He will guide me to the path of salvation from their grasp and harm. And it was recited, 'So when the two hosts appeared to each other.' Indeed, we are about to be overtaken: with the dal being emphasized and the ra being broken, from [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: idrak] something when it follows and perishes. From it is His saying, 'But their knowledge has certainly overtaken them in the Hereafter.' Al-Hasan said: They were ignorant of the knowledge of the Hereafter. In this meaning is the verse of [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: al-Hamasah]:

"Are the sons of my mother who have followed one another ... more hopeful of life or am I anxious of death?

Eight were they, the leaders of their people ... with them I would give what I want and withhold.

Those are the brothers of sincerity; I have suffered their loss ... and the hand is nothing but a finger, then a finger.

For Abu al-Hanak, al-Bara' ibn Rabi' al-Faq'asi, and the hamzah is for the interrogative of denial, and the intended meaning is regret and sorrow. And 'followed one another' means they perished one after another. 'Am I more hopeful of life or anxious of death?' means: I will not do that after them. And he said: 'by my mother,' because the situation is one of tenderness and mercy. They were eight who were the leaders of their people, like the [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: dhuwabah] of the head, which is its hair that moves around it, so it is a powerful metaphor. Then he said: 'I was with them doing what I wanted of giving and withholding.' It is permissible to build the two verbs in the passive voice, so the meaning is: I was with them obtaining what I wanted and keeping away the harm I wanted. And I suffered their loss; I afflicted them in their wealth. And I suffered their wealth. And I suffered them: built in the passive voice, meaning: time has diminished them from me and taken them away from me, so I have no strength after them, just as the hand, if it loses its fingers, loses its strength, because its power is nothing but with the fingers arranged and organized, so they are to me like the fingers to the hand.

And the meaning is: indeed, we are following one another in destruction at their hands, until none of us remains. The difference: the part that is separated from it.

And it was recited: every split. And the meaning is the same. And the mountain: the great mountain.

The saying 'the mountain is the great mountain that is suspended in the sky' in the [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: al-Sihah] 'a mountain in the mountains': like a flood and a surge. And the [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: al-Matawid] is an example of the [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: al-Matawah].

We drew near there where the sea split for the others, the people of Pharaoh, meaning: we brought them close to the Children of Israel; or we brought some of them closer to one another, and we gathered them so that none of them would escape, or we advanced them to the sea. And it was recited: 'And we made them slip,' with a qaf, meaning: we made their feet slip. And the meaning is: we took away their honor, as in the saying:

"You two have saved 'Absa when her throne was shaken ... and Dhubyān when it slipped beneath their feet."

This is a verse by Zuhayr praising Harm ibn Sinan and al-Harith ibn 'Awf. And 'Absa and Dhubyān are both names of tribes. He says: 'You two have saved these two tribes by reconciling between them and paying the blood money of their slain, and 'when it slipped' means: it was destroyed. This is a metaphor for the loss of their honor and the extinction of their state.

And 'the shoe slipped from the foot' means it slipped from its place, and this is also a metaphor for the disruption of their affairs and the corruption of their opinion. And in the verse is a semblance of contrast, where the first was struck by punishment from above their heads, while the second was struck from beneath their feet.

And it is possible that Allah made their path in the sea contrary to what He made for the Children of Israel dry, so He made them slip in it. From 'Atā' ibn al-Sā'ib, it is reported that Jibril, peace be upon him, was between the Children of Israel and the people of Pharaoh, and he would say to the Children of Israel: 'Let the last of you catch up with the first of you.' And he would face the Egyptians saying: 'Wait, let the last of you catch up.' When Musa reached the sea, a believer from the family of Pharaoh, who was in front of Musa, said to him: 'Where have you been commanded? The sea is before you, and the people of Pharaoh have surrounded you.' He said: 'I was commanded about the sea,' and Musa did not know what to do, so Allah, glorified and exalted is He, revealed to him: 'Strike the sea with your staff.' So he struck it, and twelve paths were formed in it, for each tribe a path.

It is narrated that Yusha' said: 'O the one who speaks to Allah, where have you been commanded? Pharaoh has surrounded us, and the sea is before us.' Musa said: 'Here.' So Yusha' waded into the water, and Musa struck the sea with his staff, and they entered. It is narrated that Musa said at that time: 'O You who were before everything, and the Creator of everything, and the Existent after everything.' It is said: this sea is the Sea of Qulzum. And it is said: it is a sea beyond Egypt, called Asaf. Indeed, in that is a sign, a sign that cannot be described, and people witnessed it, and its matter became widespread among them, but most of them did not realize it, nor did they believe in Allah.

And the Children of Israel: those who were the companions of Moses, specifically chosen for salvation. They asked him for a cow to worship, and they took the calf, and they requested to see Allah openly. And indeed, your Lord is the Exalted in Might, the Avenger of His enemies, the Most Merciful to His allies.