Surah Al Qasas Tafseer

وَدَخَلَ الْمَدِينَةَ عَلَى حِينِ غَفْلَةٍ مِّنْ أَهْلِهَا

And he entered the city when its people were unaware.

Ibn Jurayj narrated from Ata' Al-Khurasani, from Ibn Abbas,

"That was between Maghrib and `Isha'."

Ibn Al-Munkadir narrated from Ata' bin Yasar from Ibn Abbas,

"That was in the middle of the day."

This was also the view of Sa`id bin Jubayr, Ikrimah, As-Suddi and Qatadah.

فَوَجَدَ فِيهَا رَجُلَيْنِ يَقْتَتِلَنِ

and he found there two men fighting,

meaning, hitting one another and struggling with one another.

هَذَا مِن شِيعَتِهِ

one of his party,

meaning, an Israelite,

وَهَذَا مِنْ عَدُوِّهِ

and the other of his foes.

meaning, a Coptic.

This was the view of Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, As-Suddi and Muhammad bin Ishaq.

فَاسْتَغَاثَهُ الَّذِي مِن شِيعَتِهِ عَلَى الَّذِي مِنْ عَدُوِّهِ

The man of his (own) party asked him for help against his foe,

The Israelite man asked Musa, peace be upon him, for help, and Musa took advantage of the fact that people were not paying attention, so he went to the Coptic man and

فَوَكَزَهُ مُوسَى فَقَضَى عَلَيْهِ

so Musa struck him with his fist and he died.

Mujahid said,

"This means he punched him with his fist." And then he died.

قَالَ

He said, (refers to Musa).

هَذَا مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ عَدُوٌّ مُّضِلٌّ مُّبِينٌ

"This is of Shaytan's doing, verily, he is a plain misleading enemy.