they plunged: behind him: at speed: so they found themselves: in the sea: all of them: wet to the calves: and to the knees: until the first of them: was about: to come out of it: at that moment: Allah the Most High commanded: His interlocutor: in what He revealed to him: to strike: the sea: with his staff: so he struck it: the sea fell back upon them: as it was: not one of them: was saved: "and We saved Moussa: and those with him: all: then We drowned: the others: indeed in that is a sign: and most of them: were not: believers: and your Lord: is indeed: the Mighty: the Merciful" that is: in His saving: His allies: none of them drowned: and His drowning: of His enemies: none of them escaped: a great sign: and a decisive proof: of His power: the Most High: great: and the truthfulness: of His messenger: in what he brought: from his Lord: of the generous law: and the straight ways.

"and We brought across: Bani Israil: the sea: so they followed them: Fir'awn: and his soldiers: in insolence: and hostility: until when: drowning overtook him: he said: I believe: that there is: no god: except the One: in whom believed: Bani Israil: and I am: of the submissive. Now: whereas you disobeyed: before: and were: of the corrupters: today: We will save: your body: that you may be: a sign: for those behind you: and indeed many: of the people: of Our signs: are heedless." (Younous, 90-92) The Most High informs: of the manner: of Fir'awn's drowning: the leader: of the disbelieving Copts: and that when the waves: made him sink: at times: and rise: at times: and Bani Israil: were looking at him: and looking at: his soldiers: what Allah decreed: for him: and them: of the great might: and the serious affliction: that he be: the clearest: to the eyes: of Bani Israil: and the most engraved: in their souls: when Fir'awn beheld: the perdition: and was encompassed: and approached: the throes

of death: he turned: at that moment: and repented: "those against whom the word of your Lord has been fulfilled: will not believe: even if every proof comes to them: until they see: the painful punishment." (Younous, 96-97) "when they saw Our might: they said: we believe: in Allah: alone: and disbelieved: in that: with which: we associated: their faith did not benefit them: when they saw Our might: the way of Allah: which has passed: with His servants: and lost there: the disbelievers." (al-Mouminoun, 40:85-86) And thus: Moussa invoked: against Fir'awn: and his notables: that He obliterate: upon their wealth: and harden: their hearts: that they not believe: until they see: the painful punishment: that is: at the time it profits them not: and becomes regret: for them: and He said: the Most High: to them both: that is: to Moussa: and Haroun: "your supplication: is answered": and this is: of the answer: of Allah the Most High: to the supplication: of His interlocutor: and his brother: Haroun.

And of that: Soulayman ibn Harb reported to us: Hammad ibn Salama reported to us: from 'Ali ibn Zayd: from Yousouf ibn Mahran: from Ibn 'Abbas: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: when Fir'awn said: "I believe: that there is no god: except the One: in whom believed: Bani Israil": Jibril said to me: if you saw me: taking: mud: from the sea: and stuffing it in his mouth: for fear: that mercy: might reach him: at-Tirmidhi: and Ibn Jarir: and Ibn Abi Hatim reported it: at this verse: from the hadith: of Hammad ibn Salama: a hassan hadith.

Chou'ba reported to us: from 'Adi ibn Thabit: and 'Ata' ibn as-Sa'ib: from Sa'id ibn Jubayr: from Ibn 'Abbas: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Jibril said to me: if you saw me: taking: mud: from the sea: and stuffing it: in the mouth: of Fir'awn: for fear: that mercy: reach him: at-Tirmidhi: and Ibn Jarir reported it: from the hadith: of Chou'ba: hassan: gharib: sahih: and Ibn Jarir indicated: in the report: his halted position.

Abu Sa'id al-Achj reported to us: Abu Khalid al-Ahmar reported to us: from 'Umar ibn 'Abdullah ibn Ya'la ath-Thaqafi: from Sa'id ibn Jubayr: from Ibn 'Abbas: when Allah drowned Fir'awn: he pointed with his finger: and raised his voice: "I believe: that there is no god: except the One: in whom believed: Bani Israil": he said: Jibril feared: that the mercy of Allah: might precede: His anger toward him: so he began: taking: mud: with his two wings: and striking: his face with it: and embedding it: and Ibn Jarir reported it: from the hadith: of Abu Khalid: thus. Ibn Jarir also reported it: by the path of Kathir ibn Zadhan: which is not known: from Abu Hazim: from Abu Hourayra: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Jibril said to me: ô Mohammad: if you saw me: covering him: and stuffing: mud in his mouth: for fear: that the mercy: of Allah: reach him: and it forgive him: he means

Fir'awn: and more than one of the early generations reported it as mursala: like Ibrahim at-Taymi: Qatada: and Maymoun ibn Mihran: and it is said: that ad-Dahhak ibn Qays: preached it: to the people: that Jibril said: I never hated: anyone: as I hated Fir'awn: "I am your lord: most high. "now: whereas you disobeyed: before: and were: of the corrupters": a rhetorical denial: and a statement: of the Most High's: non-acceptance: of it from him: that is because, and Allah knows best, if he returned: to this world: as he was: he would return: to what he was upon: as the Most High informs: of the disbelievers: when they beheld: the Fire: and saw it: "that we might return: and not disbelieve: in the signs of our Lord: and be: of the believers. (al-An'am, 27) "rather: there appeared to them: what they hid: before: and if they were returned: they would return: to what they were forbidden: and they are indeed: liars.

(al-An'am, 28) "today: therefore: We will save: your body: that you may be: a sign: for those behind you": Ibn 'Abbas: and more than one said: some: of Bani Israil: doubted: the death of Fir'awn: that he does not die: so Allah commanded: the sea: to cast him out: upon a height: upon the face of the water: upon a land elevation: and upon him: his armor: which they recognized: from his garments: that they might thereby verify: his perdition: "today: therefore: We will save: your body" that is: accompanied by: your armor: known of you: "that you may be" that is: you be: a sign: for those behind you: that is: of Bani Israil: an indication: of the power of Allah: who destroyed him: "We save you: accompanied by: your armor: that your armor: be a mark: for those behind you: of Bani Israil: of your recognition: and that you perished": and Allah knows best. And his destruction: and that of his soldiers: was: on the day: of 'Achoura.

as the imam al-Boukhari said: in his Sahih: Mohammad ibn Bachchar reported to us: Ghoundar reported to us: Chou'ba reported to us: from Abu Bichr: from Sa'id ibn Jubayr: from Ibn 'Abbas: the Prophet: arrived: at Medina: and the Jews: were fasting: the day of 'Achoura: this day: on which Allah gave Moussa victory: over Fir'awn: you are more: entitled: to Moussa: than they: so fast: and he linked this hadith: in its place: and elsewhere: and Allah knows better.

Section. Of what occurred: to Bani Israil: after: the destruction: of Fir'awn: "So We took vengeance upon them: and drowned them: in the river: for they denied Our signs: and were: of them: heedless. And We caused the people who were oppressed: to inherit: the eastern regions: and the western regions: of the land: which We have blessed: and the good word of your Lord: was fulfilled upon Bani Israil: for what they endured: and We destroyed: what Fir'awn: and his people: used to construct: and what they used to erect. (al-A'raf, 136-137) "and We brought Bani Israil: across: the sea: so they came upon: a people: devoted to their idols: they said: ô Moussa: make for us: a god: as they have: gods: he said: you are a people: ignorant: this: of these: is broken: that in which they are: and false: what they do.

(al-A'raf, 138-139) The Most High mentions: what occurred: with Fir'awn: and his soldiers: in their drowning: and how Allah: stripped them: of their glory: and their wealth: and their souls: and gave Bani Israil: inheritance: of all their wealth: and possessions: "thus: and We gave Bani Israil: inheritance of it all. (ad-Doukhane, 25-28) "And We desire: to bestow favor: upon those who were oppressed: in the land: and make them leaders: and make them: the inheritors. (al-Qassas, 5-6)

"and We caused the people who were oppressed: to inherit: the eastern regions: and the western regions: of the land: which We have blessed: and the good word of your Lord: was fulfilled upon Bani Israil: for what they endured: and We destroyed: what Fir'awn: and his people: used to construct: and what they used to erect" that is: He annihilated all of that: and stripped them: of their glory: vast: and broad: in this world: and perished: the kingship: and its court: and its emirs: and its soldiers: and nothing remained: in the land of Egypt: but the commoners: and the subjects: Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam mentioned: in his book: that from that time: the women of Egypt: ruled over: their men: because: the women of the emirs: and the grandees: married: men: of the commoners: below them: so they had: authority: over them: and this habit: of the women of Egypt: continued: until this day.

According to the People of the Book: that Bani Israil: when they were commanded: to leave Egypt: Allah made that month: the first: of their year: and they were commanded: that every household: slaughter: rams: of the sheep: if they had no need: of a ram: let the neighbor: and his neighbor: share in it: and when they slaughtered it: let them sprinkle: of its blood: upon the thresholds: of their doors: that it be: a mark: upon their houses: and they not eat it: cooked: but roasted: with its head: and its legs: and its belly: and leave of it: nothing: nor break: a bone of it: nor take out: anything: of it: outside: their houses: and their bread be unleavened: seven days: beginning from the fourteenth: of the first month: of their year: and that was: in the spring season: when they ate: let their waists be: girded: and their sandals: on their feet: and their staffs: in their hands: and they eat: quickly: standing: and whatever remains: of their supper: what remains: until the next day: let them burn it: in the fire: and this was prescribed: for them: as a feast: to their posterity: as long as the Tora: is applied: when it was abrogated: its prescription: lapsed: and this: occurred.

And Allah caused to die: that night: the firstborn: of the Copts: and the firstborn: of their beasts: to occupy themselves: with them: and Bani Israil: went out: at midday: and the people of Egypt: in great mourning: over the firstborn: of their children: and the newborn: of their wealth: there is no house: without: wailing in it: and when revelation came: to Moussa: they went out: at speed: and carried: the dough: before it leavened: and carried: provisions: on the skiffs: and threw them: upon their shoulders: and they had borrowed: from the people: of Egypt: many: adornments: so they went out: being: six hundred thousand: men: besides the children: with what they had: of cattle: and the duration: of their stay: in Egypt: was: four hundred thirty years: this is the text: of their book: and this year: among them: is called: the year: of the Passover: and this feast: is the feast: of the Passover: and they have: the feast: of unleavened bread: and the feast: of the ram: which is the first: of the year: and these three feasts: are their feasts: most established: stated: in their book: when they left Egypt: they carried: with them: the coffin: of Youssouf: and went out: by the way: of the Red Sea: and in the daytime: they walked: and the clouds: before them: walked before them: in it: a pillar: of light: and by night: before them: a pillar: of fire: the road led them:

to the shore of the sea: they camped there: and they were overtaken: by Fir'awn: and his soldiers: of the Egyptians: and they were there: encamped: on the shore: of the sea: and much of Bani Israil: panicked: our stay: in Egypt: was dearer to us: than death: in this wilderness: Moussa said: fear not: Fir'awn: and his soldiers: will not return: to their land: after this: and Allah commanded: Moussa: to strike: the sea: with his staff: and split it: that Bani Israil enter: the sea: and the dry land: and the water became: from here: and from there: like two mountains: and its middle: became: dry land: for Allah: subjected: to them: the wind: of the south: and the serpents: and Bani Israil crossed: the sea: and Fir'awn: and his soldiers: pursued them: when they were: in the middle: Allah commanded: Moussa: to strike: the sea: with his staff: and the water returned: as it was: upon them: but according to the People: of the Book: this: was: at night: and the sea: fell back upon them: at dawn: and this is of: their error: and their incomprehension: in their rendering: and Allah knows better: when Allah drowned: Fir'awn: and his soldiers: at that moment: sang: Moussa: and Bani Israil: this praise: to the Lord: we praise: the Lord: radiant: who defeated: the troops: and cast: its horsemen: into the sea: impregnable: praised: and it is a long: praise: and took: Mary: the prophetess:

sister of Haroun: the tambourine: in her hand: and went out: the women: after her: all: with tambourines: and drums: glory to the Lord: sovereign: who defeated: the horses: and their riders: cast: into the sea: thus I saw it: in their book: and perhaps this: is what led: Mohammad ibn Ka'b al-Qourazi: to claim: that Mary: daughter of 'Imran: mother of Issa: is the sister: of Haroun: and Moussa: "ô sister of Haroun": and we have shown: his error: in that: and that this cannot: be said: and no one followed him: in it: rather each one: contradicted him: in it: and if it could be: that this is preserved: this Mary: daughter of 'Imran: would be: sister: of Moussa: and Haroun: and mother of Issa: she would match: her: in the name: and the father's name: and the brother's name: for they: as the Messenger of Allah said: to al-Moughira: ibn Chou'ba: when the people of Najran: asked him: "ô sister of Haroun": he knew not: what to say to them: until he asked: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): about that: "do you not know: that they used to name: their children: after their prophets": reported by Mouslim: the prophetess: the queen: a princess: though she was not: directly: any of that: thus: this is a metaphor: for her: not that she is: a true prophetess: to whom revelation comes: and her beating: of the drum: on such a day: which is the greatest:

of their feasts: is proof: that there was indeed: prescribed: before us: the drum: at the feast: and this is permitted: for us too: regarding: women: by the hadith: of the two slave girls: who were with 'Aïcha: beating the drum: on the days of Mina: and the Messenger of Allah: lying down: the back of his head toward them: and his face: toward the wall: when Abu Bakr entered: he rebuked them: the psalms: of the devil: in the house: of the Messenger of Allah: leave them: ô Abu Bakr: every people: has a feast: and this: is our feast: and thus: it is prescribed: with us: at weddings: and the arrival: of the absent one: as is established: in its place: and Allah knows better.

They mentioned: that when they crossed: the sea: and went: heading: for the lands of the Cham: they stayed: three days: finding: no water: and spoke: he among them who spoke: because of that: and found: a water: fetid: bitter: that they could not drink: so Allah commanded: Moussa: to take: a piece of wood: and place it in it: it sweetened: and became drinkable: and the Lord taught him: there: obligations: and religious practices: and prescribed to him: many commandments: and Allah the Most High said: in His Book: the Powerful: the Guarantor: of what

"and We brought Bani Israil: across: the sea: so they came upon: a people: devoted to their idols: they said: ô Moussa: make for us: a god: as they have: gods: he said: you are a people: ignorant: this: of these: is broken: that in which they are: and false: what they do.

(al-A'raf, 138-139) they say: this ignorance: and this error: and they had beheld: of the signs of Allah: and His power: what indicated to them: the truth: of what came to them: from the messenger: of majesty: and generosity: and that is because they passed: by a people: devoted: to idols: in the form of cows: and did not worship them: rather claimed: for themselves: that they benefit them: and harm them: and seek provision: by them: in emergencies: as if some of the ignorant: among them: believed them: in that: and asked: their prophet: the interlocutor: noble: great: to make for them: gods: as those: gods: this: of these: is broken: that in which they are: and false: what they do: then he reminded them: of Allah's favor: upon them: in His preferring them: over the worlds: of their time: with knowledge: and law: and the messenger: before their eyes: and the good by which: He did them: and the grace by which: He favored them: of saving them: from the grip: of Fir'awn: the tyrannical: obstinate: and His destroying: of him: while they looked: and His making them inherit: what Fir'awn: and his notables: gathered: of wealth: and happiness: and what they erected: and he explained to them: that worship: is not valid: except for Allah: alone: without partner: for He is: the Creator: the Provider: the Subduer: and not all: of Bani Israil: asked this question:

"and We brought Bani Israil across the sea: so they came upon: a people: devoted to their idols: they said: ô Moussa: make for us a god: as they have gods" that is: said some: of them: as in His saying:

"and We shall gather them: and leave behind none of them: and they are presented: before your Lord: in ranks: you have come to Us: as We created you: the first time: rather: you claimed: that We will not make: for you: any appointment." (al-Kahf, 99) those who claimed: this: are some: of the people: not all.

Abd ar-Razzaq reported to us: Ma'mar reported to us: from az-Zouhri: from Sinan ibn Abi Sinan ad-Dayli: from Abu Waqid al-Laythi: we went out: with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): before Houmayn: ô Messenger of Allah: make for us: dhat anouat: as the disbelievers: have: dhat anouat: and the disbelievers: would hang: their weapons: on a lote tree: and keep vigil: around it: Allah is greater: make for us: gods: as they have gods: you will indeed follow: the ways: of those before you: an-Nasa'i reported it: from Mohammad ibn Rafi': from Abd ar-Razzaq: thus: and at-Tirmidhi reported it: from Sa'id ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman al-Makhzoumi: from Soufyan ibn 'Ouyayna: from az-Zouhri: thus: hassan: sahih: and Ibn Jarir reported it: from the hadith of Mohammad ibn Ishaq: and Ma'mar: and 'Aqil: from az-Zouhri: from Sinan ibn Abi Sinan: from Abu Waqid al-Laythi: toward Houmayn: he said: the disbelievers: had a lote tree: by which they kept vigil: dhat: anouat: so we passed: by a great green lote tree: and said: ô Messenger of Allah: make for us: dhat anouat: as they have: dhat anouat: you say, by Him in Whose hand: is my soul: as the people: of Moussa said: to Moussa.

"And when Moussa said to his people: ô my people: remember: the favor of Allah: upon you: when He made among you: prophets: and made you: kings: and gave you: what He gave: none: of the worlds: ô my people: enter the holy land: which Allah has decreed for you: and do not turn back: on your heels: for you would become: losers. They said: ô Moussa: therein is: a people: of giants: and we will not enter it: until they depart from it: if they depart from it: then we will enter. Said two men: of those who feared: Allah favored them both: enter upon them: by the gate: when you enter it: you will be: predominant: and upon Allah: rely: if you are: believers. They said: ô Moussa: we will never enter it: as long as they are in it: so go: you: and your Lord: and fight: we are here: sitting.

He said: my Lord: I possess: only myself: and my brother: so separate: between us: and the people: of corruption. He said: it is forbidden to them: forty years: they will wander: in the land: so do not grieve: over the people: of corruption."

