The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 526
CH. 28 AL-QAŞAŞ PT. 20 نَجَوْتَ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ الظَّلِمِينَ 'Fear not; thou hast escaped from the unjust people. '2894 قَالَتْ إِحْدُهُمَا يَابَتِ اسْتَأْجِرُهُ إِنَّ ,One of the two women said. 27 ‘O my father, hire him; for the best man that thou canst hire is the one who is strong and trustworthy. ' خَيْرَ مَنِ اسْتَأْجَرْتَ الْقَوِيُّ الْأَمِينُ قَالَ اِنّى أُرِيدُ اَنْ اُنْكِحَ إِحْدَى He said, “I intend to marry. 28 one of these two daughters of ابْنَتَى هُتَيْنِ عَلَى أَنْ تَأْجُرَيْ ثَمَنِى حِجَجٍ mine to thee on condition that فَإِنْ أَتْمَمْتَ عَشْرًا فَمِنْ عِنْدِكَ ۚ وَمَا thou serve me on hire for eight أُرِيدُ اَنْ اَشُقَّ عَلَيْكَ سَتَجِدُنِي إِنْ شَاءَ الله مِنَ الصَّلِحِينَ years. But if thou complete ten years, it will be of thine own accord. And I would not lay any hardship upon thee; thou wilt find me, if Allah wills, of the righteous. '2894A 2894. Commentary: The words, "thou has escaped from the wicked people," show that on hearing Moses' story the old and righteous man was convinced that Moses had committed no murder and that the death of the Egyptian was only accidental. On the other hand he dubbed and denounced the Egyptians as a wicked people. 2894A. Commentary: The construction of the verse does not seem to lend countenance to the conclusion generally considered derivable from it, viz. that Shu'aib or Jethro agreed to marry one of his daughters to Moses in lieu of eight or ten years of service. The fact of the matter appears to be that Shu'aib having grown very old needed an 2440 honest man to look after his flocks and Moses having been found as possessing the required qualifications instance of one of his daughters. was taken in service by him at the Eight or ten years were agreed upon as the tenure of service. Shu'aib, himself realized or was informed by however, being a holy man either God that a great future lay before Moses. He, therefore, offered to marry one of his daughters to him and, desiring that his son-in-law should live with him for some time and benefit by his noble company, laid it down as one of the conditions of marriage that Moses should stay with him for eight or ten years. Thus it is not correct to say that Shu'aib offered to marry his daughter to Moses in lieu of the latter serving him