His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And mention in the Book, Moses. Indeed, he was chosen, and he was a messenger, a prophet.﴾ ﴿And We called him from the right side of the mount, and We brought him near in secret.﴾ ﴿And We granted him from Our mercy his brother Aaron, a prophet.﴾ ﴿And mention in the Book, Ishmael. Indeed, he was true to his promise, and he was a messenger, a prophet.﴾ ﴿And he used to enjoin on his people prayer and zakat, and he was, in the sight of his Lord, pleasing.﴾

This is a command from Allah, exalted and glorified is He, to mention Moses, son of Imran, blessings of Allah be upon him, in the context of honoring him. And He informed him that he was chosen. Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu Amr, and Ibn Amer read: "chosen" with a kasra on the lam, which is the reading of the majority, meaning: he dedicated himself to Allah, the Exalted. Hamzah, Al-Kisai, and Asim read: "chosen" with a fatha on the lam, which is the reading of Abu Razin, Yahya, and Qatadah, meaning: Allah, the Exalted, chose him for prophethood and leadership, as He said, glorified is He: ﴿Indeed, We have chosen them with a choice.﴾ [Sad: 46]. And the messenger among the prophets is the one who is tasked with conveying to his nation, and there may be a prophet who is not a messenger.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿And We called him from the right side of the mount﴾ is the speech of Allah, the Exalted, to Moses, peace be upon him. And "the mount" is the well-known mountain in the Levant. And His saying: "the right" is a description of the side, and it was to the right of Moses when he stood, otherwise the mountain itself has no right or left, nor can it be described with anything of that except in relation to one who has a right and a left.

It is possible that "the right" is taken from the meaning of blessing, as if He said: the most blessed and the most fortunate. So it is correct on this that it can be a description of the side and of the mountain as a whole. And His saying: ﴿And We brought him near in secret﴾ is the bringing near with honor through speech and prophethood. And Abdullah ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, said: Rather, the angel brought Moses close to the kingdom, and the veils were lifted for him until he heard the rustling of the pens. This was also said by Maysarah, may Allah have mercy on him, and said Sa'id: He was accompanied by Gabriel, peace be upon him. And "the secret conversation" is said to be from the private conversation, which is the whispering in speech. And Qatadah said: Its meaning is: he succeeded with a good deed.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this is disputed. And indeed, the secret conversation is the one that is exclusive to private discourse. And Aaron was older than Moses, peace be upon them both, and he asked Allah to support him in his prophethood and assistance, and Allah answered him in that, and counted it among His blessings upon him.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿And mention in the Book, Ishmael. Indeed, he was true to his promise﴾ is also from the tongue of truth and the honor that is guaranteed to remain upon the family of Abraham, peace be upon him. And Ishmael, peace be upon him, is the father of the Arabs today, as the Yemeni and the Mudar tribes trace back to the descendants of Ishmael, peace be upon him. And he is the one whom his father settled in a valley without cultivation, and he is the one who is to be sacrificed according to the majority opinion, while a group said: the one to be sacrificed is Isaac, peace be upon him.

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

The first is favored by several arguments: among them is the saying of Allah, the Most High: "And from behind Isaac is Jacob" [Hud: 71]. A child has been promised to his parents that he will have a child who is a descendant for them. How can he be commanded after that to be slaughtered while this promise has already been made? Another argument is that there is no disagreement among scholars that the command to slaughter was in Mina near Mecca, and it has never been narrated that Isaac entered that land, while Ishmael grew up there. His father used to visit many times, coming from Sham on the Buraq and returning on the same day. The Buraq is the mount of the prophets, peace be upon them. Another argument is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: "I am the son of the two who were sacrificed," referring to his father Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib, because he was ransomed with camels from slaughter, and the second one who was sacrificed is his father Ishmael, peace be upon him. Another argument is the verses in Surah As-Saffat, and that is when He finished mentioning the slaughter and its state, He said: "And We gave him good tidings of Isaac" [As-Saffat: 112]. The arrangement of those verses almost indicates that the one who was to be slaughtered is not Isaac, peace be upon him.

And Allah, the Most High, describes Ishmael as truthful in his supplication because he was excessive in that. It has been narrated that he promised a man to meet him at a place, so Ishmael, peace be upon him, came and waited for the man all day and night. When the last day came, the man arrived and said to him: "I have been here waiting for you since yesterday." In the book of Ibn Salam, it is mentioned that he waited for him for a year.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This narration is not correct, and the first one is more authentic. Our Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, did something similar before his prophethood, as mentioned by Al-Naqqash and narrated by Al-Tirmidhi and others, and that was in a pledge and trade. It is said that he was described as truthful in his supplication for fulfilling his promise in the matter of slaughter, as he said: "You will find me, if Allah wills, among the patient" [As-Saffat: 102]. Sufyan ibn Uyaynah, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The worst of lies is breaking a promise and accusing the innocent. The Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, said: "A promise is a trust," so this is enough to highlight the virtue of truthfulness in this.

His saying, the Most High: "And he used to command his family," refers to his people and his nation, as said by Al-Hasan. In the Mushaf of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, it is written: "And he used to command his people." His saying: "Pleased" originally is: "Pleased with him," the waw met the ya while it was the last letter, so it was replaced with a ya and merged. Then the dhad was broken for the harmony of the movements. Ibn Abi Abla read: "And he was with his Lord pleased."