Surat al-Maïda, 20-26

The prophet of Allah reminds them: of the favor of Allah: upon them: His kindness to them: of religious: and worldly favors: and commands them: to jihad: in the path of Allah: and fighting: His enemies: "ô my people: enter the holy land: which Allah: decreed for you: and do not turn back: on your heels" that is: do not recoil: on your heels: and do not flee: from fighting: your enemies: "for you would become losers" that is: you would lose: after the gain: and decline: after completeness: "They said: ô Moussa: therein is: a people: of giants" that is: rebellious: disbelieving: defiant ones: "and we will not enter it: until they depart from it: if they depart from it: then we will enter" they feared: these giants: and they had beheld: the destruction of Fir'awn: who was more tyrannical: than these: and more severe: in might: and more numerous: in assembly: and greater: in soldiers: and this indicates: that they are blameworthy: in this saying: and condemned: in this state: of cowardice: from facing: the enemies: and resisting: the wretched rebels: more than one exegete has mentioned here: athars: containing: many false enormities: the intellect and transmission: indicating: their contrary: that they were: forms: immense: very colossal: to the extent they mentioned: that the messengers: of Bani Israil: when they came to them: a man: of the messengers: of the giants: met them:

he began: taking them: one by one: and wrapping them: in his sleeves: and the flap: of his trousers: and they were: twelve men: and brought them: and scattered them: before the king: of the giants: who are these ? and they were not known: as being: of the children of Adam: until they made themselves known: and all this: is ravings

and superstitions: without reality: and that the king: sent: with them: grape clusters: each cluster: suffices: a man: and something: of their fruits: that they may know: the colossality: of their forms: and this is not: true: they mentioned here: that 'Ouj: ibn 'Anaqa: went out: from among the giants: to Bani Israil: to destroy them: and his height: was: three thousand cubits: and three hundred cubits: and thirty-three cubits: and a third of a cubit: thus al-Baghawi mentioned it: and others: and it is not true: Allah created: Adam: his height: sixty cubits: then creation: has not ceased: diminishing: until now: 'Ouj proceeded: to the top of a mountain: and uprooted it: then took it: with his two hands: to throw it: upon the army of Moussa: a bird came: and pecked: that rock: and pierced it: and it became: a collar: on the neck: of 'Ouj: ibn 'Anaqa: then Moussa proceeded: to him: and leapt: into the air: ten cubits: and his height: ten cubits: and in his hand: his staff: and its length: ten cubits: he reached: the heel: of his foot: and killed him: this is reported: from Nawf al-Bakali: and Ibn Jarir transmitted it: from Ibn 'Abbas: and its isnad: to him: is subject to scrutiny: and yet despite all this: it is of the Israelites: and all this: is of the fabrications: of the ignorant: of Bani Israil: for false reports: multiplied: among them: and they have no discrimination:

between its true: and its false: and if this were: true: Bani Israil: would be excused: for shirking: their fight: and Allah: blamed them: for their shirking: and punished them: with the wandering: for abandoning: their jihad: and their opposing: their messenger: and two righteous men: of them: signaled to them: boldness: and forbade them: hesitation: they are: Youcha' ibn Noun: and Kalib: ibn Youfouna: said Ibn 'Abbas: Moujahid: 'Ikrima: 'Atiya: as-Suddi: ar-Rab'i ibn Anas: and more than one.

"who feared" that is: they fear: "Allah favored them both" that is: with islam: and faith: and obedience: "enter upon them: by the gate: when you enter it: you will be: predominant: and upon Allah: rely: if you are believers" that is: when you rely: upon Allah: and seek His help: and take refuge: with Him: He will grant you: victory: over your enemy: and aid you: against them: and grant you: conquest of them: "They said: ô Moussa: we will never enter it: as long as they are in it: so go: you: and your Lord: and fight: we are here: sitting" their notables: resolved: on shirking: the jihad: and there occurred: a great disorder: and a great weakness: Youcha': and Kalib: when they heard: this speech: tore: their garments: and Moussa: and Haroun: fell: prostrating: in magnification: of this speech: and anger: for Allah: and compassion: for them: from the punishment: of this saying.

"He said: my Lord: I possess: only myself: and my brother: so separate: between us: and the people: of corruption" judge: between me: and them: "He said: it is forbidden to them: forty years: they will wander: in the land: so do not grieve: over the people: of corruption" they were punished: for their shirking: with wandering: in the land: they walk: toward no destination: by night and day: and morning: and evening: none of those who entered it: left the wandering: rather they all died: in the duration: of forty years: and none remained: but their children: except Youcha': and Kalib.

But the companions: of Mohammad: on the day of Badr: did not say to their Prophet: as the people: of Moussa said: to Moussa: rather when he consulted them: about going: to the convoy: spoke: as-Siddiq: and did well: and others: of the emigrants: advise me: until Sa'd ibn Mu'adh said: it is as if you are presenting us: ô Messenger of Allah: by Him who sent you with the truth: if you presented us: this sea: and crossed it: we would cross it: with you: not one man of us: would remain behind: and we do not dislike: that our enemy: meet us: tomorrow: we are: patient: in war: truthful: at the encounter: perhaps Allah will show you: from us: what pleases: your eye: so advance with us: with the blessing of Allah: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): rejoiced: at the speech of Sa'd: and it: comforted him.

Waki' reported to us: Soufyan reported to us: from Ibn 'Abdullah al-Ahmasi: from Tariq: who is ibn Chihab: on the day of Badr: ô Messenger of Allah: "so go: you: and your Lord: and fight: we are here: sitting": rather: go: you: and your Lord: and we fight: we are: with you: fighters: and this is a good isnad: from this angle: and it has: other paths.

Aswad ibn 'Amir reported to us: Isra'il reported to us: from Mokhariq: from Tariq ibn Chihab: said: 'Abdullah ibn Mas'oud: I witnessed from al-Miqdad: a situation: such that: if I were: his companion: it would be dearer to me: than what I obtained: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came: while he invoked: against the polytheists: by Allah: ô Messenger of Allah: we will not say: as Bani Israil said: to Moussa: "so go: you: and your Lord: and fight: we are here: sitting": rather: we will fight: on your right: and on your left: and before you: and behind you: and I saw: the face: of the Messenger of Allah: shine: at that: and rejoice: at that: reported by al-Boukhari: in the Tafsir: and the Maghazi: by paths: from Mokhariq: thus: 'Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn 'Ali reported to us: Abu Hatim ar-Razi reported to us: Mohammad ibn 'Abdullah al-Ansari reported to us: Houmayd reported to us: from Anas: that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): when he marched toward Badr: consulted: the Muslims: Sa'id ibn Zayd: signaled to him: then consulted them: ô assembly: of the Ansar: the Messenger of Allah: wants you: thus: we will not say: to him: as Bani Israil said: to Moussa: "so go: you: and your Lord: and fight: we are here: sitting": by Him who sent you with the truth: if you drove: their battalions: to: the pool: of al-Ghamad:

we would follow you: reported by the imam Ahmad: from 'Ubayda ibn Houmayd: from Houmayd at-Tawil: from Anas: thus: and an-Nasa'i reported it: from Mohammad ibn al-Mouthanna: from Khalid ibn al-Harith: from Houmayd: from Anas: approximately: thus: and Ibn Hibban brought it out: in his Sahih: from Abu Ya'la: from 'Abd al-A'la ibn Hammad: from Mu'tamir: from Houmayd: from Anas: approximately: thus.

Section.

Of the entry: of Bani Israil: into the wandering: and what occurred to them: in it: of strange affairs: we have mentioned: the shirking: of Bani Israil: from fighting: the giants: and that Allah: the Most High: punished them: with the wandering: and decreed: that they do not leave it: before: forty years: and I have not seen: in the book of the People of the Book: the story: of their shirking: from fighting: the giants: but in it: that Youcha': Moussa prepared them: for fighting: a group: of disbelievers: and that Moussa: and Haroun: and Hour: sat: at the top: of a hill: and Moussa raised: his staff: and each time: he raised it: Youcha': prevailed: over them: and each time: his hand: with it: drooped: from fatigue: or the like: those: defeated them: and Haroun: and Hour: began: supporting: his hand: on his right: and his left: that day: until sunset: so the party: of Youcha': prevailed: and with them: that Yathroun: priest of Madyan: circumcised: Moussa: there reached him: what occurred: of the affair of Moussa: and how Allah: gave him victory: over his enemy: Fir'awn: so he came: to: Moussa: a submitter: and with him: his daughter: Safoura: wife of Moussa: and her two sons from him: Garchoun: and 'Azir: and Moussa met him: and honored him: and gathered with him: the elders: of Bani Israil: and magnified him: and venerated him: and they mentioned: that he saw: the multitude:

of the gathering: of Bani Israil: around Moussa: in the disputes: that occur: between them: and advised: Moussa: to appoint: over the people: men: trustworthy: Allah-fearing: virtuous: hating: bribery: and treachery: and appoint them: over the people: heads of thousands: and heads of hundreds: and heads of fifties: and heads of tens: and they judge: between the people: and when a matter becomes obscure: to them: come to me: and I will decide: between you: what became obscure: to you: so Moussa did: that: and Bani Israil entered: the wilderness: toward: Sina: in the third month: of their departure: from Egypt: and their departure: was at the beginning: of the year: which was prescribed: for them: which is the beginning: of spring: as if they entered: the wandering: at the beginning: of summer: and Allah knows better: and Bani Israil: encamped: around: the Tour of Sina: and Moussa: climbed: the mountain: and his Lord: spoke to him: and commanded him: to remind: Bani Israil: of what Allah granted them: of saving them: from Fir'awn: and his people: and how He carried them: on: the like: of the two wings: of an eagle: with His hand: and His shelter: and commanded him: to command: Bani Israil: to purify themselves: and bathe: and wash: their garments: and prepare: for the third day: when it is: the third day: let them gather: around: the mountain: and let no one: of them: approach:

it: whoever approaches it: is killed: even: not: any beast: as long as they hear: the sound: of the horn: when the horn: falls silent: it is permitted to you: then: to ascend: it: and Bani Israil heard: that: and obeyed: and bathed: and purified themselves: and perfumed themselves: when it was the third day: there covered: the mountain: a great cloud: in it: voices: and lightning: and the sound of the horn: very intense: and Bani Israil: panicked: at that: intensely: and went out: and stood: at the foot: of the mountain: and there covered: the mountain: a great smoke: in its middle: a pillar: of light: and the whole mountain: trembled: a severe quake: and the sound of the horn: continued: which is the trumpet: and intensified: and Moussa: on the mountain: and Allah: speaks to him: and speaks with him in secret: and the Lord commanded: Moussa: to descend: and order: Bani: Israil: to approach: the mountain: that they hear: the will: of Allah: and order: the priests: who are: their scholars: to draw near: and climb: the mountain: to advance: in nearness: and this: is a text: in their book: upon the occurrence: of abrogation: inevitably: ô Lord: they cannot: climb it: and I forbade them: that: so Allah the Most High commanded: that he go: and come: with him: his brother: Haroun: and let: the priests: who are: the scholars: and the people: who are: the remainder: of Bani Israil:

not: far: so Moussa did: that: and his Lord: spoke to him: and commanded him: then: with the ten words.

According to them: that Bani Israil: heard: the speech of Allah: but did not understand: until Moussa made them understand: we have received: from the Lord: we fear: that we die: so he conveyed: to them: from him: and said: these: ten: words: which are: the command: to worship: Allah: alone: without partner: and the prohibition: of swearing: by Allah: falsely: and the command: to observe: the sabbath: and its meaning: devoting: one day: of the week: to worship: and this: is equivalent: to Friday: by which Allah: abrogated: the sabbath: honor: your father: and your mother: that your life: be long: in the land: which Allah: your Lord: gives you: do not kill: do not fornicate: do not steal: do not testify: against your neighbor: with false testimony: do not cast: your eye: at the house: of your neighbor: nor covet: the wife: of your neighbor: nor his male servant: nor his female servant: nor his ox: nor his donkey: nor anything: of what belongs: to your neighbor: and its meaning: the prohibition: of envy: these ten words: correspond: to two verses: of the Quran: which are: the saying of the Most High: in a sura:

"say: come: I will recite: what your Lord: has forbidden you: that you associate not with Him: anything: and with parents: goodness: and do not kill: your children: out of poverty: We provide for you: and for them: and do not approach: immoralities: of what is apparent of them: or concealed: and do not kill: the soul: which Allah has forbidden: except: by right: this: He enjoins: upon you: perhaps you will reason: and do not approach: the property: of the orphan: except: in the best: manner: until he reaches: his maturity: and give: full measure: and weight: with justice: We burden not: any soul: except: its capacity: and when you speak: be just: even if it concerns: a relative: and the covenant of Allah: fulfill: this: He enjoins: upon you: perhaps you will remember: and this: is My path: straight: so follow it: and follow not: the paths: they would scatter: you: from His path: this: He enjoins: upon you: perhaps you will become: Allah-fearing."

Surat al-An'am, 151-153

and they mentioned: after: the ten words: many commandments: and scattered rules: noble: which existed: and passed away: and were applied: for a while of time: then there befell: upon them: disobedience: from those obligated with them: then they opposed them: and changed them: and distorted them: and reinterpreted them: then: after all that: they were stripped of them: so it became: abrogated: altered: after being: prescribed: complete: and to Allah: the command: before: and after: He who decrees: what He wills: and does: what He wants: indeed His is: the creation: and the command: blessed be Allah: the Lord of the worlds.

"ô Bani Israil: We saved you: from your enemy: and We promised you: the side: right: of the Tour: and We sent down upon you: manna: and quails: eat: of the good things: with which We provided you: and do not transgress therein: or My anger: would reach you: and whoever: My anger reaches: he has surely fallen: and I am indeed: Pardoning: for whoever repents: believes: works: righteousness: then is guided." (Ta-Ha, 80-82) The Most High mentions: the end

and His kindness toward Bani Israil by His saving them from their enemies, and delivering them from distress and constraint, and that He promised them the company of their prophet, their interlocutor, at the right side of the Tour: that is, of him, that great decrees descend upon him containing benefit for them in their lower life and their hereafter. And that the Most High sent down upon them, in a situation of hardship and necessity, during their journey in the land in which there is neither cultivation nor dairying, manna from the sky: they wake in the morning and find it inside their houses, and take of it the amount of their need on that day for its like for the morrow: and whoever stored of it for more than that, it spoiled: and whoever took little, it sufficed him, or much, nothing remained of it. And they made of it like bread, and it was at the utmost of whiteness and sweetness. And when the end of the day came, the quail birds covered them: and they hunted from it without toil what they needed, according to their sufficiency for their families.

And when the summer season came, Allah shaded them with the clouds, which is the cloud that veils from them the heat of the sun and its dazzling light. As Allah the Most High said in a sura:

"ô Bani Israil: remember My favor with which I favored you, and fulfill My covenant, I will fulfill your covenant, and of Me be afraid. And believe in what I sent down, confirming that which is with you, and be not the first disbelievers in it, and do not exchange My signs for a small price, and of Me be conscious. And when We saved you from the family of Fir'awn who inflicted upon you the worst of punishment, slaughtering your sons and sparing your women, and in that a great trial from your Lord. And when We divided the sea for you, We saved you and drowned the family of Fir'awn while you looked on.

And when We made an appointment with Moussa forty nights, then you took the calf after him while you were wrongdoers. Then We pardoned you after that, perhaps you would be grateful. And when We gave Moussa the Book and the criterion, perhaps you would be guided. And when Moussa said to his people: ô my people, you have wronged yourselves by your taking of the calf, so repent to your Creator and kill yourselves, that is better for you with your Creator.

So He pardoned you, He is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful. And when you said: ô Moussa, we will not believe you until we see Allah openly, so the thunderbolt took you while you looked on. Then We revived you after your death, perhaps you would be grateful. And We shaded you with the clouds, and sent down upon you manna and quails: eat of the good things with which We provided you, and they wronged Us not, but they were wronging themselves.

And when Moussa asked for water for his people, We said: strike with your staff the stone, and there burst forth from it twelve springs, and each people knew its watering place: eat and drink of the provision of Allah, and do not spread corruption in the earth. And when you said: ô Moussa, we will not endure one food, so invoke your Lord to bring forth for us of what the earth grows, of its herbs and its cucumbers and its wheat and its lentils and its onions. He said: would you exchange what is lower for what is better ? Go down to Egypt, for you will have what you asked.

And they were covered with humiliation and poverty, and returned with anger from Allah: that was because they disbelieved in the signs of Allah and killed the prophets without right: that was because they disobeyed and were transgressors. (al-Baqara, 40-61)

The Most High mentions His bestowing upon them, and His kindness to them, by what He made easy for them of manna and quails: two delicious foods without toil or effort on their part. Rather Allah sends down manna in the morning, and sends upon them the quail birds in the evening, and brings out water for them by Moussa's striking a stone they carried with them, with the staff: there burst forth from it twelve springs, for each tribe a spring gushing from it, then flowing water: so they drew and drank, and watered their beasts, and stored their sufficiency. And the cloud shaded them from the sun. And these are immense favors from Allah and weighty gifts: but they did not take their due care, nor discharge its gratitude and the right of its worship.

Then many of them grew weary of it and became bored with it, and asked that it be exchanged with its counterpart, of what the earth grows of its herbs, and its cucumbers, and its wheat, and its lentils, and its onions. So the interlocutor reproached them, and blamed them, and admonished them against this saying: "would you exchange what is lower for what is better ? Go down to Egypt, for you will have what you asked" that is: what you ask and want instead of these favors in which you are, is available to the inhabitants of the lands small and great, present in them: and when you go down to it, that is, when you descend from this rank for which you are not fit, you will find in it what you desire and seek of what you mentioned of lowly foods and vile nourishments. But I will not answer your request for that here, nor make you attain what you pursue of hopes.

And all these mentioned qualities of theirs, issuing from them, indicate that they did not desist from what they were forbidden: "and do not transgress therein or My anger would reach you, and whoever My anger reaches he has surely fallen" that is: he has perished, and perdition and ruin are, by Allah, due to him, and the anger of the tyrannical king has befallen him. But He, the Most High, blended this severe threat with hope, for the one who turns and repents, and does not persist in following the rebellious devil: "and I am indeed Pardoning for whoever repents, believes, works righteousness, then is guided."

The question of the vision.

"And We made an appointment with Moussa thirty nights, and completed them with ten: so the appointment of his Lord was completed, forty nights. And Moussa said to his brother Haroun: succeed me among my people, and reform, and do not follow the way of the corrupters. And when Moussa came to Our appointment, and his Lord spoke to him, he said: my Lord, show me that I may look upon You. He said: you will not see Me, but look at the mountain: if it remains in its place, then you will see Me.

And when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He made it crumble, and Moussa fell unconscious. And when he awoke, he said: glory to You, I repent to You, and I am the first of the believers. He said: ô Moussa, I have chosen you over the people by My messages and My word: so take what I have given you, and be of the grateful. And We wrote for him on the tablets of everything an admonition, and a detailing of everything: so take it with strength, and order your people to take the best of it.

I will show you the home of the defiantly disobedient. I will turn away from My signs those who are arrogant upon the earth without right: and if they see every sign, they do not believe in it, and if they see the way of rectitude, they do not take it as a way, and if they see the way of error, they take it as a way: that is because they denied Our signs and were of them heedless. And those who denied Our signs and the meeting of the hereafter, their deeds became vain: are they recompensed except for what they used to do ? (al-A'raf, 142-147) A group of the early generations said, among them Ibn 'Abbas and Masrouq: the thirty nights are the month of Dhi al-Qa'da in full, and the forty nights were completed with ten of Dhi al-Hijja: upon this, the speech of Allah to him would be on the day of the feast of sacrifice.

And the like of it, Allah completed for Mohammad His religion, and established His proofs and demonstrations.

The point: that Moussa, when he completed the appointment, and was in it fasting, he could not partake of food. When he completed the month, he took the chicory of a tree and chewed it, to sweeten the breath of his mouth: Allah commanded him to observe ten more, so they became forty nights. The breath of the fasting person is more pleasant to Allah than the scent of musk. When he resolved to depart, he appointed over the people of Bani Israil his brother Haroun as successor: beloved, revered, noble, who was the son of his mother and his father, and his vizier in the call to His chosen one: he counseled him, and commanded him, and forbade him, and this entails no contradiction of his high rank in his prophethood.

"when Moussa came to Our appointment" that is: at the time he was commanded to come, "and his Lord spoke to him" that is: Allah spoke to him from behind a veil, but He made him hear the address, and called him, and took him in confidence, and drew him near, and brought him close. And this is a lofty station, and an impregnable refuge, and an honorable dignity, and a splendid residence: Allah's prayers upon him in succession, and His peace upon him in this world and the hereafter. When he was given this high station and this prestigious rank, and heard the address, he asked for the lifting of the veil, and said to the Immense One whom sights cannot comprehend: "my Lord, show me that I may look upon You. He said: you will not see Me.

