His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿He said, 'Have you come to us to drive us out of our land by your magic, O Musa?'﴾ ﴿'So we will surely bring you a magic like it. So appoint between us and you a time that we will not fail to meet, we nor you, in a level place.'﴾ ﴿He said, 'Your appointment is the Day of Festivity, and let the people be gathered in the morning.'﴾

This statement from Pharaoh indicates that the matter of Musa, peace be upon him, was strong. His followers from Bani Israel were many, and his affair had an impact on the souls of the people. This is because it is the statement of one who needs proof, not one who declares his own matter. Their land is the land of Egypt.

A group read: 'We will not fail to meet it' in the nominative, and another group read: 'We will not fail to meet it' in the jussive as a response to the command. 'We' is an affirmation of the pronoun in that the speech needed to be connected to it, so it was affirmed. 'An appointment' is the first object of 'appoint,' and 'a place' is the second object. This is what Abu Ali chose, and he prevented 'a place' from being an object for his saying: 'an appointment' because he had described it. These working nouns act like verbs when they are qualified, or connected to, or informed about, or made diminutive, or pluralized, and they become more nominal in such a way that they do not act and nothing is attached to them. It may be expanded in the circumstances so that it is attached after what we have mentioned, like His saying, exalted and majestic is He: ﴿They will be called, 'The wrath of Allah is greater than your wrath against yourselves when you are called to faith and you disbelieve.'﴾ [Ghafir: 10]. So His saying: 'when' is attached to His saying: 'the wrath of Allah,' and He has informed about it. This is only permissible in the circumstance specifically, and likewise Abu Ali prevented 'a place' from being in the accusative as the second object of the verb.

(p-103) Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And in this there is consideration. A group prevented 'a place' from being in the accusative as the second object of 'we will not fail to meet it,' and a group of grammarians permitted it. The reason is that it may be expanded to mean that the appointment is not failed. Ibn Kathir, Nafi, Abu Amr, and Al-Kisai read: 'level' with a kasra on the 's,' and Asim, Ibn Amer, and Hamza read: 'level' with a damma. The majority added tanween to the 'n,' and Al-Hasan read: 'except' with a kasra on the 's' without the 'n' of the 'waw.' Abu Al-Fath said: The omission of inflection here is problematic, and it should be understood as being suspended. A group read: 'equal,' which Abu Amr mentioned from Ibn Abi Aila. The meaning of 'except' is: equal and just. Abu Ali said: It is as if he said: 'a place close to us as it is to you.'

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

What he intended was: Our state in it is equal, so this includes that closeness, and that the dwellings in it are one in the pursuit of the truth, meaning: leadership should not interfere with you in it, and only the proof is sought. 'Level' is a language variant of 'except,' and from this phrase is the saying of the poet:

Indeed, our father settled in a place equal between Qais, Qais of Aylan, and Al-Fizr.

And a group said: Its meaning is: equal from the ground, with no elevation in it and no depression. And a group said: Its meaning is: equal in this place.

So Moses, peace be upon him, said: "Your appointment is the Day of Adornment." It is understood in the context by those who read it with the raising of "Day" making it a statement. Al-Hasan, Al-A'mash, and Al-Thaqafi read it as "the Day" with the accusative case, with the news being implied. It has been narrated that the Day of Adornment was a festival for them and a well-known day. It coincided with the Day of Ashura, and it was a Saturday. It is said that it is the Day of the breaking of the remaining sea to this day. His saying: "and to be gathered" is an addition to "the Adornment," so it is in the position of a genitive case. It is possible that it is in the position of a nominative case based on the estimation: Your appointment is to gather, and its addition is related to "Day," and there is consideration in this. The majority read: "to be gathered" with the raising of the 'ya', while Ibn Mas'ud and Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri read: "to gather" with the opening of the 'ya' and the 'sh' being pronounced with a damma and "the people" being in the accusative case. A group read: "we gather" with the 'nun'. "Gathering" means the collection, and its meaning is: we gather the people to witness the opposition and to prepare to accept the truth wherever it may be.