The People of the Book acknowledge that the man who became Moses’ father-in-law was not Shuʿayb; rather, he was an inhabitant of Midian. Some of them further contend that this was a different Midian from the one whose people Allah destroyed—and Allah knows best.

In the same way, the Quran commentators have transmitted two views concerning the messengers mentioned in the story: were they sent by Allah, or were they dispatched by the Messiah? One opinion is that Allah Himself sent them.

Abu al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzi said, “This is the manifest sense of the Quran, and it is reported from Ibn ʿAbbās, Kaʿb, and Wahb ibn Munabbih.” He then said, “The exegetes, with regard to His words