Then the Most High explained that he cannot remain standing at His appearing, for the mountain, which is stronger and greater in essence and more firm than the human being, does not remain at the appearing of the All-Merciful:

"but look at the mountain: if it remains in its place, then you will see Me. "ô Moussa, no living being sees Me without dying, nor any solid thing without crumbling. And in the hadith, from Abu Moussa, that he said: His veil is light, and in a narration fire: were He to lift it, the splendors of His face would burn whatever His sight reaches of His creation. And Ibn 'Abbas said: the sights do not comprehend Him: that is, this light which is His light: when He appears to something, nothing remains: that is why the Most High said: "and when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He made it crumble, and Moussa fell unconscious.

And when he awoke, he said: glory to You, I repent to You, and I am the first of the believers. Moujahid said: "but look at the mountain: if it remains in its place, then you will see Me" for it is greater than you and stronger in creation. When his Lord appeared to the mountain, he looked at the mountain unable to control himself, and the mountain crumbled to dust at its beginning, and Moussa saw what the mountain did, and fell unconscious. And we have mentioned in what the imam Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi reported, and which Ibn Jarir and al-Hakim authenticated, by the way of Hammad ibn Salama, from Thabit: Ibn Jarir and Layth added, from Anas: he recited "and when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He made it crumble," he said: thus, with his finger, and the Prophet placed his thumb upon the upper joint of the little finger, "and crushed it.

Ibn Jarir phrased it, and as-Suddi said from 'Ikrima: nothing appeared, meaning of grandeur, but the size of the little finger: so He made the mountain dust, and Moussa fell unconscious, that is: overcome: dead. When he awoke: awakening comes only from unconsciousness. "glory to You": purification, and magnification, and reverence that anyone see Him in His majesty: I ask no more after this for the vision: "and I am the first of the believers": that no living being sees You without dying, nor any solid thing without crumbling.

And it is established in the Sahih, by the way of 'Amr ibn Yahya ibn 'Umara ibn Abi al-Hasan al-Mazini al-Ansari, from his father, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: do not prefer me over the prophets, for the people swoon on the Day of Resurrection, and I shall be the first to wake, and there is Moussa seizing one of the legs of the Throne, and I know not whether he woke before me, or was granted me as compensation for the swoon of the Tour. Al-Boukhari phrased it, and at its beginning the story of the Jew whom the Ansari struck on his face: "no, by the One who chose Moussa over mankind. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: do not prefer me over the prophets. And in the Sahih, by the way of az-Zouhri, from Abu Salama and 'Abd ar-Rahman al-A'raj, from Abu Hourayra, from the Prophet, likewise: do not prefer me over Moussa.

And he mentioned its completion. And this is of humility and modesty, or a prohibition of preferring among the prophets out of anger and partisanship, or this is not yours, but Allah is the One who raised some of them above others in degrees, and this is not attained by mere opinion, but by definitive report. What he said was before he knew he was the best, then he retracted it upon knowing his superiority over them all. In his saying there is scrutiny: for this is from the report of Abu Sa'id and Abu Hourayra, and Abu Hourayra did not emigrate except in the late year of Khaybar, so it is far-fetched that he did not know this until after it.

And Allah knows better. And there is no doubt that he, Allah's prayers and peace upon him, is the best of mankind, rather of creation: "you are the best community brought forth for the people. (Al 'Imran, 110) And they were completed with nothing but the nobility of their prophet. And it is established by transmission from him, Allah's prayers and peace upon him: "I am the master of the sons of Adam on the Day of Resurrection, and no boast.

Then he mentioned his being singled out for the praised station, by which the first and the last envy him, from which the prophets and messengers shrink, even the most complete of those of resolve: Nouh, and Ibrahim, and Moussa, and Issa son of Maryam: "to be the first to wake, and find Moussa seizing a leg of the Throne" that is, taking it: "I know not whether he woke before me, or was granted me as compensation for the swoon of the Tour": his own swoon was slight, for such a swoon had befallen him in this world by this cause: "or was granted me as compensation for the swoon of the Tour" meaning: that he did not swoon at all. And this contains great honor and high rank for Moussa from this frailty, and it does not entail his being preferred by it absolutely, in any way. That is why the Messenger of Allah highlighted his honor and virtue with this quality: for when the Muslim struck the Jew's face: "no, by the One who chose Moussa over mankind" it may occur in the souls of those witnessing that some humiliation toward His Eminence Moussa.

So the Prophet set out his virtue and nobility: "he said: ô Moussa, I have chosen you over the people by My messages and My word" that is: in that time, not what preceded it, for Ibrahim the intimate friend is better than he, as was set out in the story of Ibrahim, nor what came after, for Mohammad is better than them both, as his nobility appeared on the night of the night journey over all the messengers and prophets: "I shall have a station which creation will long for, even Ibrahim. And the saying of the Most High: "so take what I have given you, and be of the grateful" that is: take what I gave you of the message and the word, and ask for no increase, and be of the grateful for that.

"And We wrote for him on the tablets of everything an admonition, and a detailing of everything": and the tablets were of a precious jewel.

In it, Allah wrote for him the Tora with His hand, containing admonitions against sins, and a detailing of all they need of the lawful and unlawful, and the penalties and rulings: "so take it with strength" that is: with resolve and a firm, sincere intention: "and order your people to take the best of it" that is: to apply it in its best aspects and finest understandings: "I will show you the home of the defiantly disobedient" that is: you will see the outcome of those who leave My obedience, opposing My command, denying My messengers: "I will turn away from My signs" that is: from understanding them, and contemplating them, and grasping the meaning I intend by them, and what their content indicates: "those who are arrogant upon the earth without right: and if they see every sign, they do not believe in it" that is: even if they witness whatever they witness of wonders and miracles, they do not submit to following it: "and if they see the way of rectitude, they do not take it as a way" that is: they neither travel it nor follow it: "and if they see the way of error, they take it as a way: that is because they denied Our signs" that is: We turned them away from it for their denying Our signs, and their heedlessness of them, and their turning away from believing them, and contemplating their meaning, and abandoning action upon their content:

"and those who denied Our signs and the meeting of the hereafter, their deeds became vain: are they recompensed except for what they used to do ?"

The worship of the calf in Moussa's absence

"and the people of Moussa took after him of their ornaments a calf, a body with a lowing sound: did they not see that it does not speak to them, nor guide them to a way ? They took it, and were wrongdoers. And when it fell into their hands, and they saw that they had gone astray, they said: if our Lord does not have mercy on us and forgive us, we will surely be of the losers. And when Moussa returned to his people, angry and grieved, he said: evil is what you did after me: would you hasten the command of your Lord ?

And he cast down the tablets, and seized his brother by the head, dragging him to him. He said: son of my mother, the people overpowered me and were about to kill me, so let not the enemies rejoice over me, and place me not with the wrongdoing people. He said: my Lord, forgive me and my brother, and admit us into Your mercy, and You are the most Merciful of the merciful. Those who took the calf, wrath from their Lord will surely reach them, and humiliation in the worldly life: and thus We recompense the fabricators.

And those who committed evil deeds then repented after it and believed: your Lord after it is indeed Forgiving, Merciful. And when the anger subsided from Moussa, he took the tablets, and in their transcription guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord. (al-A'raf, 148-154) "and why did you hasten away from your people, ô Moussa ? He said: they are close upon my traces, and I hastened to You, my Lord, that You be pleased.

He said: We have tried your people after you departed, and as-Samiri led them astray. (Ta-Ha, 83-85)

Then Moussa returned to his people angry and grieved: he said: "ô my people, did your Lord not promise you a good promise ? Did the term grow long upon you, or did you wish that anger from your Lord descend upon you, and so you broke my promise ? "They said: we did not break your promise by our choice, but we were carrying burdens of the people's ornaments, and we threw them: thus did as-Samiri throw, and he brought out for them a calf, a body with a lowing sound. They said: this is your god and the god of Moussa, and he forgot.

Do they not see that it returns to them no speech, and possesses for them neither harm nor benefit ? And Haroun had certainly told them before: ô my people, you are only being tried by it, and your Lord is the Most Merciful: so follow me and obey my command. They said: we will not cease being devoted to it until Moussa returns to us. He said: ô Haroun, what prevented you, when you saw them astray, that you did not follow me, did you disobey my command ?

He said: son of my mother, do not seize my beard nor my head, I feared you would say: you divided Bani Israil, and did not await my word. He said: so what is your matter, ô Samiri ? He said: I saw what they did not see, so I seized a handful from the messenger's trace, and threw it, and thus my soul enticed me. He said: go, for you have in the life to say: touch me not, and you have an appointment you will not fail, and look at your god to which you remained devoted: we will burn it, then blow it into the river, scattering.

Your god is only Allah who has no god but Him: He has encompassed everything in knowledge. (Ta-Ha, 86-98) The Most High mentions what occurred to Bani Israil when Moussa went to his Lord's appointment, and remained upon the Tour confiding with his Lord, and Moussa asked him about many things, and He, the Most High, answered him about them. As-Samiri took what they had borrowed of ornaments, and fashioned from it a calf, and cast into it a handful of dust he had taken from the trace of Jibril's horse, when he saw him the day Allah drowned Fir'awn by his hand: when he cast it into it, it lowed as a real calf lows: it became a bodily calf, that is, of flesh and blood, alive, lowing: said Qatada and others: rather the wind, when it entered from its rear, came out of its mouth, and it lowed as a cow lows: so they danced around it and rejoiced, and said: this is your god and the god of Moussa, he forgot: that is, Moussa forgot his Lord as far as we are concerned, and went seeking him, and he is here.

Allah is exalted above what they say with a great exaltation, and blessed are His names and attributes, and multiplied are His favors and gifts. Allah the Most High said, showing them the nullity of what they went toward and relied upon: "do they not see that it returns to them no speech, and possesses for them neither harm nor benefit ? And He said: "did they not see that it does not speak to them nor guide them to a way ? They took it and were wrongdoers" he mentioned that this animal does not speak, nor reply, and possesses neither harm nor benefit, nor guides to rectitude: they took it, and were wrongdoers to themselves, knowing within themselves the nullity of what they were upon of ignorance and misguidance: "and when it fell into their hands" that is: they regretted what they did, and saw that they had gone astray: "they said: if our Lord does not have mercy on us and forgive us, we will surely be of the losers."

When Moussa returned to them, and saw what they were upon of the worship of the calf, and with him the tablets containing the Tora, he cast them down: he broke them. And thus it is with the People of the Book, and Allah exchanged others for them. There is nothing in the Quranic wording indicating that, except that he cast them down when he beheld what he beheld. And according to the People of the Book, they were two tablets: and the apparent of the Quran is that they were multiple tablets.

And he was not affected by the mere report from Allah the Most High of the worship of the calf: He commanded him to inspect it. That is why there came in the hadith reported by the imam Ahmad and Ibn Hibban: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: the report is not like the seeing. Then he turned to them and rebuked them, and blamed them, and confounded them for their deed, this ugly deed: "we were carrying burdens of the people's ornaments, and we threw them: thus did as-Samiri throw": be ashamed of having possessed the ornaments of the family of Fir'awn, while you are men of war, and Allah had commanded them to take them, and made them lawful for them: and they were not ashamed of their ignorance, and the littleness of their knowledge and intellect, at worshipping a bodily calf with a lowing sound, alongside the One, the Unique, the Self-Sufficient, the Subduer. Then he turned to his brother Haroun: "he said: ô Haroun, what prevented you when you saw them astray, that you did not follow me ?

that is: why, when you saw what they did, did you not follow me and inform me of what they did: "I feared you would say: you divided Bani Israil" that is: I left them and came to you, and you had appointed me over them: "he said: my Lord, forgive me and my brother, and admit us into Your mercy, and You are the most Merciful of the merciful. And Haroun had forbidden them this monstrous deed with the utmost prohibition, and deterred them from it completely: "Haroun had certainly told them before: ô my people, you are only being tried by it" that is: Allah decreed that this calf low, as a trial and test for you: "and your Lord is the Most Merciful" that is: it is not this calf: "so follow me" that is: in what I say to you: "and obey my command. "They said: we will not cease being devoted to it until Moussa returns to us. Allah testifies for Haroun, and Allah suffices as witness, that he forbade them and deterred them from that, and they did not obey him nor follow him.

Then Moussa turned to as-Samiri: "he said: so what is your matter, ô Samiri ? that is: what drove you to what you did: "he said: I saw what they did not see" that is: I saw Jibril riding a horse: "so I seized a handful from the messenger's trace" that is: from the trace of Jibril's horse. And some mentioned that he saw him, and that whenever its hooves landed on a spot it greened and grew herbage: so he took from the trace of its hoof, and when he cast it into this calf fashioned of gold, there occurred of its affair what occurred: "and threw it, and thus my soul enticed me. "he said: go, for you have in the life to say: touch me not": and this is a supplication against him that no one touch him in punishing him for his touch which should not have been his touch: this is his punishment in this world: "and you have an appointment you will not fail.

Read: Moussa proceeded to this calf, and burned it with fire, as Qatada and others said: with axes, as 'Ali and Ibn 'Abbas and others said: and it is the text of the People of the Book: then he cast it into the sea, and commanded Bani Israil to drink: and whoever was of its worshippers, there clung to their lips of that ash from it what indicated him: rather their colors turned yellow.

"Your god is only Allah who has no god but Him: He has encompassed everything in knowledge. And the Most High said: "those who took the calf, wrath from their Lord will surely reach them, and humiliation in the worldly life, and thus We recompense the fabricators": and so it occurred. And some of the early generations said: "and thus We recompense the fabricators," recorded against every adherent of innovation until the Day of Resurrection. Then the Most High informed of His forbearance and mercy toward His creation, and His kindness to His servants in accepting the repentance of whoever repents to Him: "and those who committed evil deeds then repented after it and believed: your Lord after it is indeed Forgiving, Merciful": but Allah did not accept the repentance of the worshippers of the calf except through killing: "and when Moussa said to his people: ô my people, you have wronged yourselves by your taking of the calf, so repent to your Creator and kill yourselves, that is better for you with your Creator.

So He pardoned you, He is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful. (al-Baqara, 54) They awoke one day, and Allah had placed in the hands of those who had not worshipped the calf the swords, and Allah cast a fog upon them, so that the close one knew not his close one, nor the kinsman his kinsman: then they fell upon its worshippers, and killed them, and harvested them: they killed in a single morning seventy thousand. "And when the anger subsided from Moussa, he took the tablets, and in their transcription guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord. Some argued from His saying "and in their transcription" that it had been broken: in this argument there is scrutiny, and nothing in the wording indicates it was broken, and Allah knows better.

Ibn 'Abbas mentioned in the hadith of the trial, as will come, that their worship of the calf was soon after their leaving of the sea: and it is not far-fetched, for when they came out they said: "ô Moussa, make for us a god as they have gods. And thus with the People of the Book: their worship of the calf was before their coming to the lands of Bayt al-Maqdis: that is because when they were commanded to kill whoever worshipped the calf, they killed on the first day three thousand: then Moussa went to seek forgiveness for them, and He forgave them, on condition that they enter the holy land.

"and Moussa chose from his people seventy men for Our appointment: and when the quake seized them, he said: my Lord, had You willed, You could have destroyed them before, and me. Would You destroy us for what the foolish among us did ? It is not but Your trial: You lead astray by it whom You will, and guide whom You will. You are our protector: so forgive us, and have mercy upon us, and You are the best of forgivers.

And decree for us in this world good, and in the hereafter: indeed we have turned back to You. He said: My punishment I afflict with it whom I will, and My mercy has encompassed everything: so I will decree it for those who are Allah-fearing and give zakat, and those who in Our signs believe. Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written with them in the Tora and the Gospel: he enjoins upon them what is right, and forbids them what is wrong, and makes lawful for them the good things, and prohibits for them the evil, and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them. So those who believed in him, and honored him, and supported him, and followed the light sent down with him: those are the successful."

Surat al-A'raf, 155-157

As-Suddi and Ibn 'Abbas and others mentioned that these seventy were the scholars of Bani Israil, and with them Moussa, and Haroun, and Youcha', and Nadab, and Abihou: they went with Moussa to apologize to Allah on behalf of Bani Israil for the worship of whoever among them worshipped the calf, and they had been commanded to perfume themselves and purify themselves and bathe. When they went with him and drew near to the mountain, upon which were the cloud and the shining pillar of light, and Moussa climbed the mountain: and Bani Israil mentioned that they heard the speech of Allah, and a group of the exegetes endorsed that. And there was a faction of them who heard the speech of Allah, then distorted it after understanding it, while they knew: "I made him hear up to the point of hearing the speech of Allah" that is: to the reach of hearing, and thus these heard it to the reach of hearing from Moussa. And they also claimed that the seventy saw Allah: "and when you said: ô Moussa, we will not believe you until we see Allah openly, so the thunderbolt took you while you looked on.

Then We revived you after your death, perhaps you would be grateful. (al-Baqara, 55-56)

Moussa chose from Bani Israil seventy men: they set out toward Allah: repent therefore to Him for what you did, and seek His pardon for those you left behind of your people: fast, and perfume yourselves, and purify your garments. He set out with them to the Tour of Sina for the appointment of his time with his Lord, and he would not come to it except with His permission and knowledge. The seventy asked him to hear the speech of Allah: do it. When Moussa drew near to the mountain, the pillar of cloud fell upon it until it covered the whole mountain, and Moussa drew near and entered into the cloud: draw near.

And Moussa, when Allah spoke to him, a brilliant light fell upon his forehead, such that no one of the sons of Adam could look at him: so he veiled himself from them with the veil. And the people drew near, until when they entered the cloud, they fell prostrate, and heard him while he spoke to Moussa, commanding and forbidding: do, and do not do. When Allah finished His command: "we will not believe you until we see Allah openly": the quake seized them, which is the thunderbolt, and their souls unknotted, and they all died. And Moussa stood appealing to his Lord, and invoking Him, and pleading with Him: "my Lord, had You willed, You could have destroyed them before, and me.

Would You destroy us for what the foolish among us did ? that is: do not punish us for what the fools who worshipped the calf among us did, for we disavow what they did. And Ibn 'Abbas and Moujahid and Qatada said: the quake seized them only because they did not forbid their people the worship of the calf. "It is not but Your trial" that is: Your testing, and Your trying, and Your examining.

Said Ibn 'Abbas and Sa'id ibn Jubayr and Abu al-'Aliya and ar-Rab'i ibn Anas and more than one of the scholars of the early and later generations: You who decreed this, and created what occurred of the affair of the calf, as a test by which You try them: "ô my people, you are only being tried by it" that is: tried by it: "You lead astray by it whom You will, and guide whom You will" that is: whom You will You lead astray by Your testing of him, and whom You will You guide: to You belong the judgment and the will, there is none who prevents nor returns what You decreed and judged: "You are our protector: so forgive us, and have mercy upon us, and You are the best of forgivers."

"And decree for us in this world good, and in the hereafter: indeed we have turned back to You" that is: we turn to You and return, and confess to You. Said Ibn 'Abbas and Moujahid and Sa'id ibn Jubayr and Abu al-'Aliya and Ibrahim at-Taymi and ad-Dahhak and as-Suddi and Qatada and more than one: and this is also linguistically. "He said: My punishment I afflict with it whom I will, and My mercy has encompassed everything" that is: I punish whom I will with what I will of matters that I create and decree, and My mercy has encompassed everything: as is established in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): Allah, when He finished creating the heavens and the earth, wrote a book: My mercy overcomes My anger. "So I will decree it for those who are Allah-fearing and give zakat, and those who in Our signs believe" that is: I will make it obligatory certainly for whoever is adorned with these qualities: "those who follow the messenger, the unlettered prophet": the verse.

