Maʿālim al-tanzīl, by Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn ibn Masʿūd al-Baghawī (d. 516 AH / 1122 CE). A commentary of the school of ḥadīth, valued for its restraint; it keeps the early reports and little else.
The complete commentary on The refuge on high ground (23:50), covering 23:50.
On 23:50
Then We sent Moses and his brother Aaron with Our signs and a manifest authority (23:45), that is, with a clear proof: the hand, the staff and others besides.
To Pharaoh and his chiefs, but they were arrogant (23:46), they held themselves too great for faith, and they were a haughty people: proud, subduing others by oppression.
And they said (23:47), meaning Pharaoh and his people: Shall we believe in two human beings like ourselves, meaning Moses and Aaron, while their people are our servants?, obedient to us and abased before us; the Arabs call everyone who submits to a king his “servant” (ʿābid).
So they denied them both and were among those destroyed (23:48), by drowning.
And We gave Moses the Book (23:49), the Torah, that they might be guided, that is, so that his people might be guided by it.
And We made the son of Mary and his mother a sign (23:50), a proof of Our power. He did not say “two signs”. It was said that its meaning is: their condition is a sign. It was also said that its meaning is: We made each one of them a sign, as in His words, Exalted: Each of the two gardens brought forth its produce (18:33).
And We gave them refuge on a height. The height (rabwah) is the elevated piece of ground. Opinions about it differed. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Salām said: It is Damascus, and this is the view of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab and Muqātil. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk said: The Ghūṭah of Damascus. Abū Hurayrah said: It is Ramla. ʿAṭāʾ related from Ibn ʿAbbās: It is Jerusalem, and this is the view of Qatādah and Kaʿb. Kaʿb said: It is the nearest part of the earth to heaven, by eighteen miles. Ibn Zayd said: It is Egypt. Al-Suddī said: The land of Palestine.
Possessing a place of rest, that is, level, spread out and spacious, upon which those who dwell there may settle.
And a flowing spring. The maʿīn is the running water, visible to the eye, which the eyes see; it is a passive participle from ʿānahu yaʿīnuhu, when sight perceives a thing.
About this text
This is a complete English rendering of Maʿālim al-tanzīl on these verses, prepared for this website from the public-domain Arabic text (tafsir.app, src=baghawi). Nothing is abridged: every opinion, every report with its chain of transmission, every verse of poetry and every grammatical note is translated. Qur’anic quotations are in bold; the translator’s own notes are confined to the numbered footnotes and identify names, terms and variant readings only. A second translator has not checked the rendering, and the Arabic is linked so that any passage can be compared. The modern editors’ apparatus is not part of the classical text and is not translated.
The refuge on high ground (23:50): all commentaries · The classical commentaries