A believing man, and it was read: a man, with the jīm silent, as it is said: 'a support' in 'a support.' He was a Copt, a cousin of Pharaoh. He believed in Moses secretly, and it was said he was an Israeli and from the family of Pharaoh. This is a description of a man or a connection to conceal, meaning: to conceal his faith from the family of Pharaoh. His name was: Simeon or Habib. It was said: Kharbīl or Ḥazbīl. The apparent thing is that he was from the family of Pharaoh, for the believers from the Children of Israel did not speak out or attribute themselves. The evidence for this is Pharaoh's saying: 'the sons of those who believed with him.' And the saying of the believer: 'So who will help us against the might of Allah if it comes to us' is clear evidence that he intends to advise his people to say, to say. This is a great denial from him and a severe reprimand, as if he said: 'Will you commit the heinous act which is the killing of a forbidden soul, and what excuse do you have for committing it except for the word of truth that he spoke, which is: 'My Lord is Allah,' even though he did not present a single proof to confirm his words, but several proofs from the One to whom lordship is attributed, and He is your Lord, not His alone. This is a way to lead them to acknowledge Him, and to soften their stubbornness and break their arrogance. [Mawlā: 'The apparent thing is that the man is from the family of Pharaoh, and it was said that he is from the Children of Israel. And from the family of Pharaoh: it is related to conceal, meaning: to conceal his faith from the family of Pharaoh, and this is far-fetched, because the faith of the Children of Israel was apparent and widespread. This believer led them to faith by his testimony to the truth of Moses by bringing him, peace be upon him, from the One to whom lordship is attributed with several proofs, not just one proof, and he brought them with knowledge, meaning: the great proofs that you witnessed and recognized regarding that, to soften their stubbornness and break their arrogance... etc.' Ahmad said: 'He has understood well and perceived the secrets of this saying, and it is appropriate to present the liar before the truthful here, as Allah, the Exalted, said: 'And a witness from her people testified: If his shirt is torn from the front, then she has spoken the truth and he is among the liars, and if his shirt is torn from the back, then she has lied and he is among the truthful.' The witness presented a sign of her truthfulness over the sign of Joseph's truthfulness, even though the truthful one is Joseph and not her, to lift the suspicion and distance the doubt, and to indicate that the truth is with him, and the delay does not harm for this benefit. And similar to this action to remove suspicion is in the story of Joseph with his brother, as he began with their containers before the container of his brother, until it was said:

When it reached him, he said: 'O Allah, this one did not steal, nor does he have the face of a thief.' So their souls were reassured, and the suspicion against Yusuf was removed, that he intended that. They said: 'By Allah, we will search him.' So they extracted it from his container. You may assume a missing addition, meaning: at the time you say. The meaning is: do you kill him at the moment you heard this saying from him without reflection or thought about his matter? And His saying, 'with clear signs,' means by the clear signs the great ones that you have known and witnessed. Then he took them to argumentation by way of division, saying: he cannot be anything but a liar or truthful. And if he is a liar, then his lie will return upon him, meaning his lie will not go beyond him in harm. And if he is truthful, some of what he promises will strike you if you confront him. If you say: why did he say 'some of what he promises' when he is a truthful prophet? Surely what he promises must affect them all, not just some of it? I say: because he needed in his argument with the opponents of Musa and his adversaries to engage with them and to deal with them, and to take the path of fairness in his words, and to approach them from the angle of sincere advice. So he came with what he knew would be closer to their acceptance of his words, and included in their belief in him and acceptance of him. He said: 'And if he is truthful, some of what he promises will strike you,' which is the speech of the fair-minded in his statement, not exceeding it, so they may listen to him and not reject him. That is because when he assumed him to be truthful, he established that he is truthful in all that he promises. However, he followed it with 'some of what he promises' to diminish some of his right in the apparent speech, showing them that it is not the speech of one who has given him his full right, let alone to be biased towards him or to throw stones at him from behind. The precedence of the liar over the truthful is also of this kind, as is His saying: 'Indeed, Allah does not guide one who is a transgressor, a liar.' If you say: Abu Ubaidah interpreted 'some' as 'all,' and he cited a verse of Labid: 'You will find places if I do not please them... or some souls will be bound to their doom.' I say: if the narration from him is authentic, then the saying of Al-Mazani in the matter of Al-'Alqi is valid: he was too rude to understand what I say to him. 'Indeed, Allah does not guide one who is a transgressor' implies that he may have been a transgressor and a liar whom Allah forsook and destroyed, and his matter did not become upright, so they could be rid of him. And if he were a transgressor and a liar, Allah would not have guided him to prophethood, nor supported him with clear signs. It was said: what Abu Bakr undertook from the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, was more severe than that. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, circled the House, and they met him when he finished. They took hold of the edges of his cloak and said to him: 'Are you the one who forbids us from what our fathers used to worship?' He said: 'I am that one.' Then Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, stood up and embraced him from behind and said: 'Do you kill a man just because he says: My Lord is Allah, and he has come to you with clear signs from your Lord?' raising his voice with that, and his eyes were shedding tears, until they released him. This was narrated by An-Nasa'i through the route of Hisham from Urwah from his father from Amr ibn Al-'As. And Ibn Hibban narrated it through the route of Yahya ibn Urwah from Urwah from Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Al-'As, which is more complete than that. I say: Al-Bukhari has suspended it similarly. And from Ja'far As-Sadiq: the believer of the family of Pharaoh said that secretly, while Abu Bakr said it openly.