And this contains Allah the Most High's attention to mentioning Mohammad and his community to Moussa, among that with which He confided with him and informed him and acquainted him: and we have spoken of this verse and what follows it in its commentary sufficiently and convincingly, and to Allah praise and favor. Moussa said: ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community, the best community brought forth for the people: they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong: Lord, make them my community. That is the community of Ahmad. Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: they are the last in creation and the first in entering Paradise: Lord, make them my community.

That is the community of Ahmad. Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: their gospels are in their breasts, they recite them, whereas those before them used to recite their book by looking at it, to the point that when they raised it they memorized nothing of it and knew it not. And Allah has given you, ô community, of memorization what He gave no one of the nations: Lord, make them my community. That is the community of Ahmad.

Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: they believe in the first Book and the last Book, and fight the excess of misguidance, until they fight the one-eyed liar: so make them my community. That is the community of Ahmad. Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: their charities they eat in their bellies, and are rewarded for them: whereas before them, when one gave a charity and it was accepted from him, Allah sent fire upon it and consumed it, and if it was returned to him he left it, and the beasts and birds ate it: Lord, so make them my community. That is the community of Ahmad.

Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: when one of them intends a good deed and does not do it, I write for him a good deed: and if he does it, I write for him ten of its like, up to seven hundred fold: Lord, make them my community. That is the community of Ahmad. Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: they are the intercessors and those for whom intercession is made: so make them my community. He said: that is the community of Ahmad.

He thus informed us that Moussa said: ô Allah, make me of the community of Ahmad. Many people have mentioned what there was of Moussa's confidential dialogue, and cited many things with no basis: and we mention what can be mentioned of hadiths and athars, with Allah's help and His success, and His good guidance, and His aid and His support.

Al-Hafiz Abu Hatim, Mohammad ibn Hatim ibn Hibban, said in his Sahih: mention of the question of the interlocutor of Allah to his Lord about the lowest of the people of Paradise and the highest of them in rank: 'Umar ibn Sa'id at-Ta'i informed us in Manbij: Hammad ibn Yahya al-Balkhi informed us: Soufyan informed us: Moutrif ibn Tarif and 'Abd al-Malik ibn Abjar, two righteous elders: I heard al-Moughira ibn Chou'ba say on the minbar: Moussa asked his Lord: who of the people of Paradise is lowest in rank ? A man who comes after the people of Paradise have entered Paradise: enter Paradise: how shall I enter Paradise when the people have taken their abodes and taken their takings ? Would you be content to have of Paradise like what a king of the kings of the world had ? Yes, ô Lord: for you is this, and its like, and its like: yes, ô Lord, I am content: for you is this and ten times its like: ô Lord, I am content: for you, with this, all that your soul covets and your eye delights in: ô people of Paradise, who is highest of them in rank ?

I will tell you about them: I planted their nobility with My hand, and sealed upon it: no eye has seen, nor has any ear heard, nor has it crossed the heart of any human: and its attestation in the Book of Allah the Most High: "no soul knows what has been hidden for them of the refreshment of eyes" (as-Sajda, 17): and thus Mouslim and at-Tirmidhi reported it, both from Ibn Abi 'Umar, from Soufyan, who is ibn 'Ouyayna, thus: it will be said to him: are you content to have like a king of the kings of the world ? I am content, Lord: for you is this, and its like, and its like, and its like, and its like: I am content, Lord: this is for you, and ten times its like, and for you all that your soul covets and your eye delights in: I am content, Lord: Lord, then who is highest of them in rank ?

Those toward whom I willed: I planted their nobility with My hand, and sealed upon it: no eye saw, nor any ear heard: and its attestation from the Book of Allah: "no soul knows what has been hidden for them of the refreshment of eyes as reward for what they used to do" (as-Sajda, 16-17): and at-Tirmidhi said: hassan, sahih. And some of them reported it from ach-Cha'bi, from al-Moughira, and did not raise it as marfou': and the marfou' form is more sound.

Mention of the question of the interlocutor to his Lord about seven qualities: 'Abdullah ibn Mohammad ibn Salm reported to us in Bayt al-Maqdis: Hourmala ibn Yahya reported to us: Ibn Wahb reported to us: 'Amr ibn al-Harith informed me: that Abu as-Samh reported to him from Ibn Houjayra, from Abu Hourayra, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): Moussa asked his Lord (exalted is He) about six qualities which he thought were exclusively his: ô Lord, which of Your servants is most Allah-fearing ? The one who remembers Me and does not forget. And which of Your servants is best guided ? The one who follows the guidance.

And which of Your servants is most just in judgment ? The one who judges for people as he judges for himself. And which of Your servants is most knowledgeable ? A scholar who is never sated with knowledge, and adds the knowledge of people to his knowledge.

And which of Your servants is mightiest ? The one who, when able, forgives. And which of Your servants is richest ? The one who is content with what he is given.

And which of Your servants is poorest ? The one of deficient state. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: wealth is not from worldly goods: wealth is only the wealth of the soul: when Allah wills good for a servant, He makes his wealth within his soul, and guards it in his heart: and when He wills evil for a servant, He places his poverty between his two eyes. His saying: the one of deficient state: he means by it the one whose state is diminished, who disdains what he is given and seeks more.

And Ibn Jarir reported it in his tafsir, from Ibn Houmayd, from Ya'qoub al-Qoumi, from Haroun ibn 'Antara, from his father, from Ibn 'Abbas: Moussa asked his Lord, and he mentioned the like of it. He said: ô Lord, which of Your servants is most knowledgeable ? The one who seeks the knowledge of people toward his knowledge: perhaps a word will reach him that guides him to guidance, or turns him back from ruin. Ô Lord, is there on earth anyone more knowledgeable than I ? Yes: al-Khidr. So Moussa asked the way to him, and there occurred what we shall mention later, if Allah the Most High wills: and upon it is the trust.

Mention of another hadith meaning what Ibn Hibban mentioned: Yahya ibn Ishaq reported to us: Ibn Lah'ah reported to us: from Durraj, from Abu al-Haytham, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): Moussa said: ô Lord, Your believing servant is constrained in this world. So He opened for him a gate of Paradise, and he looked at it: ô Moussa, this is what I have prepared for him. Ô Lord, and by Your might and majesty, if his hands and feet were cut off, and he were dragged on his face from the day I created him to the Day of Resurrection, and this were his destiny, he would never have seen any misery. Then he said: ô Lord, Your disbelieving servant, he is given ease in this world.

So He opened for him a gate to the Fire: ô Moussa, this is what I have prepared for him. Ô Lord, and by Your might and majesty, if he had this world from the day I created him to the Day of Resurrection, and this were his destiny, he would never have seen any good. Al-Ahmad is alone in reporting it from this angle: and its authenticity is subject to scrutiny, and Allah knows better.

Mention of the question of the interlocutor of Allah to his Lord, glorious and exalted is He, that He teach him something by which he may remember Him: Ibn Salm reported to us: Hourmala ibn Yahya reported to us: Ibn Wahb reported to us: 'Amr ibn al-Harith informed me: that Durraj reported to him from Abu al-Haytham, from Abu Sa'id, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): Moussa said: ô Lord, teach me something by which I remember You and invoke You. Say: ô Moussa, there is no god but Allah. Ô Lord, all Your servants say this. Say: there is no god but Allah.

I rather want something by which You single me out. Ô Moussa, if the people of the seven heavens and the seven earths were in one pan, and there is no god but Allah in another pan, there is no god but Allah would outweigh them. And the hadith of the card attests to this hadith: and the closest thing to its meaning is the hadith reported in the Sahih from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he said: the best supplication is the supplication of the day of 'Arafa: there is no god but Allah alone without partner, to Him belongs the dominion, and to Him is the praise, and He is over everything powerful.

And Ibn Abi Hatim said: Ahmad ibn al-Qassim ibn 'Atiya reported to us: Ahmad ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman ad-Dachtaki reported to us: my father informed me from his father: Ach'ath ibn Ishaq reported to us: from Ja'far ibn Abi al-Moughira, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn 'Abbas: does your Lord sleep ? Fear Allah. Ô Moussa, they have asked you whether your Lord sleeps: take two flasks in your hand, and stand up the night. So Moussa did: when a third of the night had gone, he dozed and fell upon his knees, then recovered:

and mastered them until, at the end of the night, he dozed, and the two flasks fell, and broke. ô Moussa, if I slept, the heavens and the earth would fall, and perish as the two flasks perished in your hand. And Allah sent down upon His messenger the verse of the Throne.

Ishaq ibn Abi Isra'il reported to us: Hicham ibn Youssouf reported to us: from Oumayya ibn Chabl, from al-Hakam ibn Aban, from 'Ikrima, from Abu Hourayra: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) narrating, on the minbar, about Moussa: it crossed Moussa's mind: does Allah sleep ? Allah sent him an angel who woke him three times, then gave him two flasks, in each hand a flask, and commanded him to keep them. He began to sleep, and when his two hands were about to meet he would wake, and hold one against the other, until he slept one sleep: his two hands clashed. Allah struck for him a similitude: were he to sleep, the heaven and the earth would not hold. And this hadith is gharib, marfou': the more likely is that it be mawqouf, and that its origin be Israelite.

"and when We took your covenant and raised above you the Tour: take what We have given you with strength, and remember what is in it, perhaps you will be Allah-fearing. Then you turned away after that: had it not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, you would have been of the losers. (al-Baqara, 63-64) "and when We raised the mountain above them as if it were a canopy, and they thought it would fall upon them: take what We have given you with strength, and remember what is in it, perhaps you will be Allah-fearing. (al-Baqara, 93) Ibn 'Abbas said: when Moussa came to them with the tablets containing the Tora, he commanded them to accept it and take it with strength and determination.

Spread it before us: if its commands and prohibitions are easy, we will accept it. Rather accept it with what it contains. They returned it to him therefore several times. Allah therefore commanded the angels to raise the mountain over their heads, until it became like a canopy: that is, a cloud over their heads: if you do not accept it with what it contains, this mountain will fall upon you.

They accepted it therefore, and were commanded to prostrate, and prostrated, and began looking at the mountain with half of their faces: and this became a practice of the Jews until today: they say: no prostration is greater than the prostration in which the punishment was lifted from us. And Sanid ibn Dawoud said, from Houshaym ibn Mohammad, from Abu Bakr ibn 'Abdullah: when he spread it, there remained on the face of the earth no mountain, nor tree, nor stone except that it trembled: there is therefore on the face of the earth no Jew, small or great, upon whom the Tora is read except that he trembles and shakes his head at it.

"then you turned away after that" that is: then, after beholding this great covenant and the weighty command, you violated your pledges and covenants: had it not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, in overtaking you by sending to you and sending down the Book upon you, you would have been of the losers.

The cow of Bani Israil in the time of Moussa

"and when Moussa said to his people: Allah commands you to slaughter a cow. They said: do you take us as mockery ? He said: I seek refuge in Allah from being of the ignorant. They said: invoke for us your Lord to make clear to us what she is.

He said: He says: she is a cow neither old nor virgin, of middle age between that: so do what you are commanded. They said: invoke for us your Lord to make clear to us her color. He said: He says: she is a yellow cow, intense of color, pleasing to the beholders. They said: invoke for us your Lord to make clear to us what she is: the cows seem alike to us, and we, if Allah wills, will be guided.

He said: He says: she is a cow neither broken to plough the earth nor to water the tillage, sound, without blemish in her. They said: now you have come with the truth: so they slaughtered her, though they nearly did not do it. And when you killed a soul, and you were accusing one another about it, and Allah is the One who brings out what you were concealing: so We said: strike him with a part of her: thus Allah revives the dead, and shows you His signs, perhaps you will reason. (al-Baqara, 67-73)

Ibn 'Abbas, 'Oubayda as-Soulmani, Abu al-'Aliya, Moujahid and as-Suddi said: there was a man among Bani Israil of much wealth, and he was a very old man, and he had nephews who longed for his death that they might inherit him. One of them proceeded and killed him at night, and cast him at the meeting place of the roads, at the door of one of their men. When the people awoke, they disputed about him, and his nephew came, and began to cry out and complain: why do you dispute and do you not go to the prophet of Allah ? So his nephew came, and complained of the affair of his uncle to the messenger of Allah Moussa.

Moussa said: swear by Allah whether any man among you has knowledge of the matter of this slain man, otherwise we will inform ourselves. There was with none of them knowledge: and they asked him to ask his Lord about this matter. So he asked his Lord about it, and Allah commanded him to command them to slaughter a cow: "Allah commands you to slaughter a cow": "they said: do you take us as mockery ? they mean: we ask you about the matter of this slain man, and you say this.

"he said: I seek refuge in Allah from being of the ignorant" that is: I seek refuge in Allah from saying of Him other than what He revealed to me: and this is the One who answered me when I asked Him about what you ask me of, that I ask Him about it. Ibn 'Abbas, 'Oubayda, Moujahid, 'Ikrima, as-Suddi and Abu al-'Aliya said: had they proceeded to any cow whatsoever and slaughtered it, the intended aim would have been attained: but they were obstinate, so Allah was obstinate with them. And there has come on this a marfou' hadith, and in its isnad weakness: they asked her description, then her color, then her age, and were answered with something whose existence was hard upon them: and we have mentioned the explanation of all of that in its place.

The point: that they were commanded to slaughter a cow of middle age, which is the middle between the old, which is the large, and the virgin, which is the small. Said Ibn 'Abbas, Moujahid, Abu al-'Aliya, 'Ikrima, al-Hasan, Qatada and a group. Then they became obstinate, and straitened themselves, and asked her color: they were therefore commanded a yellow one intense of color, that is, tinged with redness, pleasing to the beholders: and this color is rare.

"invoke for us your Lord to make clear to us her color: the cows seem alike to us, and we, if Allah wills, will be guided": and in the marfou' hadith reported by Ibn Abi Hatim: had Bani Israil not exclaimed when they were given: over its soundness there is scrutiny, and Allah knows better. "he said: He says: she is a cow neither broken to plough the earth nor to water the tillage, sound, without blemish in her. They said: now you have come with the truth: so they slaughtered her, though they nearly did not do it": and these qualities are narrower than the preceding, where they were commanded to slaughter a cow not broken, which is the one broken by ploughing and watering the earth by drawing: sound, which is the sound one without defect: said Abu al-'Aliya and Qatada. Without blemish in her: that is, there is not in her a color contrary to her color, rather she is sound of defects and of the mixing of the other colors besides her color.

When he delimited her with these qualities, and restricted her with these descriptions and attributes, they found this cow with this description only with a man among them who was a good son to his father. So they asked it of him: he refused, and enticed them with her price, until, according to what as-Suddi mentioned, they gave him her weight in gold: he refused until they gave him her weight ten times. So he sold it to them, and the prophet of Allah Moussa commanded her slaughter: they slaughtered her, though they nearly did not do it, that is: they were hesitant about her matter. Then he commanded them, from Allah, to strike that slain man with a part of her: with the flesh of the thigh: with the bone adjoining the cartilage: with the piece between the shoulders.

When they struck him with a part of her, Allah the Most High revived him: and he stood while his veins bled: who killed me ? He said: my nephew killed me. Then he fell back dead as he was: "thus Allah revives the dead, and shows you His signs, perhaps you will reason" that is: as you witnessed the reviving of this slain man by Allah's command to him, so is His command regarding the other dead: when He wills their reviving He revives them in one hour: "He created you not, nor raised you, except as one single soul": the verse.

The story of Moussa and Khidr

"and when Moussa said to his servant: I will not give up until I reach the confluence of the two seas, or I go on for years. So when the two reached the confluence between them, they forgot their fish: and it took its way into the sea, slipping away. So when the two had passed beyond, he said to his servant: bring us our morning meal, we have certainly suffered fatigue from this journey of ours. He said: did you see when we took refuge at the rock: I forgot the fish there, and nothing made me forget it except the devil, that I should mention it: and it took its way into the sea wondrously.

He said: this: what we were seeking. So they returned upon their traces, retracing. They found a servant of Our servants to whom We had given mercy from Us, and had taught him knowledge from Us. Moussa said to him: may I follow you so that you teach me of what you have been taught of right guidance ?

He said: you will not be able to be patient with me. And how can you be patient over what you do not encompass in knowledge ? He said: you will find me, if Allah wills, patient, and I will not disobey you in any order. He said: if you follow me, do not question me about anything until I mention it to you.

So they set out until, when they rode the ship, he holed it. He said: have you holed it to drown its people ? You have surely brought a monstrous thing. He said: did I not tell you that you would not be able to be patient with me ?

He said: take me not to task for what I forgot, and burden me not in my affair with hardship. So they set out until, when they met a boy, he killed him. He said: have you killed a pure soul without a soul ? You have surely brought a blameful thing.

He said: did I not tell you that you would not be able to be patient with me ? He said: if I ask you about anything after it, do not keep me company: you have reached from me an excuse. So they set out until, when they came to the people of a town, they asked its people for food, but they refused to host them. They found therein a wall about to collapse: so he set it upright.

He said: had you willed, you could have taken payment for it. He said: this is the parting between me and you: I will inform you of the interpretation of that over which you could not be patient. As for the ship, it belonged to poor people working at sea: so I intended to make it defective, and behind them was a king seizing every ship by force. And as for the boy, his parents were believers, and we feared he would oppress them by tyranny and disbelief: so we intended that their Lord substitute for them one better than him in purity, and closer in affection.

And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and beneath it was for them a treasure, and their father was righteous: so your Lord willed that they reach their maturity and extract their treasure, a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord: this is the interpretation of that over which you could not be patient."

Surat al-Kahf, 60-82

This Moussa who traveled to Khidr is Moussa ibn Michka ibn Youssouf ibn Ya'qoub ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Khalil according to those people, and some who take from their leaves and transmit from their books followed them in that, among them Nawf ibn Fidala al-Himyari ach-Chami al-Bakali, and he is a Damascene, and his mother was the wife of Ka'b al-Ahbar. And the correct view, to which the apparent context of the Quran points, and the text of the mutually confirmed explicit sound hadith, is that he is Moussa ibn 'Imran, the companion of Bani Israil.

Al-Houmaydi reported to us: Soufyan reported to us: 'Amr ibn Daynar reported to us: Sa'id ibn Jubayr informed me: I said to Ibn 'Abbas: Nawf al-Bakali claims that Moussa, the companion of Khidr, is not Moussa, the companion of Bani Israil. The enemy of Allah lied: Oubay ibn Ka'b reported to us that he heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: Moussa stood preaching among Bani Israil, and he was asked: who is the most knowledgeable of people ? I. So Allah blamed him for not referring the knowledge to Him: Allah revealed to him: I have a servant at the confluence of the two seas who is more knowledgeable than you.

ô Lord, and how shall I reach him ? Take with you a fish and place it in a basket: wherever you lose the fish, there he is. So he took a fish and placed it in a basket, then set out, and set out with him his servant Youcha' ibn Noun, until when they came to the rock they laid their heads and slept. And the fish stirred in the basket, and came out of it, and fell into the sea, and took its way into the sea slipping away, and Allah held back from the fish the flowing of the water, so it became upon it like a capsule.

