His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And Pharaoh said, 'Leave me to kill Moses, and let him call upon his Lord. Indeed, I fear that he will change your religion or that he will cause corruption in the land.'﴾ ﴿And Moses said, 'Indeed, I have sought refuge with my Lord and your Lord from every arrogant one who does not believe in the Day of Judgment.'﴾ ﴿And a believing man from the family of Pharaoh, who concealed his faith, said, 'Will you kill a man because he says, 'My Lord is Allah,' and he has come to you with clear proofs from your Lord? And if he should be lying, upon him is his lie; but if he should be truthful, there will strike you some of that which he promises you. Indeed, Allah does not guide one who is a transgressor and a liar.'﴾

The apparent matter of Pharaoh is that when the signs of Moses, peace be upon him, astonished him, his foundation collapsed, and the beliefs of his companions became disturbed. He did not lose anyone who could dispute him regarding his matter. This is evident from various parts of their story. In this verse, there are two proofs for that: the first is his saying, ﴿Leave me to kill Moses.﴾ This is not from the words of tyrants who are able to enforce their commands. The second proof is the statement of the believer and what he declared. His revelation to Pharaoh is greater than his compliance with him, and his judgment on the prophethood of Moses, peace be upon him, is clearer than his allusion regarding his matter. As for Pharaoh, he resorted to deception, confusion, and manipulation. From that is his saying, ﴿Leave me to kill Moses, and let him call upon his Lord.﴾ That is, I do not care about the Lord of Moses. Then he returned to his people, showing them advice and protection, saying: ﴿Indeed, I fear that he will change your religion.﴾ The religion is the authority, and from it is the saying of Zuhair:

If you settle in a land of Banu Asad, In the religion of Amr, and Fadak has intervened between us.

And Ibn 'Amir, Ibn Kathir, Nafi', and Abu 'Amr read: 'And that,' while 'Asim, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: 'Or that.' Abu 'Ubaid preferred it due to the addition of the letter. So in the first, he feared two matters, and in the second, he feared one matter. Nafi', Abu 'Amr, and Hafs from 'Asim, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, Al-Jahdari, Abu Rija', Mujahid, Sa'id ibn Al-Musayyib, and Malik ibn Anas read: 'He will cause corruption' with the 'ya' being pronounced and the 'ha' being broken, in the accusative case. Ibn Kathir and Ibn 'Amir read: 'He will cause corruption' with the 'ya' being opened and the 'ha' being raised, attributing the action to him. This is the reading of Hamzah, Al-Kisai, Abu Bakr from 'Asim, Al-A'raj, 'Isa, Al-Amash, Ibn Wathab, and it was narrated from Al-Amash that he read: 'And he will cause corruption' with the 'ra' being raised. In the mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, it is written: 'And he will cause corruption' with the 'ya' being opened.

When Moses, peace be upon him, heard the words of Pharaoh - because he was with him in the same gathering - he called upon his Lord, the Exalted, and said: ﴿Indeed, I have sought refuge with my Lord and your Lord.﴾ And Ibn Kathir, 'Asim, and Ibn 'Amir read: 'I sought refuge' with the clear 'dhāl.' Abu 'Amr, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: 'I sought refuge' with the merging. There is a difference reported from Nafi', and in the mushaf of Ubayy ibn Ka'b, it is written: 'I sought refuge' with the merging in the script.

Then Allah, the Most High, narrated the words of a believing man from the family of Pharaoh, and honored him by mentioning him, and immortalized his praise among the nations. I heard my father, may Allah have mercy on him, say: I heard Abu al-Fadl al-Jawhari on the pulpit say - when he was asked to speak about something from the virtues of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them - he paused for a moment, then raised his head and said:

'About a man do not ask, but ask about his companion. For every companion follows his counterpart.'

What do you want from a people whom Allah, the Most High, has associated with His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, and has honored them by witnessing him and receiving revelation from him? And Allah praised a believing man from the family of Pharaoh who concealed his faith. Allah, the Most High, placed him in His Book and established his mention in the Mushafs for words he said in a gathering of disbelief. And where is he compared to Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, who drew his sword in Mecca and said: 'By Allah, I will not worship Allah in secret after today?'

And a group read: 'a man' with a sukoon on the jeem, like 'adhud' and 'adud', and 'sabu' and 'sab'. And the reading of the majority is: 'rajul' with a dhamma on the jeem.

People differed regarding this man. Al-Suddi and others said: He was from the family of Pharaoh, and he concealed his faith. So 'he conceals' - in this case - is in the position of description without precedence or delay. And Muqatil said: He was the cousin of Pharaoh. And a group said: He was not from the people of Pharaoh but from the Children of Israel. The meaning is: 'And a man who conceals his faith from the family of Pharaoh.' So in the statement, there is precedence and delay. The first is more correct, and it was not permissible for anyone from the Children of Israel to speak like this in front of Pharaoh. It is possible that he was not from the Copts and it is said about him: from the family of Pharaoh since he appeared to be following the religion of Pharaoh and among his followers. This is as Arakah al-Thaqafi said when he mourned his brother and took solace in the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him:

'So do not weep for a dead person after another has died, for Ali, Abbas, and the family of Abu Bakr.'

He means the Muslims when they were in obedience to Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him. And His saying, the Most High: 'that he may say' is a purpose for him, meaning for the purpose of him saying. And this believer joined them in these words, then he contradicted them later by placing him in the possibility of truth and falsehood, and showed them that it is advice. And the noon was omitted from 'yakun' for ease, as Sibawayh said, and it resembles the noon in 'yaf'aloon' and 'yaf'alain' according to the method of al-Mubarrid, and it resembles the letters of the cause - the ya and the waw - according to the method of Abu Ali al-Farisi. And he said: It is as if the jussive entered upon 'yakun' which is already jussive, so the noon resembled the ya of 'yaqdi' and the waw of 'yad'u' because its lightness on the tongue is the same.

And the interpreters differed regarding His saying: 'Some of what He promises you will befall you.' Abu Ubaidah and others said: 'Some' means 'all', and they quoted the saying of al-Qatami, Umair ibn Shuaym:

'A patient one may attain some of his needs, and there may be a slip with the hasty.'

And Al-Zajjaj said: It is the obligation of the proof with the easiest of what is in the matter, and there is no denial of the affliction of all of it. And a group said, he meant: some of the punishment that he mentions will befall you, and that is sufficient for your destruction. It appears to me that the meaning is: the single portion of what he promises will befall you, and that is some of what he promises; because he, peace be upon him, promised them if they believed in the bliss, and if they disbelieved, then the punishment is some of what he promised. And a group said: he meant by some of what he promises you: the punishment of this world, because it is part of the punishment of the Hereafter, meaning: and you will then become after that to the everlasting. And in the part there is enough for destruction.

Then this believer admonished them with his saying: "Indeed, Allah does not guide one who is a transgressor, a liar." Al-Suddi said: Transgressor in killing. And Qatadah said: Transgressor in disbelief.