The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 93
PT. 16 ṬĀHĀ became familiar with him. (anasa-hu) means, he perceived it; he saw him or it and looked at him or it; he heard it, namely a sound; he felt it; he was sensible of it; he knew it; he had certain knowledge of it; he was acquainted with means, I knew him to be characterised by maturity of intelligence and rectitude of actions and good management of affairs (Lane & Aqrab). he قبس منه ناراً brand). They say) قبس took fire from him. means, he lighted or kindled the fire. means fire, or live coal; a brand or a firebrand; a piece of fire which one takes upon the end of a stick (Lane & Aqrab). Commentary: Opinions differ as to what it was that Moses actually saw. In fact it was a vision that he had seen. The language of metaphor which has been used in this account of Moses also lends support to the view that he had only seen a vision and that he himself was conscious of the fact that he had seen no fire of wood or coal. If he had actually seen a material fire of wood, Moses would have used the words "I perceive the fire" and not the words "I perceive a fire", as he did. CH. 20 is shown, the Divine manifestation extends also to the Prophet's people. By the words, "perhaps I may bring you a brand therefrom or find guidance at the fire", Moses meant to say that if it were that he had seen, then he would be given a new Shari'ah for his people but if it were only he would receive some guidance for his own spiritual advancement. It may be of interest to note that fire is of three kinds; (a) that which has light and also burns; (b) that which has no light but it burns; and (c) that which has light but does not burn. The fire which Moses had seen seemed to belong to the last category. The word "tarry" implies that Moses wanted privacy for communion with God, therefore he asked his family to remain behind. According to the Quran the incident to which reference has been made in this verse took place after Moses had completed his ten years of service with Shu'aib in Midian and was actually on his way to Egypt with his wife and not as the Bible says that it occurred before he left for Egypt and was staying with Shu'aib and that when one day he led the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, to the back side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb, "the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush" (Exod. 3:1-3). Consideration of all the relevant facts of geography contradicts this Biblical account as the Lord appeared to Moses on mount Horeb which is in the desert of Sinai (manifestation shown to the Prophets) | hundreds of miles away from Midian; an Visions, however, are of two kinds: (a) those that concern only individual. In such visions the Divine manifestation which is called (manifestation shown to God's beloved other than the Prophets) in the spiritual terminology remains confined to the concerned individual. (b) Visions in which نبوت 2007