When he awoke, his companion forgot to inform him of the fish: so they set out the remainder of their day and their night, until when the morrow came, Moussa said to his servant: bring us our morning meal, we have certainly suffered fatigue from this journey of ours. And Moussa did not find the hardship until he had passed the place Allah commanded him and his servant: "did you see when we took refuge at the rock: I forgot the fish there, and nothing made me forget it except the devil, that I should mention it, and it took its way into the sea wondrously. He said: for the fish a slipping way: this is what we were seeking: "so they returned upon their traces, retracing," until they reached the rock, and behold, a man covered with a garment. Moussa greeted him: and what land is yours ?

Peace: I am Moussa. Moussa of Bani Israil ? Yes. I have come to you to teach me of what you have been taught of right guidance.

ô Moussa, I am upon a knowledge of the knowledge of Allah which Allah taught me and which you do not know, and you are upon a knowledge of the knowledge of Allah which Allah taught you and I know not. You will find me, if Allah wills, patient, and I will not disobey you in any order. If you follow me, do not question me about anything until I mention it to you. So they set out walking along the seashore, a ship passed, and spoke to them to carry them, and they recognized Khidr, and carried them without fare.

When they rode the ship, no sooner had they done so than Khidr pried a plank of the ship's planks with the adze: a people carried us without fare, and you deliberately set upon their ship and holed it. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: and the first of Moussa was forgetfulness. And a sparrow came and landed on the rim of the ship and pecked one peck into the sea: my knowledge and your knowledge in the knowledge of Allah are only like what this sparrow pecked of this sea. Then the two left the ship, and while the two were walking along the shore, Khidr saw a boy playing with the boys: so Khidr took his head with his hand and plucked it with his hand and killed him.

And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: and this is harder than the first. And he said: turned aside. And Khidr said with his hand, and Moussa said: stand: we reached them and they fed us not: we wish Moussa had been patient. So Ibn 'Abbas began reciting: this and that.

Then al-Boukhari also reported it from Qutayba, from Soufyan ibn 'Ouyayna, by an isnad similar to his: Moussa went out, with his servant Youcha' ibn Noun, and with the two of them the fish, until they reached the rock, and alighted by it: Moussa laid his head and slept. Soufyan said: and in the hadith other than that of 'Amr: and at the root of the rock a spring called Life: nothing touches of its water except that it becomes alive. The fish touched the water of that spring: so it stirred, and slipped out of the basket, and entered the sea: bring us our morning meal: thus he said. And he narrated the hadith: and a sparrow landed on the rim of the ship and dipped its beak into the sea: my knowledge and your knowledge and the knowledge of creatures, in the knowledge of Allah, are only the measure of what this sparrow dipped its beak of: and he mentioned the completion of the hadith.

Ibrahim ibn Moussa reported to us: Hicham ibn Youssouf reported to us: that Ibn Jourayj informed them: Ya'la ibn Mouslim informed me, and 'Amr ibn Daynar, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, one of the two is longer than his companion, and the other I heard him report from Sa'id ibn Jubayr: we were at Ibn 'Abbas in his house when he said: ask me. ô Abu al-'Abbas, may Allah make me ransomed by you: in Koufa there is a man who transmits hadiths, Nawf, who claims he is not of Moussa of Bani Israil. He said: the enemy of Allah lied.

And as for Ya'la, Ibn 'Abbas said: Oubay ibn Ka'b reported to me: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Moussa, the messenger of Allah, spoke to the people one day until the eyes overflowed and the hearts turned pale, then he turned away: a man caught up with him: ô messenger of Allah, is there on earth anyone more knowledgeable than you ? No. So Allah blamed him for not referring the knowledge to Allah: Yes. ô Lord, then where ?

At the confluence of the two seas. ô Lord, make for me a sign by which I shall know it. He said: where the fish will part from you. Take a dead fish into which you blow the spirit: so he took a fish and placed it in a basket: I charge you only to inform me of the place where the fish parts from you.

"and when Moussa said to his servant Youcha' ibn Noun" it is not from Sa'id ibn Jubayr. And while he was in the shade of a rock, in a place where two springs flowed, the fish struck, while Moussa slept: do not wake me. Until when he awoke, he forgot to inform him, and the fish kept striking until it entered the sea, and Allah held back from it the flowing of the sea: thus, like its trace in a stone, and he pressed between his two thumbs and the two fingers adjoining them.

and Allah has cut off from you the hardship: he informed him. So the two returned, and found Khidr: of what land are you, peace ? Who are you ? I am Moussa.

Moussa of Bani Israil ? Yes. What then is your matter ? I have come to you that you teach me of what you have been taught of right guidance.

By Allah, my knowledge and your knowledge in relation to the knowledge of Allah are only as this bird took with its beak from the sea. Until when they rode the ship, they found small ferrymen who carry the people of this shore to the people of that other shore: the righteous servant ? He said: "Moussa: have you holed it to drown its people ? You have surely brought a monstrous thing.

He said: did I not tell you that you would not be able to be patient with me ? The first was forgetfulness, and the middle a condition. Sa'id said: he found boys playing, and took a handsome disbelieving boy, and laid him down, then slaughtered him with the knife. He said: "have you killed a pure soul without a soul" one who had not worked wickedness.

A pure boy. So they set out and found therein a wall about to collapse: he set it upright. I reckon Sa'id said: he wiped it with his hand and it stood straight. He said: had you willed, you could have taken payment for it.

Sa'id said: payment we would eat, and behind them Ibn 'Abbas recited: a king seizing every ship by force: when it passes by him he leaves it with its defect, and when they pass beyond they repair it and benefit from it. Stop it up with a flask: with tar. "have you killed a pure soul" the two of them by him more merciful toward it than by the first whom Khidr killed. And someone other than Sa'id ibn Jubayr claimed that the two were replaced with a slave girl: it is a slave girl.

And 'Abd ar-Razzaq reported it, from Ma'mar, from Abu Ishaq, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn 'Abbas: Moussa preached to Bani Israil: none is more knowledgeable of Allah and His command than I. He commanded that this man be brought forth: and mentioned the like of what preceded.

And thus Mohammad ibn Ishaq reported it, from al-Hasan ibn 'Amara, from al-Hakam ibn 'Otayba, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn 'Abbas, from Oubay ibn Ka'b, from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), like what preceded also, and al-'Awfi reported it from him as mawqouf.

And az-Zouhri said, from 'Oubayd Allah ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Otba, from Ibn 'Abbas: that he disputed, he and al-Har ibn Qays ibn Hisn al-Fizari, about the companion of Moussa: he is Khidr. Oubay ibn Ka'b passed by them: Ibn 'Abbas called him: I dispute, I and my companion, about the companion of Moussa who asked the way to meet him: have you heard from the Messenger of Allah anything about him ? Yes: and he mentioned the hadith: and we have expounded the ways of this hadith and its wordings in the commentary of the sura al-Kahf: and to Allah praise and favor.

"and as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and beneath it was for them a treasure, and their father was righteous: so your Lord willed that they reach their maturity and extract their treasure, a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord: this is the interpretation of that over which you could not be patient."

And the two were Asram and Sarim, sons of Kachicha. It was gold: said 'Ikrima. A treasure: said Ibn 'Abbas. And the more likely is that it was a tablet of gold, written in it knowledge.

'Abdullah ibn Mohammad ibn Salam reported to us: Bichr ibn al-Mounzir reported to us: al-Harith ibn 'Abd Allah al-Yahsoubi reported to us: from 'Ayach ibn 'Abbas al-Ghassani, from Ibn Houjayra, from Abu Dharr: the treasure Allah mentioned in His book is a tablet of solid gold: I marvel at the one who certifies the decree, how he toils, and I marvel at the one who mentions the Fire and then laughs, and I marvel at the one who mentions death and then is heedless: there is no god but Allah. And thus it has been reported from al-Hasan al-Basri, and 'Omar the freed one of Ghafra, and Ja'far as-Sadiq, the like of this. And their father was righteous: and it has been said he was the seventh, the tenth. And by any reckoning, in it is an indication that the righteous man is preserved in his posterity: Allah is the One sought for help.

And His saying "a mercy from your Lord" is a proof that he was a prophet, and that he did nothing of his own accord, but by the command of his Lord: a messenger, and a dignitary. And stranger still: he was an angel. And stranger yet is the saying of the one who says: he is the son of Fir'awn. He is the son of Dihhak who ruled the world a thousand years.

Ibn Jarir said, and on it is the majority of the People of the Book: that he was in the time of Afridoun. He was at the vanguard of Dhi al-Qarnayn, the one of whom it is said he was Afridoun: and Dhi al-Firs is the one who was in the time of the intimate friend. And they claimed that he drank of the water of life, so he became eternal, and he is living until now: he is of the offspring of some of those who believed in Ibrahim and emigrated with him from the land of Babylon: his name Malkan: Irmia ibn Hilqiya: he was a prophet in the time of Sabasab ibn Lahrasab: and between Afridoun and Sabasab there were long ages that none of the people of knowledge of genealogies is ignorant of.

Ibn Jarir said: and the correct view is that he was in the time of Afridoun, and he continued alive until Moussa met him: and Moussa's prophethood was in the time of Manouchehr, who is of the offspring of Irij ibn Afridoun, one of the kings of the Persians: and to him belonged the kingship after his grandfather Afridoun because of his pledge, and he was just, and he was the first who dug the trenches, and the first who appointed in every village a dehqan: and the duration of his reign was close to one hundred and fifty years. He was of the offspring of Ishaq ibn Ibrahim. And there has been mentioned of him beautiful discourses, and eloquent beneficial utterances, which dazzle the intellect and baffle the hearer: and this indicates that he is of the offspring of the intimate friend: and Allah knows better.

"and when Allah took the covenant of the prophets for what I gave you of book and wisdom, then there comes to you a messenger confirming what is with you: you must surely believe in him and help him. He said: do you agree ?"

Allah took the covenant of every prophet that he believe in whoever comes after him of the prophets, and help him: were Khidr alive in his time, nothing would contain him but following him, and joining him, and undertaking his aid: and he would be of those under his banner on the day of Badr, as were under it Jibril and lords of the angels. And that Khidr be a prophet, that is the truth, or a messenger as it is said, or an angel as mentioned: and whatever he is, Jibril is the chief of the angels, and Moussa is nobler than Khidr: and were he alive, faith in Mohammad and his aid would be obligatory upon him: how then if Khidr is an ally, as many groups say, he is more worthy to enter the generality of the mission, and more deserving still.

And it is not transmitted in a hassan hadith, rather nor a weak one relied upon, that he came any one day to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), nor joined him: and what is mentioned of the condolence hadith about him, though al-Hakim reported it, its isnad is weak: and Allah knows better. And we shall devote a separate biography to Khidr after this.

Moussa was commanded to go out with his people, so he went out with them by night: when Fir'awn arrived in the morning, and saw that they had gone, he sent gatherers to the cities, and pursued them with a numerous and great army: when My servant Moussa strikes the sea with his staff, it will split into twelve parts, until Moussa and those with him pass, then it will close over what remained after, of Fir'awn and his followers. And Moussa forgot to strike the sea with the staff, and reached the sea, and behind him a chain: for fear that Moussa should not strike it with his staff while he was inattentive, and so become disobedient to Allah.

When therefore the two troops saw each other, and drew near: "we are surely overtaken" do what you were commanded by your Lord: for he has not lied, and you have not lied: my Lord promised me: when I reach the sea, it will split into twelve parts until I pass it: then he remembered afterward the staff, and struck the sea with his staff, when the foremost of the soldiers of Fir'awn approached the last of the soldiers of Moussa, and the sea split as his Lord had commanded him, and as He had promised Moussa. When Moussa and his companions all crossed the sea, and Fir'awn and his companions entered it, the sea closed over them as it was commanded. When Moussa crossed: we fear that Fir'awn did not drown, and that we do not believe in his loss. So he invoked his Lord, and He brought him out with his body, until they agreed upon his loss.

Then they passed after that before a people devoted to their idols: "they said: o Moussa, make for us a god as they have gods. He said: you are a people who do not know: this of theirs is broken what they are in, and false what they do. (al-A'raf, 138-139) You have seen lessons, and heard what suffices you and has passed: Moussa made them descend to a camp, and said: obey Haroun, for I left him as successor over you, and I go to my Lord. And he fixed for them thirty days to return to them: when he arrived at his Lord, and wished

To speak to Him during the thirty nights, and that he had fasted them, by night and by day, and that he disliked speaking to his Lord while there was in him the breath of the mouth of the faster, Moussa took something of the vegetation of the earth and chewed it: have I not broken the fast ? And He knows better what was: o Lord, I have disliked to speak to You while my mouth has a pleasant smell. o Moussa, do you not know that the breath of the mouth of the faster is more pleasant than the smell of musk ? Return then, and fast ten other nights, then come to Me.

Moussa did therefore what his Lord had commanded him. When the people of Moussa saw that he did not return to them in the term, that displeased them: you have gone out of Egypt, and the people of Fir'awn have with you deposits and loans, and you have with them likewise: and I see that you recover what is yours with them: and it is not licit to me, to me, a deposit you entrusted, nor a loan, and we do not return to them anything of that, nor keep it for ourselves. So they dug a pit, and commanded every people to throw into it what they had of that, of baggage or of adornment. Then they lit the fire in it and burned it: that it be neither ours nor theirs.

And the Samiri was of a people who worshipped cows, neighbors of the Bani Israil, and was not of the Bani Israil: so he went out with Moussa and the Bani Israil when they departed: it was decreed to him to see a trace, and to seize a handful of it: he passed before Haroun: o Samiri, do you not throw what is in your hand ? And he held it, and no one saw him during all that: this is a handful of the trace of the messenger who made you cross the sea, and I do not throw it for nothing, except that I invoke Allah when I throw it so that be what I want. So he threw it, and Haroun invoked to him: I want it to be a calf. And gathered what was in the pit of baggage or adornment, or of brass, or of iron,

and it became a hollow calf, without a spirit in it, having a lowing.

No, by Allah, it never had a voice: only the wind entered by its rear, and went out of its mouth, and that voice was from that. So the Bani Israil dispersed in groups: o Samiri, what is this, and you are more knowing about it ? This is your lord, but Moussa has gone astray from the path. We do not deny it until Moussa returns to us: for if he is our Lord, we would not have lost him, nor been incapable the day we saw him: and if he is not our Lord, we follow the word of Moussa: this is the work of the devil, and is not our Lord, and we do not believe in it, and do not believe in it.

And a faction was made to drink in their hearts the truth of what the Samiri said of the calf, and they manifested the denial of it: "o my people, you are surely tried by it, and your Lord is the Most Merciful. It is not that: why then did Moussa promise us thirty days then missed us ? Here are forty days elapsed: his Lord has erred, and he seeks him and pursues him. When Allah spoke to Moussa and said to him what He said, he informed him of what his people had met after him: so he returned to his people, angry, grieved, and said to them what you have heard in the Quran, and took the head of his brother and dragged it toward him, and cast down the tablets in anger.

Then he accepted the excuse of his brother, and asked forgiveness for him: he turned therefore to the Samiri: what carried you to what you did ? "I seized a handful of the trace of the messenger, and I saw it, and it was veiled to you: so I threw it, and thus my soul tempted me. "He said: go then, you have in the life to say: touch me not, and you have an appointment you will not miss, and look toward your god to which you remained assiduous: we will burn it, then scatter it in the flood a scattering. (Ta-Ha, 83-97) And had it been a god, we would not have delivered ourselves from it thus: so the Bani Israil agreed upon the trial, and rejoiced those whose opinion in it was like the opinion of Haroun: o Moussa, ask for us that He open a door of repentance that we do, and that be forgiven what we have done.

So Moussa chose his people of seventy men for that, not neglecting the good: the elite of the Bani Israil, and those who had not shared in the calf: he went out with them asking for them the repentance, and the earth trembled with them. The prophet of Allah was ashamed therefore of his people, and of his delegation, when He did with them what He did: "Lord, if You had willed, You would have destroyed them before, and me: do You destroy us for what the fools among us did ? (al-A'raf, 155) And among them was he of whom Allah knew what He poured into his heart of love of the calf, and of faith in it: for that the earth trembled with them: "and My mercy has embraced all things: I will prescribe it therefore for those who are godfearing and give the zakat, and those who are in Our signs believing, those who follow the messenger, the illiterate prophet, they find written with them in the Tora and the Injil."

o Lord, I asked You the repentance for my people: Your mercy, You prescribed it for a people other than my people: ah had You deferred me until You bring me out in the community of this man, merciful. Their repentance is that every man kills whom he meets of father and son, and kills him with the sword, without caring for who is killed in that place. And those repented, whose situation was hidden to Moussa and to Haroun, and Allah knew their faults: they acknowledged them therefore, and did what they were commanded, and Allah forgave the killer and the killed.

Then Moussa marched with them, heading toward the holy land, and took the tablets after the anger had subsided of him, and commanded them what he commanded of burdens, and it weighed upon them, and they refused to submit to it: Allah raised therefore over them the mountain like a canopy, and drew near to them until they feared it would fall upon them: they took therefore the Book with their right hands, while they looked aside toward the mountain, and the Book in their hands, and they behind the mountain, for fear it would fall upon them. Then they marched until they came to the holy land, and found a city in which was a people of giants, created of a strange creation, and were mentioned of their fruits a strange thing, of their greatness: "o Moussa, there is in it a people of giants: no capacity for us toward them, and we will not enter it while they are in it, if they go out of it, we will enter it. Said two men of those who feared: is that how he read it ?

Yes: of giants: they believed in Moussa, and went out toward him: we are more knowing of our people: if you fear only what you have seen of their bodies and of their number, they have no hearts, nor have they protection: enter therefore upon them by the door: when you enter it, you will be dominant. The two were of the people of Moussa. "They said: o Moussa, we will never enter it while they are in it: go therefore you and your Lord, and fight: we are here sitting.

(al-Ma'ida, 22-24) They put therefore Moussa in anger, and he invoked against them, and named them transgressors, and had not invoked against them before that, for what he had seen of them of disobedience and of their evil, until that day: Allah answered therefore his prayer, and named them as he named them: transgressors, and forbade it to them forty years: they will wander in the land: they rise every morning, and walk, without abode for them: then shaded them the cloud in the wandering, and made descend upon them the manna and the quails, and made for them garments that do not wear out and do not become dirty, and made between their shoulder blades a square stone, and commanded Moussa to strike it with his staff: gushed therefore from it twelve springs, in every direction three springs, and made known to every tribe its spring from which they drink: they do not depart from their camp without finding that stone in the place where it was the day before.

Ibn 'Abbas raised this hadith to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and I find that true of myself: that Mou'awiya heard Ibn 'Abbas narrate this hadith, and denied him that the Copt who denounced to Moussa the matter of the killed who was killed, how would he denounce, while it was not known, and there appeared to him only the Israelite who witnessed it ? Ibn 'Abbas became angry therefore, and took the hand of Mou'awiya, and went out with him toward Sa'd ibn Malik az-Zouhri: o Abu Ishaq, do you remember the day the Messenger of Allah narrated to us the killed of Moussa who was killed of the family of Fir'awn ? Is it the Israelite who denounced him, or the Copt ? It is the Copt who denounced him of what he heard from the Israelite who witnessed it and was present in it.

Thus reported it the imam an-Nasa'i, and reported it Ibn Jarir, and Ibn Abi Hatime in their commentaries, of the hadith of Yazid ibn Haroun: and the most likely, and Allah knows better, is that it be mawqouf: and its being marfou' is subject to examination, and most of it is received from the israelites, and there is in it something somewhat explicit of its elevation in the course of speech, and in a part of what it contains examination and strangeness: and most of it is of the word of Ka'b al-Ahbar, and I heard our sheikh the Hafiz Abu al-Hajjaj al-Mizi say that: and Allah knows better.

