His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿So when he intended to seize the one who is an enemy to both of them, he said, "O Moses, do you intend to kill me as you killed a soul yesterday? You intend not but to be a tyrant in the land, and you do not intend to be of the reformers."﴾ ﴿And a man came from the farthest part of the city running. He said, "O Moses, indeed the assembly is conspiring against you to kill you. So leave; indeed, I am to you of the sincere advisors."﴾ ﴿So he left from it fearful and expecting. He said, "My Lord, save me from the wrongdoing people."﴾

The majority of the people read: "to seize" with a kasrah on the ṭāʾ, and al-Ḥasan and Abū Jaʿfar read: "to seize" with a ḍammah on the ṭāʾ. Both are two dialects. The Israelite explained to Moses the meaning of the verse in his tongue and fled from him, and he revealed the matter of the slain. The tyrants are known for killing people without right; therefore, the Israelite described him as such and denied him being a reformer. Al-Shuʿbī said: Whoever kills two men is a tyrant. Al-Shuʿbī said: And when it became well-known that Moses had killed the slain, the words of the Israelite prevailed over the souls in believing him about Moses, along with what Moses, peace be upon him, had from the indications that he was pointed to as the cause of the corruption of the kingdom. So Pharaoh sent to him someone from his soldiers to seek him and bring him for execution. He left on the main road, and a man - it is said that he was a believer from the family of Pharaoh, and it is said that he was someone else - on the side of the road aimed towards the place of Moses, reached him and said to him: ﴿Indeed the assembly﴾ the verse.

(p-581) And "running" means: he is hurrying in his walk, as said by al-Zajjāj and others, and it is less than running. Ibn al-Zajjāj said: Its meaning is: he hastens and is not in a rush.

Qadi Abū Muḥammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And this is the view of Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, regarding the hastening of Friday, and the first is more apparent to me in this verse.

And "they are conspiring" is in the form of yafʿilūn, and yafʿilūn often comes with the meaning of yatāfaʿalūn, and from it is izdawāj with the meaning of tazāwuj. Ibn Qutaybah went to say that it means: one of them commands another. He said: If that were the case, it would have been "they are commanding one another."

Qadi Abū Muḥammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And he went away from it that it yafʿil would mean yatāfaʿal, and in the Qur'an: ﴿And advise one another in good﴾ [At-Talāq: 6]. And al-Namr ibn Tawlab said:

I see the people have innovated a custom, and in every incident, they are advised.

And al-Ṭabarī recited:

What you advise us in, then command you in your right or your left.

And from it is the saying of Rabīʿah ibn Jathm:

Is the son of Kaʿb a coward? It is as if I am a thief, and he rushes upon a man what he advises.

So Moses, peace be upon him, went out and escaped from the people, and he did not find them. He left by the decree of his fear towards the road to Midian, which is the city of the people of Shu'ayb, peace be upon him. Moses, peace be upon him, did not know that road and did not accompany anyone. He rode into its obscurity, trusting in Allah, the Most High, and relying upon Him. Al-Suddi and Muqatil reported that it was narrated that Allah, the Most High, sent to him Gabriel, peace be upon him - and it was said: another angel - who guided him to a path and gave him a staff, which is said to have been his staff. It was narrated that he took his staff for the purpose of herding sheep in Midian, and this is the more correct and prevalent view. Between Midian and Egypt are eight days, as stated by Ibn Jubair and the people. The king of Midian was not of Pharaoh. Al-Tabari narrated from Ibn Jurayj, or Ibn Abi Nujaih - Al-Tabari was uncertain - that he said: The one who intended to strike was the Israelite, and Moses forbade him from that after he said to him: "Indeed, you are a manifestly astray one" [Qasas: 18]. The Israelite was then frightened by Moses, peace be upon him, and spoke to him eloquently. Moses was in regret and repentance at a time when he could not imagine that he would want to strike this other Pharaoh. Ibn Jurayj narrated that the name of the man who rushed from the farthest part of the city was Sham'un, and Ibn Ishaq said: Sam'an. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The established view on this and similar matters is distant.