(9–12) “Has the account of Moses reached you? When he saw a fire, he said to his family, ‘Stay here. I have caught sight of a fire. Perhaps I can bring you a firebrand from it, or find guidance at the fire.’ When he reached it, he was called, ‘O Moses! Indeed, I am your Lord, so remove your sandals. You are in the sacred valley of Tuwā.’”
The Most High addresses His Prophet Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in the form of a rhetorical question, emphasizing the grandeur and momentousness of this story: “Has the account of Moses reached you?” This concerns the episode that marked the beginning of his felicity and the origin of his prophethood. He saw a fire in the distance after losing his way. He was suffering from ⦗503⦘ the cold and had nothing with which to warm himself on his journey.
“He said to his family, ‘Stay here. I have caught sight of”—that is, I have seen—“a fire.” This occurred on the right-hand side of the Mount. “Perhaps I can bring you a firebrand from it” with which you can warm yourselves, “or find guidance at the fire”—that is, someone to guide me along the way. What he sought was physical light and physical guidance, but there he found spiritual light—the light of revelation, by which souls and hearts are illuminated—and true guidance: guidance to the straight path leading to the Gardens of Bliss. He thus received something he had never reckoned with and that had never crossed his mind.
“When he reached it”—that is, the fire he had caught sight of from afar—it was in reality light, a fire that burns and shines. This is indicated by the Prophet’s words—may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “His veil is light—or fire. Were He to lift it, the radiance of His Face would burn everything reached by His sight.” When Moses reached it, he was called from it—that is, Allah called him—as He says: “We called him from the right-hand side of the Mount and drew him near for private converse.”
“Indeed, I am your Lord, so remove your sandals. You are in the sacred valley of Tuwā.” He informed Moses that He was his Lord and commanded him to ready and prepare himself for private discourse with Him, to give it due attention, and to remove his sandals because he was in the sacred, purified, and venerated valley. Even if nothing else made it sacred besides Allah’s choosing it for His private discourse with Moses, the one to whom He spoke, that alone would have sufficed. Many commentators have said, “Allah commanded him to remove his sandals because they were made of donkey hide.” Allah knows best regarding that.