Surah Al-Qasas 28:14-21 - Quran Translation Commentary

15. And (one day) he entered the city unnoticed by the people and found²⁸ two men fighting, one of his own party²⁹ and the other of his enemies. The man of his party³⁰ appealed for his help against his enemy. So Moosa struck him with his fist and killed him.³¹ He said: “This is the work of Satan.³² Verily he is an enemy, an open misleader.”³³

16. He prayed: “My Lord! I have surely wronged my soul, so forgive me.” Then He forgave him.³⁴ Verily, He is the forgiving, the Merciful.

17. (Then) he said: “My Lord! For the favours³⁵ that You have shown me, I will never lend a helping hand to the guilty.”³⁶

18. Then (next) morning he entered³⁷the city in fear and cautious, then the very man whom he had helped the day before, cried to him again for help. “Truly,” said Moosa, “You are clearly a senseless³⁸ man.”

19. And when Moosa was about to seize him who was the enemy³⁹ of both of them, he said: “O Moosa! Would you kill me as you killed that person yesterday? You are surely seeking to be a tyrant in the land, not a reformer.”⁴⁰

20. And a man came running from the other end of the city, and said: “Moosa! the nobles (officers) are plotting to kill you, therefore, get you away. Verily, I am your adviser.”⁴¹

21. So he went away in fear and cautious, saying: “My Lord! deliver me from the wrongdoing people.”⁴²

Commentary

26. Prophet Moosa was brought up in such a way that he had relations with his mother as well as with Firaun. When he grew up a little, there was no danger of his being killed by Firaun’s government, as the state used to kill only the newly born male children. The newly born children were killed or drowned in the river. Later on there was no danger for Prophet Moosa, and no need for secrecy. Subsequently his parentage was known to everybody and he rose as a well known personality of the Bani Israil community.

He got the opportunity to survey the ambience of the Bani Israil as well as that of Firaun and his community. Then when he became mature and became a serious young man, Allah bestowed on him His recognition, wisdom and knowledge. Prophethood was granted to him quite sometime after his leaving Egypt, but this wealth of knowledge and wisdom was granted to him during his stay in Egypt. Thus he became a distinguished personality in Egypt, on account of his ability. This is the reason why when after a long time he returned to Egypt after attaining prophethood, he was a well known person for Bani Israil and the people of Firaun.

27. Knowledge and wisdom are the best rewards from Allah that can be granted to any person in this world. Those who live righteously and perform good deeds, Allah rewards them with these blessings according to their capacity.

28. It appears that the dwellings of Bani Israil were in the suburbs of the city, and the Egyptians (Copts) used to live inside the city. The community which was being discriminated against could find a place in the suburbs only. One day Prophet Moosa went out at a time when the people of the city were taking rest, so when he entered the city, the streets were deserted. It is possible that Prophet Moosa might have gone out to observe the condition of Bani Israil who were made to serve as slaves of the Copts, and they were subjected to hard labour.

It may be noted that Firaun had taken care of Prophet Moosa, but Allah had made special arrangements to restore him to his mother when he was a suckling child, and Qur’an does not clarify that later on he lived in the palace of Firaun. Therefore, it would be right to suggest that he was reared by his mother and grew up in her house.

29. That is: He was an Israili.

30. That is: Egyptian (Copt) who belonged to Firaun ‘s community, and the community of Firaun was hostile to Bani Israil. Therefore, it used to tyrannies the people of Bani Israil and kill their male children.

31. Moosa tried to save the Israili from the tyranny of the Egyptian, but when Moosa hit him with his fist, he could not bear it and died instantly. Moosa did not want to kill the enemy, but it was accidental that his hit proved to be fatal.

32. Prophet Moosa termed this incident to be the work of Satan, because it had some prompting of Satan otherwise Moosa would not have hit him so forcefully nor would this accident have taken place.

33. Being wary of Satan and the sense of realising that he committed a sin expresses the magnificence of his ayah No. 14.

