And when the estimation was: So he arrived at the city, he built upon his saying: ﴿And when he arrived﴾ meaning: Moses, blessings and peace be upon him, arrived like one who drinks ﴿the water of Midian﴾ meaning: that which the shepherds draw from it. ﴿He found upon it﴾ meaning: at the water ﴿a community﴾ meaning: a large group who are worthy of being sought after, and thus they are abundant and predominant over the water; then he clarified their type by saying: ﴿of the people﴾ and he also clarified their action by saying: ﴿they were watering﴾ meaning: their livestock, and he omitted the object because it is not intended, and the intended is the action. Likewise, what follows, for certainly his mercy, blessings and peace be upon him, was not for the sake of the watered and the watered livestock, but for the generality of protection and the abandonment of watering. ﴿And he found besides them﴾ meaning: a finding beginning from the lowest place of their place coming to the water ﴿two women﴾ he expressed that when he granted them, glorified and exalted is He, from the nobility and virtues of character as is known by one who reflects on what is mentioned about them. ﴿They were driving away﴾ meaning: they were preventing the flock, which is the stopping, the hindrance, and the expulsion, and committing the lesser of two harms. So they would prevent their sheep if they strayed from thirst to the crowd so that they would not mix with the sheep of the people.

And when this was a situation necessitating a question about it, it was as if it was said: So what did he say to them? It was said: ﴿He said﴾ [meaning:] Moses, blessings and peace be upon him, as a mercy to them: ﴿What is your matter?﴾ meaning: your news and what you are seeking, which is like expressing the affair concerning the matter that deserves to be addressed due to its significance, in your guarding your sheep from watering; Abu Hayyan said: and the question by the matter is only in cases of calamity or oppression.

And when it was known that his question about the reason ﴿They said﴾ [meaning:] as an excuse for their condition; and hinting at their need for assistance: ﴿No﴾ [meaning:] inform us that we do not ﴿water﴾ meaning: our livestock, and he omitted it for the knowledge of it ﴿until the shepherds depart﴾ meaning: leave and return ﴿from the water﴾ so that they do not mix with them - this is according to the reading of Abu Amr and Ibn Amer with the opening of the 'ya' [and the 'dal' is pronounced with a dhamma] three times - and the meaning according to the reading of the others with the dhamma and kasra: they find the return and the diversion. And when the estimation was: because we are from the women, and the situation necessitated for their young age that they have a father, and that they have no brothers, otherwise they would have sufficed them with that, they added to this estimation their saying: ﴿And our father is an old man﴾ meaning: he is unable due to his old age to water, so we were compelled to what you see, and this is also an excuse for the fact that their father sent them for that because it is not prohibited, and religion does not reject it, and people differ in that according to nobility, and their customs in it are varied, and the conditions of the Arabs and the Bedouins are different from the conditions of the non-Arabs and the settled, especially if necessity calls for that.