The building of the tent of time, in the time of Moussa

Allah commanded Moussa to make a tent of the wood of musa, and of skins of cattle, and of wool of sheep, and commanded to adorn it with dyed silk, and gold, and silver, according to detailed modalities with the people of the Book, and it has ten curtains, the length of each twenty-eight cubits, and its width four cubits, and it has four doors, and borders of silk, and of dyed damask, and in it shelves and plates, of gold and silver, and every angle has two doors, and other great doors, and curtains of dyed silk, and other than it its mention is long: and to make a chest of the wood of musa, whose length is two and a half cubits, and its width two cubits, and its height a cubit and a half, and to be plated with pure gold of its inside and of its outside, and it has four rings, at its four angles, and on its two edges two kroub of gold, they mean: the description of two angels with wings, and they face each other: made it a man named Bassaliyal.

And he commanded him to make a table of the wood of musa, its length two cubits, and its width a cubit and a half, having a border of gold, and a crown of gold with a raised edge, with a crown of gold, and four rings of its sides in gold: are set in it like pomegranates of wood covered with gold: and make dishes, and sieves, and cups upon the table, and make a chandelier of gold in which are put six stems of gold, of each side three, on every stem three cups: and that there be in the chandelier four lamps, and that they be, it and all these vessels, of a quintal of gold: Bassaliyal made that also, and he who made the altar also, and they raised this tent the first day of their year, which is the first day of spring, and raised the ark of the testimony, which is, and Allah knows better: "a sign of his kingship that come to you the ark in which is a reassurance of your Lord, and a remainder of what left the family of Moussa and the family of Haroun, borne by the angels: there is in that a proof for you if you are believers. (al-Baqara, 248)

And this section was developed very longly in their book, and in it their laws and their judgments, and the description of their offering, and its modality, and in it that the tent of the time existed before their worship of the calf, which precedes their coming to Bayt al-Maqdis, and that it was for them like the Ka'ba: they prayed in it and toward it, and drew near to it, and that Moussa, when he entered it, they stopped at it, and descended the pillar of the cloud at its door, and they threw themselves then prostrate for Allah, and Allah spoke to Moussa from that pillar of cloud, which is a light, and He addressed him, and took him in secret, and commanded him, and forbade him, and he was standing near the chest, motionless toward what is between the two kroub: when the speech ended, he informed the Bani Israil of what Allah had revealed to him of orders and forbiddings, and when they took him as judge in something of which he had nothing from Allah, he came to the tent of the time, and stopped at the chest, and became motionless toward what is between those two kroub: the speech came to him therefore with what it contains of judgment of that consultation.

And that was prescribed for them in their time, I mean the use of gold, and of dyed silk,

and of pearls in their temple, and at their place of prayer: as for our law, no, but we have been forbidden the ornamentation of the mosques and their decoration: so that the worshippers be not occupied, as said 'Oumar ibn al-Khattab, who said to him he charged with its construction: build for the people what contains them, and beware of red, nor of yellow, for fear you seduce the people: you will adorn it as adorned the jews and the christians their churches.

And that is of the honoring, and the veneration, and the transcending: this community is not like those before them of nations: Allah has gathered their attention in their prayer upon the orientation toward Him, and the turning toward Him, and has protected their looks and their thoughts from the occupation and the meditation of other than what they are occupied of the immense worship: to Allah praise and grace.

And this tent of the time was with the Bani Israil in the wandering: they prayed toward it, and it was their qibla and their ka'ba, and their imam the interlocutor of Allah Moussa, and the foremost of the offering his brother Haroun.

When died Haroun, then Moussa, the sons of Haroun continued what returned to their father of the affair of the offering, and that is with them until today: and undertook the burdens of the prophethood after Moussa, and the management of the affair after him, his servant Youcha' ibn Noun, he who made them enter Bayt al-Maqdis, as will come its exposition.

And the object here is that when his hand established upon Bayt al-Maqdis, they raised that tent upon the rock of Bayt al-Maqdis: they prayed therefore toward it: when their prayer extinguished toward its place, which is the rock: that is why it was the qibla of the prophets after him until the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and the Messenger of Allah prayed toward it before the hijra, and put the Ka'ba before him: when he emigrated, was commanded the prayer toward Bayt al-Maqdis, seventeen months: then the qibla was turned toward the Ka'ba, which is the qibla of Ibrahim, in Cha'bane of the year two, at the time of the 'asr prayer, rather than of the dhouhr, as we have developed in its place: "they will say the fools of the people: what turned them from their qibla upon which they were" until His word: "we see surely the turning of your face in the sky: We will turn you therefore toward a qibla that pleases you: turn therefore your face toward the sacred mosque." (al-Baqara, 144)

The story of Qaroun with Moussa

"Qaroun was of the people of Moussa: he rebelled against them: and We gave him of the treasures such that their keys would weigh down hardly upon a troop of men of strength: when his people said to him: do not rejoice: Allah loves not the rejoicing ones: and seek in what Allah gave you the Last Dwelling: and forget not your portion of the world: and do good as Allah did good to you: and seek not corruption in the land: Allah loves not the corrupters. He said: I was given it only upon a knowledge with me: did he not know that Allah destroyed before him of the generations who was stronger than him in strength: and more abundant in amassing: the criminals will not be questioned of their sins. So he went out upon his people in his adornment: said those who desire the life of the world: would that we had like what was given to Qaroun: he owns surely a great portion. And said those to whom was given the knowledge: woe to you: the reward of Allah is better for him who believes: and works righteousness: and none attains it but the patient.

So We made sink with him: and his dwelling: the earth: he had then no troop to help him against Allah: and he was not of the helped. And became those who wished his place the day before: as though Allah extends the provision to whom He wills of His servants: and straitens: had Allah not bestowed upon us, He would have made us sink: as though the disbelievers succeed not. This Last Dwelling: We make it for those who desire not exaltation in the earth: nor corruption: and the end is for the godfearing."

Surat al-Qassas, 76-83

Al-Minhale ibn 'Amr reported to us: of Sa'id ibn Joubaïr: of Ibn 'Abbas: Qaroun was the cousin of Moussa. And thus said Ibrahim an-Nakha'i: and 'Abdoullah ibn al-Harith ibn Nawfale: and Samaak ibn Harb: and Qatada: and Malik ibn Dinar: and Ibn Joureyj: he is Qaroun ibn Yashhare ibn Qahith, and Moussa ibn 'Imrane ibn Qahith. And this is the saying of most of the people of knowledge: that he was the cousin of Moussa: and was rejected the saying of Ibn Ishaq that he was the uncle of Moussa: and he was called an-Nawwar: for the beauty of his voice in the Tora: but the enemy of Allah only dissembled: as dissembled the Samiri: and the rebellion destroyed him for the abundance of his wealth: he added to his garments a span of length: in exaltation over his people. And Allah the Most High has mentioned the abundance of his treasures: until their keys weighed heavy upon the carrying of troops of very strong men: they were of leather: and they were carried upon sixty mules: and Allah knows better.

"Do not rejoice: Allah loves not the rejoicing ones": that is: do not exult with what you are given: and do not boast over others: let your aspiration be directed to acquiring the reward of Allah in the Last Dwelling: it is better: and more enduring: and with that "and forget not your portion of the world": that is: take of it by your wealth what Allah has made licit to you: and enjoy for yourself the good licit pleasures: "and do good as Allah did good to you": that is: do good toward the creation of Allah as Allah, their Creator and their Maker, did good to you: "and seek not corruption in the land": that is: do them no harm: and corrupt them not: else you meet the contrary of what you are commanded toward them: and He punishes you: and takes back what He gave you: "Allah loves not the corrupters."

His answer to his people to that sound and eloquent counsel was therefore: I have no need of using what you mentioned: nor of what you pointed to: Allah gave me this only for His knowledge that I deserve it: and that I am worthy of it: and that were I not beloved to Him: and privileged near Him, He would not have given me what He gave me. "Did he not know that Allah destroyed before him of the generations who was stronger than him in strength: and more abundant in amassing: and the criminals will not be questioned of their sins": that is: We destroyed the past nations by their sins: and their faults: who was stronger than Qaroun in strength: and more abundant in wealth: and in children: and had his saying been true, We would not punish anyone who was richer than him: and his wealth would not be a proof of Our love for him: and Our care for him: "and it is not your wealths: nor your children: that bring you near to Us in proximity: only he who believes: and works righteousness.

"Do they think that that by which We extend them of wealth: and of sons: We hasten to them in the good things: but they perceive not. "I was given it only upon a knowledge with me."

And as for him who claimed that the intended by that is that he knew the craft of alchemy: or that he memorized the Greatest Name: and employed it in the amassing of wealths: it is not sound: alchemy is illusion: and a dye that does not transform the realities: and resembles not the craft of the Creator: and the Greatest Name: the supplication ascends not by it of a disbeliever in it: and Qaroun was a disbeliever in the inward: a hypocrite in the outward: and his answer to them by that is not valid upon this estimation: and there remains between the two sayings no implication: and we have clarified that in our book: and to Allah the praise.

"So he went out upon his people in his adornment": mentioned many of the exegetes that he went out in great adornment: of garments: and chariots: and servants: and retinue: when saw those who magnify the brilliance of the life of the world: they wished to be like him: and envied him for what he wore: and possessed: when heard their saying the scholars of sound understanding: the discerning ascetics: "woe to you: the reward of Allah is better for him who believes: and works righteousness": that is: the reward of Allah in the Last Dwelling is better: and more enduring: and more noble: and higher: "and none attains it but the patient": that is: there launches this counsel: and this saying: and this lofty aspiration toward the Last Dwelling high: at the sight of the brilliance of this low world: only he whose heart Allah guided: and confirmed his breast: and supported his mind: and realized his wish: Allah loves the penetrating look at the arrival of doubts: and the complete mind at the arrival of passions.

"So We made sink with him: and his dwelling: the earth: he had then no troop to help him against Allah: and he was not of the helped."

When the Most High mentioned his going out in his adornment: and his strutting in it: and his boasting over his people by it: "So We made sink with him: and his dwelling: the earth."

As reported al-Boukhari of the hadith of az-Zouhri: of Salim: of his father: of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): a man was dragging his izar: when he was made to sink with him: and he sinks in the earth until the Day of Resurrection. Then reported it al-Boukhari of the hadith of Jarir ibn Zayd: of Salim: of Abou Hourayra: of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): like it.

And it is mentioned of Ibn 'Abbas: and of as-Soudi: that Qaroun gave a prostitute woman money, upon condition that she say to Moussa (peace be upon him): you did to me such and such. So she said that to him: he was thunderstruck therefore by grief: and prayed two rak'a: who indicated that to you: and what carried you to it ? She mentioned that Qaroun is he who carried her to that: and she asked forgiveness of Allah: and repented toward Him: at that Moussa fell for Allah prostrating: and invoked Allah against Qaroun: I have indeed commanded the earth that it obey you in him: Moussa commanded therefore the earth that it swallow him: and his dwelling: and that was: and Allah knows better. Qaroun when he went out upon his people in his adornment: passed with his caravan: and his mules: and his garments: upon the session of Moussa (peace be upon him): and he was reminding his people of the days of Allah: when the people saw him: turned away therefore the faces of many people: looking toward him: Moussa called him therefore: what carried you to this ?

He said: o Moussa: were you privileged over me by the prophethood, I was privileged over you by the wealth: and if you wish: you will go out: and invoke against me: and I invoke against you. He went out: and went out Qaroun with his people: Moussa said to him: do you invoke: or I invoke ? I invoke I. Qaroun invoked therefore: and was not answered in Moussa: I invoke ?

Yes: o Allah: command the earth: that it obey me today: I have indeed done: o earth: take them: it took them to their feet: then he said: take them: it took them to their knees: then to their shoulders: bring near with their treasures: and their wealths: it brought near with them: until they looked at it: then Moussa pointed with his hand: depart: sons of Lawi: the earth smoothed with them: they are made to sink every day one time: until the Day of Resurrection: they were made to sink to the seventh earth: and mentioned many of the exegetes here many israelites: we turned away from them deliberately: and left them.

"He had then no troop to help him against Allah: and he was not of the helped": he had no helper of himself: nor of other: he has then no strength: nor helper. And when befell him what befell of the sinking: and the disappearance of the wealths: and the ruin of the dwelling: and the death of the soul: and of the family: and of the estate: regretted those who had wished like what was given to him: and thanked Allah the Most High: who governs His servants as He wills of the beautiful preserved governance: "had Allah not bestowed upon us, He would have made us sink: as though the disbelievers succeed not. And "as though" in the meaning of "have you not seen that": and it is a beautiful saying from the point of view of the meaning: and Allah knows better.

Then informed the Most High: "This Last Dwelling": and it is the Dwelling of settlement: and it is the Dwelling wherein is envied he to whom it is given: and consoled he who is deprived of it: it is only prepared "for those who desire not exaltation in the earth: nor corruption": the exaltation is the pride: and the boasting: and the arrogance: and the exulting: and the corruption is the work of the lasting: and transmittive disobediences: of taking the wealths of people: and corrupting their livelihoods: and harming them: and not being sincere to them: "and the end is for the godfearing."

And the story of Qaroun this one: "So We made sink with him: and his dwelling: the earth": the dwelling is apparent in the building: and it may be after that in the wandering: and the dwelling signifies the camp wherein are pitched the tents: o dwelling of 'Abbla, speak with the load: and o my blindness, at morning, dwelling of 'Abbla, submit: and Allah knows better.

"And We sent surely Moussa with Our signs: and an authority manifest: to Fir'awn: and Haman: and Qaroun: they said: sorcerer: liar." And said the Most High in a surah: after the mention of 'Ad: and Thamoud: "and Qaroun: and Fir'awn: and Haman: Moussa came to them surely with the proofs: they magnified themselves therefore in the land: and were not the foremost: We seized each by his sin: among them he upon whom We sent the gravel storm: and among them him whom the cry seized: and among them those We made sink the earth: and among them those We drowned: and Allah was not to wrong them: but they wronged themselves." (al-'Ankabout, 39) he therefore who was made to sink the earth: Qaroun: as preceded: and he who was drowned: Fir'awn: and Haman: and their two troops: they were in error.

Abou 'Abd ar-Rahman reported to us: Sa'id reported to us: Ka'b ibn 'Alqama reported to us: of Issa ibn Hilal as-Sadafi: of 'Abdoullah ibn 'Amr: of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): that he mentioned one day the prayer: who keeps it, it is for him a light: and a proof: and salvation on the Day of Resurrection: and who keeps it not, he has no light: nor proof: nor salvation: and he will be on the Day of Resurrection with Qaroun: and Fir'awn: and Haman: and Oubayy ibn Khalef: Ahmad alone reported it.

The merits of Moussa, his qualities, and his death

"And mention in the Book Moussa: he was sincerely devoted: and he was a messenger: a prophet: We called him from the right side of the Tour: and We brought him near in confidence: and We bestowed upon him from Our mercy his brother Haroun: a prophet."

Surat Maryam, 51-53

"He said: o Moussa: I have chosen you over the people by My messages: and My word." And preceded of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): do not distinguish me over Moussa: the people will faint on the Day of Resurrection: I will be the first to wake: I find Moussa seizing the pillar of the Throne: I know not: did he faint before me: or was I spared the swoon of the Tour: and we mentioned that that of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is of the humility and the modesty: and else: it is the prayers of Allah: and His salutation: upon him: the seal of the prophets: and the master of the sons of Adam in the world: and the other: certainly: decisive not bearing the contrary.

"We have revealed to you as We revealed to Nouh: and the prophets after him: and We revealed to Ibrahim: and Isma'il: and Ishaq: and Ya'qoub: and the tribes" until His saying:

"and messengers We have already recounted to you before: and messengers We have not recounted to you: and Allah spoke to Moussa with speech."

Surat an-Nissa, 163-164

"O you who believe: be not like those who hurted Moussa: Allah cleared him therefore of what they said: and he was with Allah esteemed."

Surat al-Ahzab, 69

Ishaq ibn Ibrahim reported to us: Rawh ibn 'Ubada reported to us: of 'Awf: of al-Hasan: and Mohammad: and Khilas: of Abou Hourayra: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Moussa was a man modest: covered: nothing saw his skin out of his modesty toward it: and hurted Moussa those of the Bani Israil who hurted him: this concealing covers only a defect of his skin: either leprosy: or depigmentation: or ailment: and Allah willed to clear him of what they said of Moussa: he washed himself therefore one day alone: and laid his garments upon the stone: then washed: when he finished, he turned toward his garments to take them: and the stone fled with his garment: my garment: o stone: my garment: o stone: until he reached an assembly of the Bani Israil: they saw him therefore naked: the most beautiful of what Allah created: and cleared him of what they said: and the stone stopped: he took his garment: and clothed himself: and set about striking the stone a striking with his staff: and by Allah: there is in the stone of the trace of his striking: three or four marks: that is therefore His saying: "O you who believe: be not like those who hurted Moussa: Allah cleared him therefore of what they said: and he was with Allah esteemed.

And reported it the imam Ahmad of the hadith of 'Abdoullah ibn Chaqiq: and Hammame ibn Mounabbih: of Abou Hourayra: and it is by the way of 'Abd ar-Razzaq: of Ma'mar: of Hammame: of him: and reported it Muslim of the hadith of 'Abdoullah ibn Chaqiq al-'Aqili: of him.

Was among his qualities that he interceded for his brother with Allah: and asked of Him that he be with him vizier: Allah answered him therefore to his asking: and gave him his request: "and We bestowed upon him from Our mercy his brother Haroun: a prophet." Then said al-Boukhari: Abou al-Walid reported to us: Chou'ba reported to us: al-A'mach reported to us: I asked Abou Wa'il: I heard 'Abdoullah say: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) divided a division: this division is not aimed by the face of Allah. So I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and informed him: he became angry until I saw the anger upon his face: then said: may Allah have mercy upon Moussa: he was hurted more than this: and he was patient: and thus reported it Muslim: by another way: of Soulaymane ibn Mihrane al-A'mach: of him.

Ahmad ibn Hanbale reported to us: I heard Isra'il ibn Younousse: of al-Walid ibn Abi Hachime: freedman of Hamdane: of Zayd ibn Abi Zaide: of 'Abdoullah ibn Mas'oud: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to his companions: let none convey to me from another a thing: and came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) a wealth: and he divided it: I passed therefore by two men: one of the two said to his companion: by Allah: Mohammad aimed not by his division the face of Allah: nor the Last Dwelling: so I remained until I heard what they said: o Messenger of Allah: you said to us: let none convey to me from another of my companions a thing: and I passed by such and such: and both said such and such: the face of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) reddened therefore: and it grieved him: leave me: Moussa was hurted more than that: and he was patient: and thus reported it Abou Dawoud: and at-Tirmidhi: of the hadith of Isra'il: of al-Walid ibn Abi Hachime: and in a version of at-Tirmidhi: and of Abou Dawoud: by the way of al-Houssein ibn Mohammad: of Isra'il: of as-Soudi: of al-Walid: odd by this way.

And it is confirmed in the hadiths of the night journey that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) passed by Moussa: and he was standing praying in his tomb: and reported it Muslim of Anas.

And in the hadith by the version of Qatada: of Anas: of Malik ibn Sa'sa'a: of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): that he passed the night of the night journey by Moussa in the sixth heaven: this is Moussa: greet him: I greeted him therefore: welcome to the righteous prophet: and the righteous brother: what makes you weep ?

