Tafsir of Ash-Shu`ara' 26:15

{كلا فاذهبا} God combined two responses for him in His saying: {كلا فاذهبا}. Because he sought the removal of his affliction, He promised him removal by restraining his fear. And he requested support through his brother, so He answered him with: {اذهبا}, meaning: go, you and the one you requested, who is Aaron.

If you ask: To what is {فاذهبا} conjoined? I say: To the verb implied by {كلا}, as if it were said: "Refrain, O Moses, from what you think, and go, you and Aaron."

His saying: {معكم مستمعون} is from the metaphorical usage of speech. He means: I am for you both and against your enemy as a helper and supporter when he is present and listens to what passes between you and him. So I will make you prevail, overcome him, break his power over you, and humble him. It is also possible that they are two predicates for "inna" (we are), or that {مستمعون} is the predicate and {معكم} is extraneous.

If you ask: Why did you make {مستمعون} a companion to {معكم} in being metaphorical, while God is described in reality as Sami' (Hearer) and Sami' (Listener)? I say: But He is not described as Mustami' (one who listens) in reality, because istima' (listening) functions like isgha' (hearkening), and istima' is to sam' (hearing) as nazar (looking) is to ru'yah (seeing). From this is His saying: {Say: It has been revealed to me that a group of the jinn listened...} (Jinn: 1). It is said: "He listened to his speech" and "He heard his speech," meaning: he hearkened to it and perceived it with the sense of hearing. From this is the saying of the Prophet (PBUH): "Whoever listens to the speech of a people while they dislike it, molten lead will be poured into his ears."

If you ask: Why did He not use the dual for "Messenger" as He did in {We are the messengers of your Lord} (Ta-Ha: 47)? I say: "Messenger" (Rasul) can mean the one sent (Mursal) or it can mean the message (Risalah). There, it was made to mean the one sent, so it had to be dualized. Here, it is made to mean the message, so it is permissible to use it equally for the singular, dual, and plural, as is done with adjectives derived from verbal nouns, like sawm (fasting) and zur (falsehood). He said: "Send me to her and inform the Messenger..." (using it for a group). The evidence for "Messenger" meaning "Message" is the verse: "The slanderers have lied; I have not spoken to them a secret, nor have I sent them with a messenger (message)."

It is also permissible to use the singular because their judgment is one due to their mutual support, their agreement on one law, and their unity in that and in brotherhood; so it is as if they were one messenger. Or, it is intended that each of us is {that You send}—meaning: that You send—because "Messenger" contains the meaning of "sending." You say: "I sent to you that you do such and such," because "sending" contains the meaning of "saying," as in calling or writing. The meaning of this "sending" is releasing and setting free, as when you say: "Release the falcon." He means: Let them go with us to Palestine, which was their dwelling place.

It is narrated that they went to Pharaoh’s gate and were not granted permission for a year, until the gatekeeper said: "There is a man here claiming to be a messenger of the Lord of the Worlds." He said: "Let him in, perhaps we will laugh at him." They delivered the message to him, and Moses recognized him, so he said to him: {Did we not raise you?}. He omitted: "So they came to Pharaoh and said that to him," because it is known and not ambiguous. This type of abbreviation is frequent in the Revelation.

Al-Walid: The child, due to his proximity to birth. In a narration from Abu 'Amr: "from your age" ('umrika), with a quiescent mim. {Years}: It is said he stayed with them for thirty years. It is said he struck the Copt when he was twelve years old and fled from them afterward. God knows the truth of that. From Al-Sha'bi: "Your deed" (fi'lataka) with a kasra, which is the killing of the Copt, because he killed him with a strike, which is a type of killing. As for fa'lata, it is because it was a single strike.

He enumerated His favor upon him by raising him and bringing him to the age of manhood, and rebuked him for the killing of his baker that occurred at his hand, magnifying and making it hideous by saying: {And you did your deed which you did, and you are of the ungrateful}. It is possible that it is a state (hal), meaning: you killed him while you were, for that, ungrateful for My favor. Or: you are at that moment among those whom you now disbelieve. He slandered him or was ignorant of his affair, for he lived among them by taqiyya (dissimulation). For God protects those He intends to make a prophet from every major sin and some minor ones, so how could it be disbelief?

It is also possible that his saying {and you are of the ungrateful} is a judgment upon him that he is of those who are ungrateful for favors. And whoever is accustomed to ingratitude for favors, the killing of the benefactor's favorites is not strange for him. Or that he is of those who disbelieve in Pharaoh and his divinity. Or of those who were disbelievers in their religion, for they had gods they worshipped. His saying: {And leave you and your gods} (Al-A'raf: 127) testifies to this.

Moses answered him that that deed only occurred from him while he was {of the misguided}, meaning: the ignorant. Ibn Mas'ud's reading: "of the ignorant" (al-jahilin) is an explanation. The meaning: of those who do the deed of the ignorant and foolish. As Joseph said to his brothers: {Do you know what you did to Joseph and his brother when you were ignorant?} (Yusuf: 89). Or the mistaken, like one who kills by mistake without intent. Or those who stray from the truth. Or the forgetful, from His saying: {That one of them might forget, and the other remind her} (Al-Baqarah: 282).

Pharaoh lied and pushed the description of disbelief away from himself, and cleared his own space by putting "the misguided" in the place of "the disbelievers," out of respect for the position of one chosen for prophecy, away from that description. Then he returned to his favor upon him by raising him, but invalidated it from its root and eradicated it from its origin, refusing to call his favor anything but a grievance. He showed that the reality of his favor to him was the enslavement of the Children of Israel; for their enslavement and his intention to slaughter their sons was the cause of his presence with him and his upbringing. So it is as if he boasted of enslaving his people.

If you ask: {That} (tilka) is a reference to what? {That you enslaved} (an 'abatta)—the nominative is an explanatory apposition to tilka. Its equivalent is His saying: {And We decreed to him that matter: that the root of those is cut off} (Al-Hijr: 66). What is the place of {that you enslaved} in syntax? I say: Tilka is a reference to a vague, heinous trait, not known except by its explanation, and the place of {that you enslaved} is that. The meaning: Your enslaving the Children of Israel is a favor you boast of to me. Al-Zajjaj said: It is permissible for {that you send with us the Children of Israel} to be in the place of an accusative; the meaning: It only became a favor to me because you enslaved the Children of Israel; meaning: if you had not done that, my family would have taken care of me and would not have cast me into the sea.