His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And your Lord is the Forgiving, the Possessor of Mercy. If He were to seize them for what they earned, He would hasten for them the punishment. But for them is an appointment from which they will never find an escape.﴾ ﴿And those towns We destroyed when they wronged, and We made the appointment for their destruction.﴾ ﴿And when Moses said to his servant, 'I will not cease until I reach the junction of the two seas or I spend a long period of time.'﴾

When the Most High informed about the people whom He decreed would not be guided due to their disbelief, He followed that by stating that He is the Forgiving, the Possessor of Mercy for the believers. And for the disbelievers, from His attributes, glorified and exalted is He, is forgiveness and mercy, which means the abandonment of immediate punishment. If they were taken according to what they deserve, the punishment would have been hastened upon them. However, He, exalted is He, delayed them to an appointment from which they will find no escape. A group said: It is the appointed time of death. Another group said: It is the punishment of the Hereafter. Al-Tabari said: It is the Day of Badr and the Day of Gathering. And "the place of refuge" means the place of safety. It is said: And the man would say, 'He has escaped' if he is saved. From this is the saying of the poet:

'No, and your soul you have left for the dwellers of the land, and you have not been harmed.'

And from this is the saying of Al-A'sha:

'For I may escape the Lord of the House in his negligence, and he may fear from me, then what will he escape?'

Then the Most High followed up His warning by mentioning examples from the towns that were afflicted with what He warned these people with, similar to it. In His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿And those towns﴾, an omitted word has been deleted, its estimation being: And those are the inhabitants of the towns. And "the towns" refers to the cities. This indication is towards 'Aad, Thamud, Madian, and others. And "those" is the beginning, and "the towns" is an attribute, and "We destroyed them" is a news. It is correct that "those" could be in the accusative case due to an action indicated by "We destroyed them."

The majority read: "for their destruction" with a damma on the meem and a fatha on the lam, and it is from: "destroyed." And "the doer" in such a case would indicate the time of the thing and its place, and it could be a source. Thus, the source, in this case, is added to the object. And 'Asim read - in the narration of Abu Bakr -: "for their destruction" with a fatha on the meem and lam. And he read - in the narration of Hafs -: "for their destruction" with a fatha on the meem and a kasra on the lam, which is a source from: "perished," and it is in the well-known language not transitive. Thus, the source, in this case, is added to the doer, as it means: And We made it that they would perish an appointment. A group said: Indeed, "perished" is transitive. They say: I have destroyed the man and I have caused him to perish with one meaning. Abu Ali recited in this matter:

'And regardless of the one who perished, who has taken a turn.'

So, in this case, the source would be added to the object in every aspect.

And His saying, exalted is He: ﴿And when Moses said﴾, is the beginning of a story that is not from the previous discourse. The meaning is: remember or recite. "Moses" is Moses, son of Imran, according to the hadiths and histories, and by the apparent meaning of the Qur'an; for there is no Moses in the Qur'an other than him. He is the son of Imran, and if there were another in this verse, it would have been made clear. A group among them, including Nufal al-Bakali, said that he is not the son of Imran, but he is Moses, son of Mathan. It is said that he is Moses, son of Mansha. As for his young man, according to the view of those who said Moses is the son of Imran, he is Joshua, son of Nun, son of Ephraim, son of Joseph, son of Jacob. As for those who said he is Moses, son of Mathan, then the young man is not Joshua, son of Nun, but this is an incorrect statement that was refuted by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, and others. The term "young man" in the speech of the Arabs refers to a youth. Since the service is most often performed by young men, the servant is referred to as a young man in terms of good manners, even if he is older. The Shari'ah has encouraged this in the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "None of you should say, 'My servant' or 'My maid,' but let him say, 'My young man' and 'My young woman.'" This is an encouragement towards humility, and the "young man" in the verse refers to the servant. It is said that Joshua, son of Nun, is the nephew of Moses, peace be upon him.

The reason for this story, as narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, is that Moses sat one day in a gathering of the Children of Israel and delivered a sermon. He was asked: "Do you know anyone more knowledgeable than you?" He said: "No." So Allah, exalted is He, revealed to him: "Yes, there is our servant Khidr." He said: "O my Lord, guide me to the way to meet him." Allah, exalted is He, revealed to him to travel along the length of the sea until he reaches the meeting place of the two seas. When you lose the fish, then it is there. He was commanded to take provisions and wait for its disappearance from him. Moses did that and said to his young man in the context of fulfilling the determination: "I will not stop traveling," meaning: "I will not cease." He only said this while he was traveling. From this is the saying of al-Farazdaq:

"They did not cease until their women were carried away in the plain of Dhī Qār, lamenting the lamentations."

And al-Tabari mentioned from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: When Moses, peace be upon him, and his people emerged in Egypt, he settled his people in Egypt. When the situation became stable, he delivered a sermon one day, reminding them of Allah's favors and His days among the Children of Israel, then he mentioned something similar to what has preceded.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: I have never encountered that Moses, peace be upon him, settled his people in Egypt except in this narration, and I do not see it as correct. Rather, it is evident that Moses, peace be upon him, died while wandering in the wilderness before the conquest of the lands of the tyrants. In this story is a lesson about the journey in seeking knowledge and humility towards the scholar.

The majority read: "meeting place" with both mims opened, and al-Dahhak read: "meeting place" with the second mim broken.

People have differed regarding "the meeting place of the two seas," where it is. Mujahid and Qatadah said: It is the meeting of the Sea of Persia and the Sea of Rome.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And it is a span that comes out from the encompassing sea from the north to the south in the land of Persia from beyond Azerbaijan. The corner where the two seas meet is what is closest to the shore of Ash-Sham. This is the saying of "the meeting of the two seas." A group among them said Muhammad ibn Ka'b: The meeting of the two seas is at Tangier, where the encompassing sea and the sea that flows from it meet, moving from the west to the east. It has been narrated from Ubayy ibn Ka'b that he said: "The meeting of the two seas" is in Africa, and this is close to what was mentioned before. Some scholars said: It is the sea of Andalusia from the encompassing sea.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

All of this is one, as narrated by Al-Naqqash, and this is often mentioned. It is mentioned that the village that refused to host them is the Green Island. A group said: "The meeting of the two seas" refers to a salty sea and a fresh sea.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

According to this, Al-Khidr was at the location of a great river in the sea. A group said: The two seas are merely a metaphor for Musa, peace be upon him, and Al-Khidr; because they are seas of knowledge.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is a weak statement, and the matter is clear from the hadiths that he was indeed drawn to a certain sea. His saying: "Or I may spend a long time" means: Or I may spend a time on my way. The readers differed - Al-Hasan, Al-A'mash, and Asim read: "Huqban" with the qaf being silent, while the majority read: "Huqban" with it being pronounced, which is the intensification of "Huqb." The plural of huqb is ahqab. There was a difference regarding huqb. Abdullah ibn Amr said: Eighty years. Mujahid said: Seventy years. Al-Farra said: "Huqb" is one year. Ibn Abbas and Qatada said: Huqb refers to unspecified times. A group said: "Huqb" is the plural of hiqbah, which is the year.