I weep that a young man was sent after me: he enters Paradise of his community more than enters it of my community: and mentioned Ibrahim in the seventh heaven: and this is the sound one: and what occurred in the hadith of Charik ibn Abi Namir: of Anas: that Ibrahim in the sixth: and Moussa in the seventh: by the precedence of the word of Allah: mentioned several of the memorizers that the one upon the sound way: that Moussa in the sixth: and Ibrahim in the seventh: and that he leaned his back upon the Populated House: which enter every day seventy thousand angels: then return to it never again: and concurred all the versions that Allah the Most High when He prescribed to Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and his community: fifty prayers in the day and the night: he passed by Moussa: and ceased not to go between Moussa: and Allah: and lighten upon him at every time: until they became five prayers in the day and the night: they are five: and they are fifty: that is: by the doubling: may Allah reward Mohammad on our behalf well: and may Allah reward Moussa on our behalf well.

Moussaddad reported to us: Houssayne ibn Noumaïr reported to us: of Houssayne ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman: of Sa'id ibn Joubaïr: of Ibn 'Abbas: went out upon us one day the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): were presented to me the nations: and I saw a great mass blocking the horizon: this is Moussa with his people: thus reported al-Boukhari this hadith here abbreviated.

Soureyj reported to us: Houchaym reported to us: Houssayne ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman reported to us: I was with Sa'id ibn Joubaïr: which of you saw the star that fell last night ? I: I was not however in prayer: but I was stung: and how did you do ? I recited an incantation: and what carried you to that ? I said: a hadith reported to us ach-Cha'bi: of Bourayda al-Aslami: there is no incantation except against the eye: or the sting: Sa'id: that is: ibn Joubaïr: said: well did he who held to what he heard: Ibn 'Abbas reported to us: were presented to me the nations: I saw therefore the Prophet: and with him a company: and the Prophet with him the man: and the two men: these are my community: this is Moussa and his people: but look at the horizon: a great mass: look at this side: this is your community: and with them seventy thousand: he entered: and the people debated of that: they said: who are these people who enter Paradise without reckoning: nor punishment ?

They are perhaps those who accompanied the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): they are perhaps those who were born in islam: and never associated with Allah anything: and they mentioned things: and went out toward them the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and said: what is this wherein you debated ? They informed him of their saying: they are those who do not brand themselves: nor recite incantations: nor take ill omens: and upon their Lord they rely: 'Ouqacha ibn Mihsane al-Asadi rose: am I of them: o Messenger of Allah ? You are of them: a man: am I of them: o Messenger of Allah ?

Anticipated you 'Ouqacha: and this hadith has very many ways: and it is in the Sahihs: and the Hasans: and others: and we shall present them if Allah the Most High wills: in the chapter of the description of Paradise: at the mention of the states of the Resurrection: and its terrors: and Allah the Most High mentioned Moussa (peace be upon him) in the Quran abundantly: and praised him: and placed his story in His mighty Book many times: and repeated it much: long: and detailed: and abridged: and praised him eloquently: and often Allah associates him: and mentions him: and mentions his book with Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and his book: as said in a surah: "when there came to them from Allah a messenger confirming what they had: a party of those to whom was given the Book cast behind their backs the Book of Allah: as though they know not. (al-Baqara, 101)

"Alif Lam Mim: Allah: no god but He: the Living: the Establishing: He sent down upon you the Book in truth: confirming what preceded it: and He sent down the Tora: and the Injil: before: as guidance for the people: and He sent down the Discernment: those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah: for them a severe punishment: and Allah is Mighty: Possessor of vengeance."

Surat Al 'Imrane, 1-4

And said the Most High in a surah:

"they have not estimated Allah with His true estimation when they said: Allah sent down upon a human nothing. Say: who sent down the Book that Moussa brought: a light: and guidance for the people: you make of it papers you expose: and conceal much: and you were taught what neither you: nor your fathers knew. Say: Allah: then leave them in their debate playing. "And this Book We have sent down blessed: confirming what preceded it: and that you warn the Mother of the cities: and those around it: those who believe in the other world believe in it: and upon their prayers they keep."

Surat al-An'am, 91-92

praised therefore the Most High the Tora: then praised the great Quran a great praise: then "and We gave Moussa the Book complete: upon what He did of excellence: and detailed to every thing: and guidance: and mercy: perhaps at the meeting of their Lord they believe." "And this Book We have sent down blessed: follow it therefore: and be godfearing: perhaps you will be given mercy." (al-An'am, 154-155)

And said the Most High in a surah: "We have sent down the Tora: in it guidance: and light: thereby judge the prophets who submitted themselves: for those who judaized: and the masters: and the priests: by what they were entrusted to keep of the Book of Allah: and they were over it witnesses: fear not therefore the people: and fear Me: and sell not My signs for a small price: and who judges not by what Allah sent down: those are the disbelievers. "And let the people of the Injil judge by what Allah sent down in it: and who judges not by what Allah sent down: those are the perverts. "And We sent down to you the Book in truth: confirming the Book that preceded it: and guardian over it. End of the verse.

(al-Ma'ida, 44-48) the Quran was therefore made judge over the other Books: and made confirmer of them: and explicator of what occurred in them of falsification: and of change: the people of the Book were entrusted to keep what they had of Books: they were able therefore neither to keep them: nor regulate them: nor protect them: to that entered into them what entered of their changing: and of their substitution: by the bad understanding: and their insufficiency in their sciences: and the bad quality of their aims: and their betrayal toward their worshiped: upon them the following curse of Allah until the Day of Resurrection: and to that there is found in their books of the evident error against Allah: and against His messengers: what is not counted: nor described: and is found no like of it: nor is known: and said the Most High in a surah:

"We gave surely to Moussa and Haroun the Discernment: and light: and reminder for the godfearing: those who fear their Lord in secret: and they are of the Hour apprehensive. "And this blessed reminder We have sent down: are you then deniers of it ?"

Surat al-Anbiya, 48-50

and said Allah the Most High in a surah: "when there came to them from Us the truth: they said: would he be given like what was given to Moussa. Did they not disbelieve in what was given to Moussa before ? They said: two sorcerers backing each other: and they said: we disbelieve in each." "Say: bring therefore a Book from Allah: it is more guided than the two: I follow it: if you are truthful." (al-Qasas, 48-49) praised therefore Allah the two Books: and the two messengers: "we heard a Book sent down after Moussa: confirming what preceded it." (al-Ahqaf, 30) and said Waraqa ibn Nawfale when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) recounted to him the story of what he saw of the beginning of the revelation: read in the name of your Lord who created: created the human of a clinging thing: read: and your Lord the most generous: who taught by the pen: taught the human what he knew not: he said: Sanctified: Sanctified: it is the Namousse that descended upon Moussa ibn 'Imrane.

In sum: the law of Moussa (peace be upon him) was immense: and his community was a numerous community: and were found in it prophets: and scholars: and worshipers: and ascetics: and discerning: and kings: and emirs: and lords: and grandees: but they perished: and changed: as was changed their law: and were metamorphosed into monkeys: and swine: then was abrogated after every reckoning their religion: and befell them situations: and matters long to mention: but we shall present what contains of it convincing for him who wishes to reach its story: if Allah the Most High wills: and in Him the trust: and upon Him the reliance.

The pilgrimage of Moussa to the Ancient House

Houchaym reported to us: Dawoud ibn Abi Hind reported to us: of Abou al-'Alia: of Ibn 'Abbas: that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) passed by the valley al-Azraq: which valley is this ? The valley al-Azraq: it is as I see Moussa: descending the slope: and having supplications toward Allah: which is this slope ? This is the slope of Harcha: it is as I see Younousse ibn Matta: upon a red she-camel: upon him a mantle of wool: the bridle of his she-camel of fibers: that is: of bark: and he was answering the call: and brought it out Muslim of the hadith of Dawoud ibn Abi Hind: Moussa performed the pilgrimage upon a red bull: and this is very strange.

Mohammad ibn Abi 'Adi reported to us: of Ibn 'Awn: of Moujahide: we were with Ibn 'Abbas: they mentioned therefore the Dajjal: it is written between: what do you say ? They say: written between his two eyes: Ibn 'Abbas said therefore: I heard him not say that: but he said: as for Ibrahim: look at your companion: and as for Moussa: a brown man: frizzy: upon a red camel: the bridle of bark.

Then reported it the imam Ahmad of Aswad: of Isra'il: of 'Outhmane ibn al-Moughira: of Moujahide: of Ibn 'Abbas: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: I saw Issa ibn Maryam: and Moussa: and Ibrahim: as for Issa: white: frizzy: broad of chest: and as for Moussa: brown: fleshy: and Ibrahim ? Look at your companion: and said the imam Ahmad: Younousse reported to us: Chaybane reported to us: Qatada recounted: of Abou al-'Alia: Ibn 'Abbas: cousin of your prophet: recounted to us: said the prophet of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): I saw the night of the journey Moussa ibn 'Imrane: a man long: frizzy: as of the men of Chanou'a: and I saw Issa ibn Maryam: of medium build: tending to redness: and whiteness: with smooth hair: and brought them both out of the hadith of Qatada.

'Abd ar-Razzaq reported to us: Ma'mar reported to us: and informed me Sa'id ibn al-Moussayyib: of Abou Hourayra: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: I met Moussa: and described him: he said: I deemed him: nervous: with disheveled hair: as of the men of Chanou'a: and I met Issa: and described him the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): of medium build: ruddy: as though he went out of the hammam: that is: of the bath: and I saw Ibrahim: and I am the most resembling of his sons to him: the hadith: and preceded most of these hadiths in the biography of the Cheikh: the prayers of Allah upon him: and His salutation.

The death of Moussa

Said al-Boukhari: (death of Moussa): Yahya ibn Moussa reported to us: 'Abd ar-Razzaq reported to us: Ma'mar informed us: of Ibn Tawousse: of his father: of Abou Hourayra: the angel of death was sent to Moussa (peace be upon him): when he came to him, he struck him: he returned to his Lord: You sent me to a servant who does not want death: return to him: and say to him: let him lay his hand upon the back of a bull: he shall have for every hair covered by his hand a year: Lord: and then ? Then death: now: he asked therefore Allah to bring him near the holy land: at a stone's throw: and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: were I there, I would show you his tomb: by the side of the road: near the red dune.

And Ma'mar informed us: of Hammame: of Abou Hourayra: of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): like it: and reported Muslim the first way of the hadith of 'Abd ar-Razzaq: of him: and reported it the imam Ahmad of the hadith of Hammad ibn Salama: of 'Ammar ibn Abi 'Ammar: of Abou Hourayra: raised: and it will come.

al-Hasan reported to us: Ibn Lahi'a reported to us: Abou Younousse reported to us: that is: Soulaym ibn Joubaïr: of Abou Hourayra: without raising it: came the angel of death to Moussa (peace be upon him): answer your Lord: Moussa struck therefore the eye of the angel of death: and gouged it out: the angel returned to Allah: You sent me to a servant of Yours who does not want death: and he gouged out my eye: Allah restored his eye: return to My servant: do you want life ? If you want life, lay your hand upon the back of a bull: what your hand covers of hairs, you shall live by it a year: and then ? Then death: now: Lord: from near: Ahmad alone reported it: and it is suspended by this wording.

And Ibn Hibbane reported it in his Sahih: by the way of Ma'mar: of Ibn Tawousse: of his father: of Abou Hourayra: and informed me he who heard al-Hasan from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): and mentioned it: then Ibn Hibbane put it in difficulty: that the angel of death when he said that to him did not recognize him: because of his coming to him under a form Moussa (peace be upon him) did not recognize: as came Jibril in the form of a bedouin: and as came the angels to Ibrahim in the form of youths: and recognized them neither Ibrahim: nor Loute at first: and thus Moussa perhaps recognized him not for that: and struck him: and gouged out his eye: because he entered his dwelling without his permission: and that agrees with our law on the licitness of gouging the eye of him who looks at you in your dwelling without permission: then he adduced the hadith by the way of 'Abd ar-Razzaq: of Ma'mar: of Hammame: of Abou Hourayra: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: came the angel of death to Moussa to take his soul: answer your Lord: Moussa struck therefore the eye of the angel of death: and gouged out his eye: and he mentioned the completeness of the hadith: as pointed to it al-Boukhari: answer your Lord: and this interpretation does not agree with that by which came the wording: answer your Lord:

by his striking him: and had he persisted upon the first answer, it would have agreed: and as though he recognized him not in that form: and bore not this saying upon its being fitting: when it was not verified at the present hour that he is a noble angel: because he hoped for many matters he loved to see occur in his life: of his going out of the wandering: and their entering of the holy land: and it had preceded in the destiny of Allah: that he would die in the wandering: after Haroun his brother: as we shall show if Allah the Most High wills: and some claimed that Moussa (peace be upon him) is he who brought them out of the wandering: and entered with them the holy land: and that contradicts what the people of the Book are upon: and the majority of the muslims: and among what indicates that: Lord: bring me near the holy land: at a stone's throw: and had he entered it, he would not have asked that: but when he was with his people in the wandering: and came his death: he loved to draw near the land toward which he had emigrated: and toward which he had exhorted his people: but prevented them from reaching it the destiny: at a stone's throw: and to that said the master of humans (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): were I there, I would show you his tomb near the red dune.

'Affane reported to us: Hammad reported to us: Thabite: and Soulaymane at-Taymi reported to us: of Anas ibn Malik: that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: when I was journeyed by night, I passed by Moussa: and he was standing: praying in his tomb: near the red dune: and reported it Muslim of the hadith of Hammad ibn Salama: of him.

And said as-Soudi: of Abou Malik: and Abou Salih: of Ibn 'Abbas: and of Mourra: of Ibn Mas'oud: and of people of the companions: then Allah the Most High revealed to Moussa: I make Haroun die: bring him to such and such mountain: Moussa and Haroun set out therefore toward that mountain: and lo an tree never was seen of tree its like: and lo a built house: and lo a couch upon which mattresses: and lo in it a sweet breeze: when Haroun looked at that mountain: and the house: and what was in it: it pleased him: o Moussa: I love to sleep upon this couch: sleep upon it: I fear that the Lord of this house comes: and becomes angry against me: fear not: I suffice you against the Lord of this house: sleep then: o Moussa: rather sleep with me: if comes the Lord of this house: let Him be angry against me: and against you both: when they both slept: took Haroun death: when he felt his sensation: o Moussa: you deceived me: when he was taken: was raised that house: and departed that tree: and was raised the couch with him toward the sky: when Moussa returned to his people: Moussa has killed Haroun: and envied him for the love of the Bani Israil for him: and Haroun was more compliant with them: and gentler than Moussa: and in Moussa some hardness upon them: woe to you: was my brother: would you think I killed him ?

When they overwhelmed him: he rose: and prayed two rak'a: then invoked Allah: and descended the couch: until they looked at him between the sky: and the earth: then Moussa (peace be upon him) while he walked: and Youcha' his servant: approached a black wind: when Youcha' looked at it: he thought it was the Hour: the Hour will rise: and I am bound to Moussa the prophet of Allah: Moussa drew therefore from under his tunic: and left the tunic in the hands of Youcha': you have killed the prophet of Allah ? No by Allah: I killed him not: but he drew it from me: they believed him not therefore: and wished to kill him: if you believe me not, defer me three days: he invoked therefore Allah: and came every man of those who guarded him in sleep: and informed that Youcha' did not kill Moussa: and that We have raised him to Us: they left him therefore: and remained none of those who had refused to enter the city of the tyrants with Moussa: except he died: and did not witness the conquest: and in a part of this context: oddity: and strangeness: and Allah knows better.

And we preceded that none went out of the wandering of those who were with Moussa: except Youcha' ibn Noun: and Kalebe ibn Youfanna: and he is the husband of Maryam sister of Moussa: and Haroun: and they are the two men mentioned previously: the two who counseled the assembly of the Bani Israil the entering upon them: and mentioned Wahbe ibn Mounabbih that Moussa (peace be upon him) passed by an assembly of angels digging a tomb: and he saw none more beautiful than it: nor more neat: nor more delightful: o angels of Allah: for whom do you dig this tomb ? For a servant of the servants of Allah noble: if you love to be this servant, enter therefore this tomb: and stretch yourself in it: and direct yourself toward your Lord: and breathe the easiest of breathings: he did therefore that: and died: the prayers of Allah: and His salutation upon him: and prayed over him the angels: and buried him: and mentioned the people of the Book: and others: that he died: and his age one hundred twenty years.

'Oumayya ibn Khaled: and Younousse reported to us: Hammad ibn Salama reported to us: of 'Ammar ibn Abi 'Ammar: of Abou Hourayra: of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): he raised this hadith to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): said: the angel of death came to the people openly: he came therefore to Moussa (peace be upon him): and struck him: and gouged out his eye: he came to his Lord: Lord: Your servant Moussa gouged out my eye: and were it not for his nobility with You: I would have severely punished him: Allah said therefore to him: go to My servant: let him lay his hand upon the skin: or the muzzle: of a bull: he shall have for every hair covered by his hand a year: he came to him: and said to him: what is there after this ? Death: now: Allah restored therefore his eye: and he came to the people in secret: and thus reported it Ibn Jarir: of Abou Kourayb: of Mouss'ab ibn al-Miqdame: of Hammad ibn Salama: of him: and raised it also: and Allah the Most High knows better.

The mention of the prophethood of Youcha', and his undertaking of the burdens of the Bani Israil after Moussa and Haroun.

He is Youcha' ibn Noun ibn Afrayime ibn Youssouf ibn Ya'qoub ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim (peace be upon him): Youcha' ibn the cousin of Houd: and Allah the Most High mentioned him in the Quran without explicitly naming him in the story of al-Khidr: "and when Moussa said to his servant": "when they had passed beyond, he said to his servant": and we preceded what is confirmed: of the version of Obayy ibn Ka'b: of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): that it is Youcha' ibn Noun: and it is agreed his prophethood with the people of the Book: a party of them: and they are the Samaritans: they acknowledge not the prophethood of anyone after Moussa: except Youcha' ibn Noun: because it is explicit in the Tora: and they disbelieve in what is beyond him: and it is the truth from their Lord: upon them therefore the following curse of Allah until the Day of Resurrection.

And as for what reported Ibn Jarir: and others of the exegetes: of Mohammad ibn Ishaq: that the prophethood was transferred from Moussa to Youcha' at the end of the life of Moussa: and that Moussa met Youcha': and asked him: what has Allah inspired to him of orders: and forbiddings: o interlocutor of Allah: I asked you not what Allah reveals to you: until you inform me yourself of your own accord: at that Moussa disliked the life: and loved the death: and in that examination: because Moussa (peace be upon him) ceased not the order: and the revelation: and the legislation: and the speech of Allah to him in all his states: until Allah makes him die: and he ceased not honored: and glorified: and cherished: and esteemed with Allah: as we preceded in the story of the gouging of his eye of the angel of death: then Allah sent him to him: if you want life, lay your hand upon the skin of a bull: he shall have for every hair covered by his hand a year to live: and then ?