34. The death of the Egyptian at the hand of Prophet Moosa was committed unwittingly and unintentionally, that is: it was the case of manslaughter and not murder. But a fault is a fault, and Prophet Moosa without making any concession for his own self openly admitted his guilt before Allah. He termed it a wrong against his own soul and prayed for Allah’s forgiveness.

Some persons introduce the topic of innocence of Prophets and interpret this fault of Prophet Moosa in such a way as if no fault was at all committed by him. But this is against the clear statement of the Qur’an. Qur’an clearly states that Moosa admitting his guilt prayed for Allah’s forgiveness and Allah forgave him. It does not in any way affect the prophethood of Moosa, because this incident took place before the prophethood was bestowed on him, and secondly this fault was committed unintentionally, and thirdly he admitted his guilt and immediately sought Allah’s forgiveness for it. Some commentators have opined that the deceased was a disbeliever at war, therefore killing him was lawful. But this is not correct, for no declaration of jihad was made by the Bani Israil against the Egyptians. Then how can it be said that the Egyptians were at war. As for their being infidels or disbelievers, then killing a disbeliever at all times or in all conditions is not lawful. The Prophets(peace be upon them) and their companions had to deal with the disbelieving peoples most of the time and they had to face stiff opposition from them, but they did not take steps to kill them while living in the non-Islamic states. As for the jihad, it is a collective action, and it is to be waged with certain conditions.

The general rule of Islam is that every life deserves respect and it has to be put to an end only when it is demanded by truth and justice.

“And kill not the life which Allah has forbidden except with right.” -(Bani Israil-33).

35. By favour is meant that guidance from Allah which prompted Prophet Moosa to pray for pardon instantly and because of this he became hopeful that Allah will pardon him.

36. From this it appears that the guilty person was the Israili, but since he belonged to the oppressed community and he cried out to Moosa for help, he rushed to his help considering him to be innocent. But when he came to know subsequently that the Israili was guilty, Moosa promised to Allah that in future he would never go to help a guilty person, even if he might be from his own community.

It has thus become clear that in the teaching of Islam there is no place for communalism or nationalism. If a Muslim or a Non-Muslim state (Darul Kufr) commits a crime or subjects a Non- Muslim to some excesses, then it is not the duty of other Muslims to help this Muslim because he is a member of their community, for such a procedure is unjust and promoter of criminals.

37. Fear of being arrested and being tried for murder and cautious whether anybody is in his pursuit.

Second day also Prophet Moosa came from outside the city, which shows that his house was somewhere outside the city, and that he was not residing in Firaun’s palace, for after the murder of the Egyptian how could he dare go to Firaun’s palace. It means that from the circumstances it is quite clear that Prophet Moosa was residing among his own people, Bani Israil, in his own house and not in the palace of Firaun.

38.That is: The same Israili who had called him for help yesterday, today also quarrelled with another Egyptian and was calling Moosa for help. He realised that this man was a quarrelsome fellow, and therefore, he told him that he was a senseless person.

And when Moosa was about to seize him who was the enemy of both of them, he said: “O Moosa! Would you kill me as you killed that person yesterday? You are surely seeking to be a tyrant in the land, not a reformer.”(Al-Quran)

39. That is: The Egyptian who was the enemy of both the man of the Bani Israil community and Moosa.

40. This was spoken to Moosa by the Egyptian. Prophet Moosa had only advanced to separate him from the other person by gripping but the Egyptian thought that he intended to kill him. Therefore, he reminded him of the murder that had taken place one day earlier. It shows that the incident of killing a person had not remained a secret but that people knew about it.

41. It appears that the palace of Firaun was at the other end of the city. From there a person who was Moosa’s well wisher came to inform him that Firaun’s government was holding consultation about taking his life. He also advised Prophet Moosa to instantly leave the country.

42. The government of Firaun wanted to kill Moosa as a punishment for the killing by mistake, because the deceased was a person of his (Firaun’s) community, and Moosa belonged to Bani Israil. It is obvious that it was a tyrannous act, and Firaun had adopted the tyrannous attitude towards Bani Israil.

The incident of the killing of the Egyptian at the hands of Prophet Moosa has been narrated in the Bible also, in Chapter II of Exodus, but it is not in such detail and with such an accuracy.