Commentary

Frequent references were made earlier in the text to the warnings given to deniers of pure monotheism and prophethood which brought more opposition and hostility from disbelievers. Naturally, this situation made the Holy Prophet ﷺ sad. It was to comfort him that, in nearly two sections cited above, mentioned there is the story of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and Pharaoh. In this story, there is a lengthy dialogue between the Pharaoh, his people and a righteous elder who, despite being a scion of the House of the Pharaoh, had believed in the faith of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) after having seen the miracles shown at his hands - but, had kept his faith secret until that time. Once this dialogue took place, his faith stood declared automatically and conclusively.

Out of early Tafsir authorities, Muqatil, Suddiyy and Hasan have said that he was a cousin of the Pharaoh and was the same person who, at the time they were talking in the court of Pharaoh about killing Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) in retaliation against the killing of the Copt, had come running from the far side of the city and apprised Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) of the danger and advised him to go out of Egypt. This event has been mentioned in Surah Al-Qasas: وَجَاءَ رَ‌جُلٌ مِّنْ أَقْصَى الْمَدِينَةِ يَسْعَىٰ (And there came a man running, from the farthest part of the city. - A1-Qasas, 28:20)

The name of this believing member of the House of the Pharaoh has been given as Habib in some sources. But, the truth of the matter is that Habib is the name of the person who has been mentioned in Surah Sin (36:20). The name of this person is شَمعان (Shama'n). Suhaili considers this name as most correct. Others say that his name is Hizgil. Tha'labi has reported the same name from Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ .

In a Hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said, 'Of some صِّدِّيقِين (siddiqin: the truthful ones), there is Habib najjar (carpenter) whose incident appears in Surah Ya Sin; the other is the believer from the House of Pharaoh; the third, Abu Bakr (Sayyidna Abu Bakr as۔ ؓ ), and he is the foremost among them.' (Qurtubi)