Tafsir of Al-Qasas 28:25

"Then one of them came to him walking..."

It is said that she was the elder of the two, and it is said the younger. According to some reports, they were twins, one born half a day before the other. Ibn Muḥayṣin read iḥdāhumā as ḥdāhumā, omitting the hamzah for the sake of lightening [the pronunciation], against the standard rule, similar to waylah in wayla ummihi.

"Walking" is a state (ḥāl) related to the agent of "came." His statement, "with shyness" ('alā istiḥyā'), is connected to a suppressed element; it is a state related to the pronoun in "walking." That is, she came to him in a state of walking that was accompanied by shyness. Thus, the meaning is that she was in a state of shyness throughout both the walking and the arriving, not merely at the time of arrival. Indefining "shyness" (istiḥyā') serves to emphasize its magnitude; hence it is said she came mutakhaffirah, meaning possessing intense shyness. Sa'īd ibn Manṣūr, Ibn Jarīr, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim recorded, via 'Abd Allāh ibn Abī al-Hudhail from 'Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allāh be pleased with him), that he said: "She came covering her face with her garment." Ibn al-Mundhir recorded it from al-Hudhail as a statement attributed to him (mawqūf), and there is another version attributing it to 'Umar (marfū') which al-Ḥākim authenticated, with the wording: "placing her garment over her face."

"She said" is a new sentence initiated to answer an implied question arising from the account of her coming to him (peace be upon him), as if it were asked: "What did she say to him?" So it is said: she said, "Indeed, my father invites you to recompense you with the reward for having watered [the flocks] for us." This means the recompense for your watering, given that mā is a particle forming a nominalization (maṣdariyyah). It is not permissible for it to be a relative pronoun (mawṣūlah), because that which deserves a reward is the act performed, not the water itself, as water is permitted [to be shared]. She attributed the invitation to her father and gave the reward as the reason for it, so that her words would not imply any suspicion. In this, there is an indication of perfection of intellect, shyness, and chastity that is evident.

It is narrated that he (peace be upon him) answered her. He stood with her and said to her: "Walk behind me and direct me toward the path, for I dislike the wind hitting your clothes and describing your body to me." She did so. In another version, he said to her: "Be behind me, for I am a man who does not look at the backs of women, and guide me on the path, right or left." It is narrated from Ibn 'Abbās, Qatādah, Ibn Zayd, and others that she walked in front of him at first, so the wind pressed her clothes against her body, describing it. He then said to her: "Walk behind me and direct me toward the path," and she did so until they reached the house of Shu'ayb (peace be upon him).

"So when he came and related the stories to him..."—that is, what had happened to him of the narrated news, for it is a verbal noun (maṣdar) used to designate the object (maf'ūl), like the [word] 'ullāt (illnesses/defects). He said: "Do not fear. You have been saved from the wrongdoing people." He means Pharaoh and his people. He said this because Pharaoh had no authority in his land, or it is possible he said it through inspiration or the like.

There is disagreement regarding what prompted him (peace be upon him) to accept the invitation. It is said that what appears from the outward meaning of the noble arrangement is that Moses (peace be upon him) answered the inviter without hesitation to seek blessings through meeting the elder and to seek support in his opinion, not out of greed for the reward she explicitly mentioned. Do you not see what Ibn 'Asākir recorded from Abū Ḥāzim? He said: "When Moses entered upon Shu'ayb (peace be upon them), he found dinner was ready. Shu'ayb said to him: 'Eat.' Moses said: 'I seek refuge in Allāh.' Shu'ayb said: 'Why? Are you not hungry?' He replied: 'Yes, but I fear that this might be a replacement for what I watered for them, and we are from a family that does not sell any portion of the Hereafter for the earth filled with gold.' He said: 'No, by Allāh, but this is my habit and the habit of my fathers: we entertain the guest and serve food.' So Moses (peace be upon him) sat and ate."

It is also said that the cause was the need he was in, and it is not considered blameworthy for him (peace be upon him) to accept a reward due to the harm of poverty and destitution. Imām Aḥmad recorded from Muṭarrif ibn al-Shikhkhīr that he said: "By Allāh, if the Prophet of Allāh (peace be upon him) had anything, he would not have followed her [for a reward], but extreme hunger drove him to that." Some used his going as evidence of his desire for the compensation, based on what is narrated from 'Aṭā' ibn al-Sā'ib that he (peace be upon him) raised his voice saying: "My Lord, indeed I am, for whatever good You send down to me, in need," so that they would hear him, and that is why it was said to him: "to recompense you, etc."

This is answered by the fact that it is not a decisive text, as it is possible he did so to create a means for being invited, not for fulfilling the reward. There is no harm, in my view, that he (peace be upon him) went out of a desire to satisfy his hunger and to seek support in the elder's opinion and knowledge. I do not say that the desire to satisfy hunger is a desire for fulfilling a reward for a work of the Hereafter, nor is it a prerequisite for it. The claim that what appears from the outward meaning of the noble arrangement is that he (peace be upon him) only answered to seek blessings and support in opinion is not free from obscurity. His (peace be upon him) acting upon the words of a woman is because it falls under the category of reporting (riwāyah), and one acts upon the word of a single person—whether free or slave, male or female—if the circumstances are as such. Walking with a foreign woman in such situations is not something objectionable, given that amount of caution and piety.