Death: now: Lord: and he asked Allah to bring him near Bayt al-Maqdis: at a stone's throw: and he was answered to that: the prayers of Allah: and His salutation upon him: that is therefore what Mohammad ibn Ishaq mentioned: if he says it only of the books of the people of the Book: in their book which they name the Tora: the revelation ceased not descending upon Moussa for every matter they needed: until the end of the time of Moussa: as is known of the context of their book: near the ark of the testimony: in the tent of the time: and they mentioned in the third journey: that Allah commanded Moussa: and Haroun to count the Bani Israil upon their tribes: and to place upon every tribe of the twelve an emir: and it is the naqib: and that only that they prepare themselves for the fight: the fight of the tyrants at the going out of the wandering: and that was near the end of the forty years: Moussa gouged the eye of the angel of death only: because he recognized him not in that form: and because he had been commanded a matter he hoped to see occur in his time: and it was not in the destiny of Allah that it occur in his time: but in the time of his servant Youcha' ibn Noun: as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had wished the campaign of the romans toward the Cham: and reached Tabouk: then returned that year: in the year nine:

then performed the pilgrimage in the year ten: then returned: and equipped the army of Osama toward the Cham: "fight those who believe not in Allah: nor in the Last Day: and hold not illicit what Allah: and His messenger made illicit: and profess not the religion of the truth: of those to whom was given the Book: until they give the jizya by hand: and they are humbled.

(at-Tawba, 29) and when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) equipped the army of Osama: he died: and Osama encamped at al-Jarfe: realized it therefore his sincere friend: and his successor Abou Bakre as-Siddiq: then when the island of the arabs was gathered: and healed what was weak of the affair of its people: and the right returned to its level: he equipped the armies: right: and left: toward the Iraq: the people of Kesra king of the persians: and toward the Cham: the people of Qaysar king of the romans: Allah opened for them therefore: and enabled by them: and made them kings of the necks of their enemies: as we shall present it in its place: when we reach it in detail: if Allah wills: by His help: and His success: and His good direction: and thus Moussa (peace be upon him): Allah had commanded that he mobilize the Bani Israil: and place over them naqibs:

"Allah took surely the covenant of the Bani Israil: and We raised from them twelve naqibs" and said Allah: "I am surely with you: if you establish the prayer: and give the zakat: and believe in My messengers: and honor them: and lend Allah a good loan: I will expiate surely for you your evil deeds: and admit you gardens beneath which flow the rivers: who disbelieves after that, he has gone astray the even path."

Surat al-Ma'ida, 12

if you accomplish what I obligated upon you: and do not shrink from the fight: as you shrank the first time: I will make the reward of this expiatory of what befell you of punishment of that: as said the Most High to those of the bedouins who stayed behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in the 'oumra of al-Houdaybiya: "say to those who stayed behind: you will be invited toward a people of severe might: you fight them: or they submit: if you obey, Allah gives you a good reward: and if you turn away as you turned away before, He punishes you a painful punishment." (al-Fath, 16) "Who disbelieves after that, he has gone astray the even path": then blamed them the Most High upon their evil deed: and their breaking of their covenants: as blamed those after them of the christians upon their divergence in their religion: and their creeds: and we mentioned that in the Moustaqsa: and to Allah the praise.

The object: Allah the Most High commanded Moussa (peace be upon him) to write the names of the fighters of the Bani Israil: of those who bear the weapon: and fight: of him who reaches twenty years: and beyond: and to place upon every tribe a naqib of them: the first tribe: the tribe of Roubil: because he is the eldest of Ya'qoub: their number of fighters forty-eight thousand five hundred: and their naqib of them: and he is Alyssour ibn Chadyoura: the second tribe: the tribe of Cham'oun: and they were fifty-nine thousand three hundred: and their naqib Chaloumi'il ibn Hourichadday: the third tribe: the tribe of Yahouda: and they were seventy-four thousand six hundred: and their naqib Nahchoun ibn 'Aminadabe: the fourth tribe: the tribe of Issakhar: and they were fifty-four thousand four hundred: and their naqib Nacha'il ibn Soughar: the fifth tribe: the tribe of Youssouf: and they were forty thousand five hundred: and their naqib Youcha' ibn Noun: the sixth tribe: the tribe of Misha: and they were one and thirty thousand two hundred: and their naqib Jamli'il ibn Fadahssour: the seventh tribe: the tribe of Binyamine: and they were thirty-five thousand four hundred: and their naqib Abidane ibn Gid'oune: the eighth tribe: the tribe of Jad: and they were five and forty thousand six hundred and fifty men: and their naqib Alyassafe ibn Ra'ou'il: the ninth tribe: the tribe of Achir:

and they were one and forty thousand five hundred: and their naqib Fag'ou'il ibn 'Oukrane: the tenth tribe: the tribe of Dane: and they were two and sixty thousand seven hundred: and their naqib Ahi'azar ibn 'Ammichadday: the eleventh tribe: the tribe of Naftali: and they were three and fifty thousand four hundred: and their naqib Ahi'ra' ibn 'Ayn: the twelfth tribe: the tribe of Zabouloun: and they were seven and fifty thousand four hundred: and their naqib Albabe ibn Hiloune: this the text of their book in their hands: and Allah knows better: and the sons of Lawi are not of them: Allah commanded Moussa to count them not with them: because they are charged with carrying the tent of the testimony: and its guarding: and its raising when they travel: and they are the tribe of Moussa: and Haroun: and they were twenty-two thousand of the age of a month: and beyond: and they are in themselves tribes: to every tribe a troop of the tent of the time: they mount it: and guard it: and attend to its interests: and its raising: and its carrying: and they all around it camp: and journey before it: and at its right: and at its left: and behind it.

And the total of what was mentioned of the fighters: besides the sons of Lawi: five hundred one and seventy thousand six hundred and sixty-five: and the number of the Bani Israil of those whose age twenty years: and beyond: of those who bear the weapon: six hundred three thousand five hundred and fifty men: besides the sons of Lawi: and in that examination: the total of the preceding totals: were it as we found in their book: it agrees not with the total they mentioned: and Allah knows better: the sons of Lawi charged with the guarding of the tent of the time march therefore in the midst of the Bani Israil: and they are the heart: and the head of the right wing: the sons of Roubil: and the head of the left wing: the sons of Rane: and the sons of Naftali are the vanguard: and determined Moussa (peace be upon him): by the order of Allah the Most High to him: the priesthood in the sons of Haroun: as it was for their father before them: Nadabe: and he is his eldest: and Abihou: and al-'Azar: and Yathmare.

And the object that of the Bani Israil remained none of them of those who had shrunk from entering the city of the tyrants: go you: and your Lord: and fight you two: we are here sitting: said it ath-Thawri: of Abou Sa'id: of 'Ikrima: of Ibn 'Abbas: and said it Qatada: and 'Ikrima: and reported it as-Soudi: of Ibn 'Abbas: and Ibn Mas'oud: and people of the companions: until Ibn 'Abbas said: and died Moussa: and Haroun before him: both in the wandering together: and claimed Ibn Ishaq that he who conquered Bayt al-Maqdis is Moussa: and that Youcha' was at his vanguard: and mentioned in his passage toward it the story of Bel'am ibn Ba'oura:

"and recite upon them the story of him to whom We gave Our signs: he detached himself therefore from it: and the devil followed him: and he was of the led astray: and had We willed, We would have raised him by them: but he inclined to the earth: and followed his passion: his likeness is therefore as the likeness of the dog: if you attack it, it lolls its tongue: or you leave it, it lolls its tongue: that is the likeness of the people who belied Our signs: relate therefore the stories: perhaps they reflect."

Surat al-A'raf, 175-176

"Evil likeness the people who belied Our signs: and themselves they wronged. (al-A'raf, 177) and we mentioned his story: and that he was according to the saying of Ibn 'Abbas: and others: knowing the Greatest Name: and that his people solicited him to invoke against Moussa: and his people: he abstained therefore for them: when they insisted upon him: he mounted a she-ass of his: and marched toward the camp of the Bani Israil: when he had sight of them: his she-ass knelt with him: he struck her: until she rose: and walked not far: and knelt: he struck her a striking stronger than the first: and rose: then knelt: and he struck her: o Bel'am: where go you ? See you not the angel before me: repelling me from my path: would you go to the prophet of Allah: and of the believers: to invoke against them ?

He desisted not from her: and struck her: until she bore him: until he had sight of them from the head of the mountain Housbane: and looked at the camp of Moussa: and of the Bani Israil: and set about invoking against them: his tongue refused therefore to obey him: except to invoke for Moussa: and his people: and invoke against the people of himself: they blamed him therefore for that: he excused himself therefore to them that there flows upon his tongue only this: and his tongue dislocated: until it fell upon his chest: have departed from me now the world: and the other: and remains only the ruse: and the cunning: then he commanded his people to adorn the women: and send them with goods: they sell upon them: and expose themselves toward them: perhaps they will fall into fornication: when a man of them fornicates: you will smite them all: they did therefore: and adorned their women: and sent them to the camp: there passed therefore a woman of them named Kasté by a man of the greats of the Bani Israil: and he is Zimri ibn Chaloum: it is said he was the head of the tribe of the sons of Cham'oun ibn Ya'qoub: he entered therefore with her into his tent: when he was alone with her: Allah sent therefore the plague upon the Bani Israil: and it set about ranging among them: when the news reached Finehase ibn al-'Ayzare ibn Haroun: he took his lance: and it was of iron:

and entered upon the two of them into the tent: and pierced them both together in it: then went out with them both toward the people: and the lance in hand: and he leaned upon his hip: and propped it against his beard: o Allah: thus do we with him who disobeys You: and lifted the plague: and the total of those who died at that hour seventy thousand: twenty thousand: and Finehase was the eldest of his father al-'Ayzare ibn Haroun: to that the Bani Israil allot for the descendants of Finehase of the slaughtered beast the rump: and the arm: and the beard: and to them the firstborn of all their wealths: and their selves: and what Mohammad ibn Ishaq mentioned of the story of Bel'am is sound: more than one of the scholars of the predecessors mentioned it: but perhaps when Moussa wished the entering of Bayt al-Maqdis: first passing of the egyptian dwellings: and perhaps that is the intent of Ibn Ishaq: but some of the conveyors understood it not of him: and we preceded of the text of the Tora what testifies of a part of that: and Allah knows better: and perhaps this one another story that was in the midst of their march in the wandering: there is in this context the mention of Housbane: and it is far from the land of Bayt al-Maqdis: or perhaps this was for the army of Moussa: over whom Youcha' ibn Noun: when he went out with them of the wandering: heading toward Bayt al-Maqdis:

as explicitated as-Soudi: and Allah knows better.

And in any case: what the majority are upon: that Haroun died in the wandering before Moussa his brother: by about two years: and after him Moussa in the wandering also: as we preceded: and that he asked his Lord to be brought near Bayt al-Maqdis: and he was answered to that: he therefore who brought them out of the wandering: and directed them toward Bayt al-Maqdis: is Youcha' ibn Noun: and mentioned the people of the Book: and others of the people of the history: that he crossed with the Bani Israil the river of the Ourdoune: and reached Ariha: and it was among the best fortified of the walled cities: and the highest of palaces: and the most peopled: he besieged it therefore six months: then they surrounded it one day: and blew the horns: that is: the trumpets: and pronounced one single man the takbir: cracked therefore its wall: and fell in one single fall: they entered it therefore: and took what they found in it of spoils: and killed twelve thousand of men: and women: and fought many kings: Youcha' prevailed over one and thirty kings of the kings of the Cham: and they mentioned that his victory over it occurred a friday after the 'asr: when the sun set: or all but set: and the sabbath was about to come upon them: which was imposed upon them: and prescribed at that time: you are commanded: and I am commanded: o Allah: hold it upon me: Allah held it therefore upon him:

until he could conquer the city: and commanded the moon: it stopped therefore at its rising: and that requires that this night was the fourteenth night of the month: and the first: and it is the story of the sun mentioned in the hadith I shall mention: and the story of the moon: comes from the people of the Book: and contradicts not the hadith: but there is in it an addition to draw: it is neither confirmed: nor denied: but their mention that this was in the conquest of Ariha: there examination: and the most resembling: and Allah knows better: that this was in the conquest of Bayt al-Maqdis: which is the greatest object: and the conquest of Ariha was a means toward it: and Allah knows better.

Aswad ibn 'Amr reported to us: Abou Bakre reported to us: of Hichame: of Ibn Sirine: of Abou Hourayra: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: the sun was not held for a human: except for Youcha': the nights he marched toward Bayt al-Maqdis: Ahmad alone reported it by this way: and it is upon the condition of al-Boukhari: and there is in it indication that he who conquered Bayt al-Maqdis is Youcha' ibn Noun: not Moussa: and that the holding of the sun was in the conquest of Bayt al-Maqdis: not Ariha: as we said: and there is in it that this was of the characteristics of Youcha': it indicates therefore the weakness of the hadith we reported: that the sun returned until 'Ali ibn Abi Taleb prayed the 'asr prayer: after it escaped him: because of the sleep of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) upon his hip: the Messenger of Allah asked therefore Allah to return it to him: until he pray the 'asr: and it returned: and authenticated it Ahmad ibn Salih the Misri: but it is repudiated: it is in nothing of the Sahihs: nor the Hasans: and it is of that toward which converge the motives of its conveyance: and reserved its conveyance a woman of the people of the house: unknown: her state is not known: and Allah knows better.

'Abd ar-Razzaq reported to us: Ma'mar reported to us: of Hammame: of Abou Hourayra: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: campaigned a prophet of the prophets: and said to his people: none follow me a man who has married a woman: and wishes to build with her: and has not yet built: nor another who has built a building: and has not yet raised its roof: nor another who has bought sheep: or pregnant she-camels: and awaits their young: he campaigned therefore: and drew near the city when the 'asr was prayed: or near of that: you are commanded: and I am commanded: o Allah: hold it upon me a little: it was held upon him therefore: until Allah opened for him: they gathered therefore what they took as spoils: and the fire drew near to devour it: there is among you a deflection: let of every tribe pledge me a man: they pledged him therefore: and the hand of a man stuck to his hand: there is among you the deflection: and let your tribe pledge me: his tribe pledged him therefore: there is among you the deflection: you have deflected: they brought out therefore to him the like of the head of a cow of gold: and put it with the wealth: and he was at the deposit: the fire drew near: and devoured it: the spoils were not licit to anyone before us: that because Allah saw our weakness: and our impotence: and made them therefore licit to us:

Muslim alone reported it by this way: and reported it al-Bazzar by the way of Moubarake ibn Fadala: of 'Oubaydoullah: of Sa'id al-Maqbouri: of Abou Hourayra: of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): like it: and reported it Mohammad ibn 'Ajlane: of Sa'id al-Maqbouri: and reported it Qatada: of Sa'id ibn al-Moussayyib: of Abou Hourayra: of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

The object: when he entered with them by the door of the city: they were commanded to enter it prostrating: that is: bowing: humble: thanking Allah: for what He bestowed upon them of the great conquest: which He had promised them: the hitta: that is: discharge us our past sins: of our shrinking which preceded of us: to that when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) entered Mecca the day of its conquest: he entered it upon his she-camel: and he is humble: praising: thanking: until his mustaches: that is: the tip of his beard: touched the withers of his saddle: from that he lowered his head submissive for Allah: and with him the soldiers: and the armies: of whom is seen of him only the outline: especially the great green mass: wherein the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): then when he entered it: he washed: and prayed eight rak'a: it is the prayer of gratitude upon the victory: upon the victor: of the two sayings of the scholars: it is the prayer of the dhouha: what carried this sayer to his saying: is that it occurred at the time of the dhouha: as for the Bani Israil: they contradicted what they were commanded: in word: and in deed: they entered the door crawling upon their rumps: and they are: a grain in a hair: a grain of wheat in a hair: they changed what they were commanded: and mocked it: as said the Most High:

narrating of them in a surah: "and when it was said to them: dwell this city: and eat of it where you wish: and say: discharge: and enter the door prostrating: We forgive you your faults: We increase the well-doers: changed therefore those of them who wronged a word other than that said to them: We sent therefore upon them from the sky a scourge: for that they wronged. (al-Baqara, 58-59) and said the Most High in a surah: and it is mecquoise: addressing them: "and when We said: enter this city: and eat of it where you wish abundantly: and enter the door prostrating: and say: discharge: We forgive you your faults: and We increase the well-doers: changed therefore those who wronged a word other than that said to them: We sent down therefore upon those who wronged from the sky a scourge: for that they perverted.

(al-A'raf, 161-162) ath-Thawri said: of al-A'mach: of al-Minhale ibn 'Amr: of Sa'id ibn Joubaïr: of Ibn 'Abbas: bowing: by a small door: reported it al-Hakime: and Ibn Jarir: and Ibn Abi Hatime: and thus reported l-'Awfi: of Ibn 'Abbas: and thus reported ath-Thawri: of Abou Ishaq: of al-Bara: said Moujahide: and as-Soudi: the door: it is the door of the hitta of Bayt Iliya: Bayt al-Maqdis: they entered therefore covering their heads: against what they were commanded: and that contradicts not the saying of Ibn 'Abbas that they entered crawling upon their rumps: and thus in the hadith we shall present after: they entered crawling: and they covering their heads: "and say: discharge": the waw here: state: the hitta: said Ibn 'Abbas: and 'Ata: and al-Hasan: and Qatada: they were commanded to ask forgiveness.

Mohammad reported to us: 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn Mahdi reported to us: of Ibn al-Moubarake: of Ma'mar: of Hammame ibn Mounabbih: of Abou Hourayra: of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): it was said to the Bani Israil: enter the door prostrating: and say: hitta: the hitta: a grain in a hair: and thus reported it an-Nasa'i of the hadith of Ibn al-Moubarake of a part: and reported it of Mohammad ibn Isma'il ibn Ibrahim: of Ibn Mahdi: by him: suspended: Ma'mar informed us: of Hammame ibn Mounabbih: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Allah said to the Bani Israil: enter this city: and eat of it where you wish abundantly: and enter the door prostrating: and say: hitta: We forgive you your faults: they changed therefore: and entered the door crawling upon their rumps: a grain in a hair: and reported it al-Boukhari: and Muslim: and said at-Tirmidhi: hasan sahih: their changing was: as narrated to me Salih ibn Kaysane: of Salih freedman of at-Taw'ama: of Abou Hourayra: and of whom I do not suspect: of Ibn 'Abbas that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): they entered the door to which they were commanded to enter prostrating: crawling upon their rumps: a grain of wheat in a little hair: and said the asbats: of as-Soudi: "changed therefore those who wronged a word other than that said to them": said:

they said: the hitta: it is in arabic: a grain of red wheat pierced: in it a black hair: and Allah the Most High mentioned that He punished them for this contradiction by the sending of the rigz He sent down upon them: and it is the plague: as confirmed of the hadith of az-Zouhri: of 'Amir ibn Sa'd: and of the hadith of Malik: of Mohammad ibn al-Mounkadir: and Salim Abou an-Nadre: of 'Amir ibn Sa'd: of Osama ibn Zayde: of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): this ache: or the malady: is a rigz: was punished by it a part of the nations before you: and reported an-Nasa'i: and Ibn Abi Hatime: and this wording: of the hadith of ath-Thawri: of Habib ibn Abi Thabite: of Ibrahim ibn Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas: of his father: and Osama ibn Zayde: and Khouzayma ibn Thabite: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: the plague is the rigz of punishment: was punished by it who was before you: and said ad-Dahhake: the rigz: the punishment: and thus said Moujahide: and Abou Malik: and as-Soudi: and al-Hasan: and Qatada: it is the anger: the rigz: either the plague: or the hail: and said Sa'id ibn Joubaïr: it is the plague.

The prophethood of Youcha' after Moussa and Haroun

When the hand of the Bani Israil established upon Bayt al-Maqdis: they persisted in it: and among their backs the prophet of Allah Youcha': judging among them by the Book of Allah the Tora: until Allah took him to Him: and he is aged of one hundred twenty-seven years: and was the duration of his life after Moussa: twenty-seven years: and Allah the Most High knows better.