Al-Jalalayn

Al-Jalalayn — Al-Jalalayn

So he departed from it fearful vigilant lest any of the pursuers catch up with him or in the hope that God might rescue him. He said ‘My Lord deliver me from the evildoing people’ Pharaoh’s people.

Al-Jalalayn — Al-Jalalayn

And when he turned his face towards Midian in the direction thereof — and this Midian was the town of the prophet Shu‘ayb eight day’s journeying from Egypt so named after Midian son of Abraham; he Moses did not know the route to it — he said ‘Perhaps my Lord will show me the right way’ that is to say which route to follow in other words the simplest route to it. God thus sent forth to him an angel with a goat which he Moses set off following towards it the town.

Al-Jalalayn — Al-Jalalayn

And when he arrived at the Water of Midian the name of a well therein he found a group of people there watering their flocks and he found besides them two women holding back their flock from the water. He Moses said to the two ‘What is your business?’ that is ‘What is the matter with you that you are not watering?’ They said ‘We do not water our flock until the shepherds have moved on ri‘ā’u ‘shepherds’ the plural of rā‘in that is to say until they have returned from the watering for fear of being crushed by the throng after which we go to water a variant reading for yasdiru ‘move on’ is the 4th form subjunctive yusdira ‘to drive away’ meaning until they the shepherds have driven their flocks away from the water’ and our father is a very old man’ unable to come and water.

Al-Jalalayn — Al-Jalalayn

So he watered their flock for them from another well nearby by lifting a rock from on top of it which only ten men could have lifted; then he retreated to the shade of an acacia tree samura because of the extreme heat of the sun and he was hungry and said ‘My Lord indeed I am in utter need of whatever good whatever food You send down to me’. The two women returned to their father quicker than usual and so he asked them why it was so. They told him about the man who had watered their flock for them. So he said to one of them ‘Summon him to come to me’.

Al-Jalalayn — Al-Jalalayn

God exalted be He says Then one of the two women came to him walking bashfully — in other words covering her face with the sleeve of her shirt being shy of him — and said ‘My father invites you that he may pay you a wage for watering our flock for us’. He accepted her invitation while inwardly he disapproved of accepting any wage for it was as though she sought to remunerate him and as though he were of those who would want it which he was not. She walked in front of him but when the wind began to blow off her dress and reveal her legs he said to her ‘Walk behind me and show me the way’ which she did. Finally he came to her father Shu‘ayb peace be upon him who was sitting with some supper in front of him. He said to him ‘Sit and have some supper’. He Moses said ‘I hope that this is not some sort of compensation for having watered their flock for them? For we are People of a House and do not demand compensation for good deeds’. He Shu‘ayb said ‘No. It is simply a custom of mine and of my forefathers to be hospitable to guests and to offer them food’. Thus he Moses ate and informed him of his predicament. God exalted be He says So when he came to him and recounted to him the story al-qasas is a verbal noun with the sense of al-maqsūs ‘that which is recounted’ of his slaying of the Egyptian and their intention to slay him and his fear of Pharaoh he their father said ‘Do not be afraid. You have escaped from the evildoing people’ as Pharaoh had no authority over Midian.