It was recited: 'Asr, with the hamzah cut off and connected. And the saying, 'Indeed, you are being followed,' indicates the reason for the command to travel at night, which is the following of Pharaoh and his soldiers in their tracks. The meaning is that I established the management of your affair and their affair on the condition that you advance and they follow you, until they enter your entrance and take your path through the sea, then I closed it upon them and destroyed them. It was narrated:

That on that night, in every house of theirs, a child died, so they were preoccupied with their dead until Moses left with his people.

And it was narrated: That Allah revealed to Moses: 'Gather the Children of Israel, every four houses in one house, then slaughter the young goats. Strike their blood on your doors, for I will command the angels not to enter a house with blood on its door, and I will command them to kill the firstborn of the Egyptians. And bake bread that is unleavened, for it is quicker for you. Then travel with My servants until you reach the sea, and My command will come to you.' So Pharaoh sent after him a multitude of a thousand thousand and five hundred thousand angels, each angel with a thousand, and Pharaoh went out with a great gathering, and his vanguard was seven hundred thousand: every man on a horse and a helmet on his head.

And from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them: Pharaoh went out with a thousand thousand horses, excluding the females. Therefore, the people of Moses, peace be upon him, were few, as they were six hundred thousand and seventy thousand. He referred to them as a small group, 'Indeed, these are a small group,' after a saying that is implied. And the small group: is the few party. And from this is their saying: 'A garment of small pieces,' for that which is torn and cut into pieces, reminding them with a name indicating scarcity. Then he made them few by description, and then gathered the few, making each party of them few, and chose the sound plural which indicates fewness.

Mawhūd said: 'And he made them few from four angles: He referred to them as a small group, which indicates fewness, then described them as few, and gathered their description so that it is known that every type of them is few, and he chose the sound plural to indicate fewness.' Ahmad said: 'And another angle in making them few could be a fifth: That the gathering of the description and the described is separate, which may be an exaggeration in the adherence of that description to the described and its extremity in relation to others described by it, like their saying: 'With Zaid, hungry,' an exaggeration in describing him as hungry. So here, gathering fewness, and the original was to mention them as a small group, as it was mentioned in the saying: 'How many a small group.' To indicate by gathering that they are extreme in fewness, but it remains to consider whether this secret remains as the mentioned angles are, or if something is dropped from them and replaced, so contemplate this, and Allah is the Grantor of success.'

And the few can be gathered as 'aqalah and 'qall.' And it is possible that by fewness, he means humiliation and disgrace, and does not mean fewness in number. The meaning is:

That they, due to their fewness, are not cared for and their overcoming and superiority is not anticipated, but they do actions that anger us and tighten our chests, and we are a people whose habit is vigilance and caution and the use of resolution in matters. So if an outsider comes upon us, we hasten to cut off his corruption. And these are excuses he made to the people of the cities, so that it would not be thought of him what breaks his dominance and authority.

And it was recited: 'Hadharoon' and 'Hadhiroon' and 'Hadiroon,' with the dal not being dotted. So 'hadhar' means vigilance, and 'hadhir' is one who renews his caution. And it was said: 'The one prepared in arms,' and it is done out of caution and precaution for oneself. And 'haddir' is the strong and robust.

He loves the bad boy for the sake of his mother. And he hates him for her hatred, and he is strong. [The strong one: the powerful and fierce, meaning that the basis of a child's love is based on the love of his mother, not on his good qualities. The pronoun 'he hates him' refers to the boy without describing him, but this is a characteristic of one who is engrossed in love for women.]

He meant that they are strong and fierce. It was said that they are armed, and that has earned them strength in their bodies.