{ So when the two hosts saw each other }

Meaning: They drew so close that each of them saw the other.

It is mentioned in the Torah that the essence of the matter is: when the Children of Israel departed, there was before them during the day a pillar of cloud, and during the night a pillar of fire, to guide them on the way. When Pharaoh pursued them and they saw his soldiers, they were greatly afraid and blamed Moses—peace be upon him—for the departure. They said to him: "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out to die in the wilderness? Did we not say to you: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians,' for that is better than our dying in the wilderness?" Moses said to them: "Do not fear; look upon the deliverance of Allah the Exalted for you." Then Allah the Exalted revealed to Moses to strike the sea with his staff. The pillar of cloud moved behind them and stood between them and Pharaoh and his soldiers. Night fell, and none of Pharaoh's soldiers advanced throughout the night. The sea was parted, then the Children of Israel entered. There is nothing in this [account] that validates the current circumstances mentioned, so ponder this.

Al-A'mash and Ibn Wathab read (tara) without a hamza, following the method of lightening [the articulation] between two sounds; it is not correct to realize it as a glottal stop [by conversion], as this would necessitate three consecutive alifs, which is something that can never occur, as stated by Abu al-Fadl al-Razi. Ibn 'Atiyyah said that Hamza read (taray-thi) with a kasra on the ra, with lengthening, and then a hamza. The same is narrated from 'Asim. It is also narrated from him (tara'a) with a fatha and lengthening. Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Ansari said in his book al-Iqna': Regarding (tara'a al-jam'an) in [Surat] al-Shu'ara, when stopping at it, Hamza and al-Kisa'i incline the alif that is substituted for the lam of the verb, and Hamza inclines the alif of tafa'ala both in connection and in pause, just as the alif substituted [from a weak letter] is inclined.

{ And when the two factions saw each other, the companions of Moses said, "Indeed, we are to be overtaken." }

Meaning: We are about to be reached. They used the nominal sentence, reinforced with two emphatic particles (inna and the lam of the predicate), to indicate the certainty of the overtaking and the catching up, and their execution. By this, they intended to express sorrow and demonstrate complaint, seeking a strategy [for deliverance]. Al-A'raj and 'Ubayd ibn 'Umayr read lamuddarakun with a fatha on the dal, with a shadda, and a kasra on the ra, from idrak in the sense of annihilation and dissolution. It is said: "A thing has idraka (reached its end)" when it perishes in succession. Its root is al-tatabu' (following one after another), which is the passing of one thing in the wake of another; then it came to mean in common usage destruction, and that a thing perishes little by little until it is all gone. Al-Tatabu' has come in this meaning in the saying of the Hamasi [poet]: After the sons of my mother who have passed away one after another (tataba'u), do I hope for life, or am I impatient for death? The meaning is: We are to be destroyed by their hands, bit by bit.