Surah Al-Qasas, Ayah 20

وَجَآءَ رَجُلٌ

(And there came a man) He is described as being a man because he had the courage to take a different route, a shorter route than those who were sent after Musa, so he reached Musa first and said to him: "O Musa,

إِنَّ الْمَلاّ يَأْتَمِرُونَ بِكَ

(Verily, the chiefs are taking counsel together about you.)," meaning, `they are consulting with one another about you.'

لِيَقْتُلُوكَ فَاخْرُجْ

(to kill you, so escape.) means, from this land.

إِنِّى لَكَ مِنَ النَّـصِحِينَ

(Truly, I am one of the good advisers to you.)

قَالَ رَ‌بِّ بِمَا أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ فَلَنْ أَكُونَ ظَهِيرً‌ا لِّلْمُجْرِ‌مِينَ (He [ Musa ] said, "0 my Lord, since You have favoured me, I will never be a supporter to the sinners." -28:17). When Allah Ta’ ala pardoned this slip of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) he said in gratitude to Allah Ta` ala that he would never again help a criminal. The second incident of the quarrel had proved that the Isra'ili in whose defense Musa (علیہ السلام) had involved himself in the brawl was quarrelsome. Therefore, by declaring him a criminal he vowed not to help such a person again. Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ while explaining this verse, has maintained that the word 'criminals' stands here for infidels. Qatadah has also interpreted the verse in almost the same way. On the basis of these commentaries it seems that actually the Isra'ili, whom Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) had defended, was not a Muslim but he helped him considering that he was an oppressed person.

This incident happened in the capital of Egypt before Moses received prophethood. One day, he saw an Egyptian and an Israelite fighting with each other. The Israelite called upon Moses (who was an Israelite himself) to help him. Moses wanted to separate them, but the Egyptian turned on Moses who in self-defence, gave him a blow. Accidentally, the blow led to the death of the Egyptian. The Egyptians at that time were committing atrocities on the Israelites on a large scale. In this context, had Moses viewed the matter from the communal point of view, he would have treated it as a heroic feat and boasted about it. But, on the contrary, he was very sorry about the Egyptian’s death. He immediately turned towards God and prayed for His forgiveness. ‘I will never be a helper of the guilty’ means, ‘I will not support anybody without investigating the matter.’ A person’s apparently belonging to an oppressed community and his soliciting support by accusing another person of oppression are not enough to prove that the latter is really an oppressor and that the former (the complainant) is really the oppressed person. Therefore, the right approach on such occasions is for the matter to be properly investigated and support should be extended to a complainant only when, on impartial investigation, his being oppressed has been established.