وَدَخَلَ ٱلْمَدِينَةَ عَلَىٰ حِينِ غَفْلَةٍ مِّنْ أَهْلِهَا فَوَجَدَ فِيهَا رَجُلَيْنِ يَقْتَتِلَانِ هَٰذَا مِن شِيعَتِهِۦ وَهَٰذَا مِنْ عَدُوِّهِۦ ۖ فَٱسْتَغَٰثَهُ ٱلَّذِى مِن شِيعَتِهِۦ عَلَى ٱلَّذِى مِنْ عَدُوِّهِۦ فَوَكَزَهُۥ مُوسَىٰ فَقَضَىٰ عَلَيْهِ ۖ قَالَ هَٰذَا مِنْ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنِ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ عَدُوٌّ مُّضِلٌّ مُّبِينٌ
20:41; 26:20.
Important Words:
وکزہ (struck him with his fist) means, he struck or beat him; he beat or struck him with his fist; he pushed or impelled or repelled him; he goaded him (Lane).
Commentary:
Being of a very noble nature and having been inspired by high ideals, Moses was always ready to help weak and oppressed people and so when a poor and weak Israelite sought his help against an arrogant and cruel Egyptian, he at once went to his rescue.
The expression, "this is of Satan’s doing," according to Arabic idiom means that some evil thing has happened, i.e. "Satan had caused an Egyptian and an Israelite to fight and I had to come to the assistance of the oppressed Israelite which resulted in an evil thing i.e. the death of a person." Or the words might have been addressed to the dead Egyptian meaning, "this is the outcome of your satanic deed," i.e. "your death is the result of your own wickedness and transgression." The fact that Moses used no lethal weapon and only repelled the Egyptian or at best struck him with his fist shows that the latter’s death was accidental. Clearly there was no intention on Moses’ part to cause it.
The Quran has not mentioned the wicked deed of the Egyptian to which Moses refers in this verse but from Jewish Encyclopedia we know that the said Egyptian had forced an Israelite woman to commit adultery with him and that was indeed a devilish deed. It apparently led to the quarrel referred to in the verse and ultimately to Moses’ interference and the death of the Egyptian (Jew. Enc. under "Moses").
20:41; 26:20.
Being of a very noble nature and having been inspired by very high ideals, Moses was always ready to help weak and oppressed people; so when a poor Israelite sought his help against an arrogant and cruel Egyptian, he at once went to his rescue.
The expression, This is of Satan’s doing, according to Arabic idiom means that some evil thing has happened, i.e. 'Satan had caused an Egyptian and an Israelite to fight and I had to come to the assistance of the oppressed Israelite which resulted in an evil thing' i.e. the death of a person. Or the words might have been addressed to the dead Egyptian meaning, 'This is the outcome of your satanic deed,' i.e. 'Your death is the result of your own wickedness and transgression.' The fact that Moses used no lethal weapon and only repelled the Egyptian or struck him with his fist shows that the latter’s death was accidental. Evidently, there was no intention on Moses’s part to kill him. The Qur’an has not mentioned the wicked deed of the Egyptian to which Moses refers in this verse. The Egyptian is reported to have forced an Israelite woman to commit adultery with him. It apparently led to the quarrel referred to in the verse and ultimately to Moses’s interference and the death of the Egyptian