إِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِأَهْلِهِۦٓ إِنِّىٓ ءَانَسْتُ نَارًا سَـَٔاتِيكُم مِّنْهَا بِخَبَرٍ أَوْ ءَاتِيكُم بِشِهَابٍ قَبَسٍ لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَصْطَلُونَ
20:11; 28:30.
Important Words:
تصطلون (warm yourselves) is derived from اصطلی which is the same as صلی. They say صلی النار i.e. he was or became burned by the fire or he endured the heat of the fire. اصطلی means, he warmed or burned himself by the fire (Lane & Aqrab).
Commentary:
It was not actual fire that Moses had seen. Had it been so he would have used the expression انی آنست النار i.e. I have perceived the fire, instead of انی آنست ناراً i.e. I have perceived a fire. In fact it was a vision that Moses had seen, fire symbolizing the love of God. It is worthy of note that most of the major incidents connected with Moses that have been mentioned in the Quran, were not incidents which actually took place in the material and physical world but were visions which symbolized great landmarks in his spiritual development and prophetic mission. Besides the vision about the rod (7:118) and that concerning the breaking of the mountain into pieces (7:144) there are other important instances of such visions in the Quran, the verse under comment affording one such instance. See also 20:11.
20:11; 28:30.
It was not actual fire that Moses had seen. Had it been so he would have used the expression 'I have perceived the fire,' instead of 'I have perceived a fire.' In fact, it was a vision that Moses had seen, 'fire' symbolising the love of God. It is worthy of note that most of the major incidents, connected with Moses that have been mentioned in the Qur’an, were not incidents which actually took place in the physical world but only visions symbolizing great landmarks in the course of his spiritual development and prophetic mission. Besides the vision about the rod there are mentioned other important instances of such visions in the Qur’an (7:144), the verse under comment affording one such instance.