Tafheem-ul-Quran - Abul Ala Maududi

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Tafheem-ul-Quran - Abul Ala Maududi translation for Surah Al-Qasas — Ayah 22

28:22
وَلَمَّا تَوَجَّهَ تِلۡقَآءَ مَدۡيَنَ قَالَ عَسَىٰ رَبِّيٓ أَن يَهۡدِيَنِي سَوَآءَ ٱلسَّبِيلِ ٢٢
When (after his departure from Egypt) Moses headed towards Midian,1 he said: "I hope my Lord will show me the right Path."2
Footnotes
  • [1] A clear proof of this story’s being absurd is that according to it Assyria (northern Iraq) in those days was under Ethiopia, and the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) and the Ethiopian king, his predecessor, had led military campaigns to crush the Assyrian revolts. Now anybody who has a little acquaintance with the history and geography can have a look at the map and see things for himself. Assyria could be under Ethiopian domination and have been attacked by the Ethiopian army only in case Egypt and Palestine and Syria had been under its subjugation, or the whole of Arabia under its sway, or, at least the Ethiopian navy so powerful as to have conquered Iraq across the Indian ocean and the Persian Gulf. History, however, does not support the view that the Ethiopians ever held sway over these countries, or their naval force was ever so powerful. This indicates how imperfect was the Israelites’ knowledge of their own history, and how the Quran corrects their errors and presents the true facts in their pure form. Nevertheless, the Christian and the Jewish orientalists are never ashamed of asserting that the Quran has plagiarized the Israelite traditions for its narratives.
  • [2] Qira’at: Ibn ʻAmer read it as: “. . . but the Home of the Hereafter is better for . . .”
  • [3] Qira’at: All except for Nafieʻ, Ibn ʻAmer, Hafs, Abu Jaʻfar and Yaʻqub read it as: “Do they not reason ?”
  • [4] Both the Bible and the Quran agree that after leaving Egypt, the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) had gone to live in Madyan (Midian). But the Talmud tells the absurd story that Moses fled to Ethiopia and became a great favorite with the king there. After the king’s death the people made Moses their king and leader and gave him the widow of the king for a wife, but during the 40 years of his reign there he never had intercourse with his African wife. Then the queen of Ethiopia, who was a wife to Moses (peace be upon him) in name only, said to the people, “Why should this stranger continue to rule over you? He has never worshiped the gods of Ethiopia.” At this the people of Ethiopia deposed him and made him many rich presents and dismissed him with great honors. Then he came to Midian and met with the events being mentioned below. At this time he was 67 years old.