Surah al-Qasas (The Stories) 28 : 15

Explanatory Note

One day he entered the city at a time when its people were unaware [of his presence]. He found there two men fighting, one belonging to his own people and the other to his enemies. And the one from his own people cried out to him for help against the one from his enemies, whereupon Moses struck him down with his fist and killed him.

We are told that he ‘entered the city’, which we understand as the Egyptian capital. Where had he come from so as to enter the city? Was he in the palace at Ein Shams? Or had he deserted the palace and the capital but came in this time when the people were unaware of his presence? He might have come around noon when people were resting? Anyway, however he arrived, he nonetheless witnessed something not to his liking: “He found there two men fighting, one belonging to his own people and the other to his enemies. And the one from his own people cried out to him for help against the one from his enemies.”

One of the two was an Egyptian, said to belong to Pharaoh’s staff, with some reports suggesting that he was his cook. The other was an Israelite. The two were fighting as Moses came into the city, and the Israelite appealed to him for help against their Egyptian enemy. How could this happen? How could an Israelite appeal to Moses, Pharaoh’s adopted son against another from Pharaoh’s court? This would not have happened if Moses was still residing in the palace, or if he was one of Pharaoh’s courtiers. It could only have happened if the Israelite was certain that Moses no longer had any contact with the palace, and that he was in reality an Israelite opposed to Pharaoh and sympathetic to his own people’s cause. This last possibility is more in line with Moses’ character. For it is unlikely that he would have tolerated life in the corrupt environment of the palace.

“Whereupon Moses struck him down with his fist and killed him.”  The Arabic word wakaza, used for “struck’, indicates a punch delivered with the full weight of one’s arm. We understand that Moses punched the man only once, and that this caused his death. We thus have an idea of Moses’ physical strength, his anger and the strength of his opposition to Pharaoh and those of his court.

However, it appears from the drift of the narrative that Moses did not intend to kill the Egyptian. Indeed, when he saw him lifeless, he regretted what he had done, attributing it to Satan’s temptation. His action was the result of anger, and anger is a devil or part of what Satan manipulates: “He said: This is of Satan’s doing! Indeed, he is an open foe, seeking to lead man astray.”