“They are plotting against you to kill you; so leave”—that is, leave this town—“for I am giving you sincere counsel.”

Allah, exalted is He, then says, “So he left it, fearful and on the alert” (al-Qaṣaṣ 21); meaning that he departed from the city of Egypt immediately, heading out at random, unfamiliar with any road or destination, saying, “My Lord, deliver me from the wrongdoing people” (21).

“When he set his course toward Midian he said, ‘Perhaps my Lord will guide me to the right path’” (22). When he reached the water of Midian he found there a crowd of people watering their flocks, and apart from them he noticed two women holding back. He said, “What is the matter with you?” They replied, “We do not water until the shepherds have moved on, and our father is an elderly man.” So he watered for them, then withdrew to the shade and said, “My Lord, I am in desperate need of whatever good You may send down to me” (21–24).

The Most High relates the departure of His servant, His Messenger, and the one to whom He spoke directly, from Egypt in a state of fear, constantly looking around lest someone from Pharaoh’s people overtake him. He had no idea where to turn, for he had never before left Egypt.

“When he turned his face toward Midian”—that is, when a path opened up before him—“he said, ‘Perhaps my Lord will guide me to the sound way.’” In other words, he hoped that this road would bring him to his goal—and so it did; what a goal it proved to be!

“When he arrived at the water of Midian”—a well from which the people drew water, and Midian is the town whose inhabitants, the People of the Thicket, the people of Shuʿayb, peace be upon him, were destroyed by Allah; according to one scholarly opinion, their destruction preceded the time of Moses—“he found there a group of people watering, and apart from them two women keeping back,” that is, preventing their sheep from mixing with the others’ flocks. He said, “What is the matter with you?” They replied, “We do not water until the shepherds have finished…”