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fa-kharaja minhā khāʾifan yataraqqabu qāla rabbi najjinī mina l-qawmi ẓ-ẓālimīna
So he left the city, fearful and vigilant. He said, ‘My Lord! Deliver me from the wrongdoing lot.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
28Al-QaṣaṣالقصصVerse 21 of 88
The Stories28. Al-Qaṣaṣالقصص
Al Qaṣaṣ
The Stories
MeccanVerse 21 of 88
Surah Al-Qasas - Verses 20-21
20. “And there came a man from the furthest part of the city, running. He said: ‘O Moses! Verily the chiefs are consulting to slay you. So depart (from here at once); Verily I am one of Your sincere advisers’.”
21. “So he departed there from, fearing, awaiting, (and) he said: ‘My Lord! Deliver me from the unjust people’.”
The purpose of the Arabic word /rajul/, in this verse, is ‘the Believer of the people of Pharaoh’ that Surah ‘Mu’min’ (Qafir) in the Qur’an has been entitled by his name. He concealed his faith and in the guise of ‘taqiyyah’ (precautionary concealment) helped Moses. Moses (as) had a penetrating factor and supporter in the court of Pharaoh. Sometimes, giving information promptly and on time may change the fate of a nation. (If this man did not give the news to Moses (as) and Moses did not go out from the city, then he might be killed by the men of Pharaoh.) This is why that revealing the treacherous plots is incumbent.
However, this holy verse implies that the event was informed to both Pharaoh and his entourage, and they took its repetition as a threat against their own situation. They held a meeting of consultation, and issued the command of Moses’ slaughter. At this time, an unexpected incident saved Moses from a certain death, as the verse says:
This man apparently is the same one who later became known as ‘the Believer of the people of Pharaoh’. It is said that his name was Hezqil and he was one of the close relatives of Pharaoh. Hezqil had such a communication with them that he could take part in that kind of meetings. He was suffering from the crimes of Pharaoh and he was waiting for a godly raise to happen against him so that he could join to it. His hope was apparently to Moses in whose feature he had observed to be a godly revolutionary man. For this reason, when he felt that he was in danger, he quickly approached him and saved Moses (as) from the grips of that danger.
We will see later that not only in this event but also in some other circumstances he was a support for Moses (as), and he was counted as a keen-eyed person for the Children of Israel in the castle of Pharaoh. The next holy verse implies that Moses (as) took this information very earnest, and valued the benevolence of that faithful man. According to his advice, Moses went out from the city while he was terrified and every moment he expected an event to happen.
The verse says:
He concentrated his whole heart to Allah and for solving this great problem he sought His Grace. The verse continues saying:
This means: I know that they are unjust and cruel, and I defended the oppressed while I was not the supporter of the unjust; then, as I repelled the vice of the oppressors from the oppressed so much that I could, You, too, O’ Almighty Lord! repel the vice of the oppressors from me.