The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 181
PT. 12 HŪD CH. 11 كَاَنْ لَّمْ يَغْنَوْا فِيهَا أَلَا بُعْدَ المَدْيَنَ As though they had never. 96 dwelt there. Behold! how Midian were cut off, even as Thamud had been cut off. 1476 R. 9. كَمَا بَعِدَتْ ثَمُودُن وَلَقَدْ اَرْسَلْنَا مُوسَى بِايْتِنَا وَسُلْطن And, surely, "We sent Moses. 97 with Our Signs and manifest authority, 1477 Buy a7:93. 14:6; 23:46; 40:24. above) may also mean any other punishment and the words, they lay prostrate in their houses, may have been used in a figurative sense, meaning that their power was broken by some dreadful visitation and they met with disgrace and humiliation, as if thrown into the dust. 1476. Commentary: See 11:61, 69 above. 1477. Commentary: As already stated, the present Surah discusses the history of only those Prophets whose peoples were ultimately destroyed. The present and the following few verses deal with Moses' mission to Pharaoh and his people who rejected him and therefore met with destruction. The Surah makes no reference to the Israelites, for the obvious reason that they believed in Moses' and became heirs to Divine blessings. Incidentally, it may be noted here that the Biblical account of Moses as given in Exod. chapters 2, 3 & 4, differs from the Quranic description in several points: 1. According to the Bible, Moses was not cast into the river, but was concealed under a basket in the bushes by the side of the river (Exod. 2:3). According to the Quran, however, he was cast into the river (20:40). The name Moses, as explained in Exod. 2:10 supports the Quranic version, for Moses was so called because he "was saved from water. " See also note under 2:54. 2. According to the Bible, the Egyptian who died at the hands of Moses was killed by him intentionally (Exod. 2:11,12), while according to the Quran, Moses did not strike the man with the intention of killing him. The man died only accidentally (28:16). Thus the Bible represents Moses as a wilful murderer, while the Quran acquits him of this heinous act. 1389 3. According to the Bible, Moses saw two Hebrews quarrelling with each other (Exod. 2:13,14); while the Quran says that one was a Hebrew and the other an Egyptian (28:19). 4. The Quran differs from the Bible in the details of the incident at the well. The Bible says that there were as many as seven daughters of the