Al-Akhfash said: “Akādu means: ‘I intend.’” Thus, the meaning of the verse is: the Hour is coming; I intend to conceal it.

The purpose in concealing it is to instill awe and fear, for if people do not know when the Hour will come, they will remain wary of it at all times.

Al-Hasan recited it with the initial alif pronounced with a fatḥah, meaning: “I reveal it.” One says: “I concealed a thing,” meaning, “I made it manifest,” whereas “I hid it” means, “I covered it.”

Allah Most High says: “So that every soul may be recompensed according to what it strives for”—that is, according to the good and evil it does.

“Let not one who does not believe in it and follows his desires turn you away from it, lest you perish (16). And what is that in your right hand, O Moses? (17) He said, ‘It is my staff; I lean upon it, and with it I beat down leaves for my sheep, and I have other uses for it’ (18).”

“Let not one who does not believe in it turn you away from it”: that is, let him not turn you away from belief in the Hour. “And follows his desires”: what is meant is one who contravenes Allah’s command. “Lest you perish”: that is, lest you be destroyed.

His saying, exalted is He, “And what is that in your right hand, O Moses?” is a question intended to elicit affirmation. The wisdom behind this question was to alert Moses and make him consciously recognize that it was a staff, so that when Allah transformed it into a serpent, he would know that it was a tremendous miracle. This accords with the custom of the Arabs: a man may ask another, “Do you recognize this?” though he has no doubt that he does recognize it, because he wishes his verbal acknowledgment to accompany his inward knowledge.

“He said, ‘It is my staff.’” It was said that it had two prongs, an iron point at its lower end, and a hooked crook. Muqatil said: It was called Nab‘ah.

“I lean upon it”: that is, I rely on it when I walk, when I grow weary, and when I leap. “And with it I beat down leaves for my sheep”: that is, I strike the dry tree with it so that its leaves fall, and the sheep graze upon them.

Ikrimah recited it as wa-ahussu, with an undotted sin, meaning: “I drive the sheep with it.” Al-hass means driving sheep.

“And I have other uses for it”: that is, other needs and benefits. It is the plural of ma’rabah, with the raa pronounced either with a fatḥah or a ḍammah. He did not say ukhar in order to preserve the endings of the verses. By these uses, he meant the ways in which a staff is used while travelling: Moses would carry his provisions with it, tie the rope to it (1) in order to draw water from a well, kill snakes with it, fight off wild beasts with it, and use it for shade when he sat.