وَقَالَ رَجُلٌ مُّؤْمِنٌ مِّنْ ءَالِ فِرْعَوْنَ يَكْتُمُ إِيمَٰنَهُۥٓ أَتَقْتُلُونَ رَجُلًا أَن يَقُولَ رَبِّىَ ٱللَّهُ وَقَدْ جَآءَكُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَٰتِ مِن رَّبِّكُمْ وَإِن يَكُ كَٰذِبًا فَعَلَيْهِ كَذِبُهُۥ وَإِن يَكُ صَادِقًا يُصِبْكُم بَعْضُ ٱلَّذِى يَعِدُكُمْ
Wa qāla rajulun muʾminun min āli Firʿawna yaktumu īmānahū a-taqtulūna rajulan an yaqūla rabbiya'llāhu wa qad jāʾakum bi'l-bayyināti min rabbikum wa in yaku kādhiban fa-ʿalayhi kadhibuh wa in yaku ṣādiqan yuṣibkum baʿḍu'lladhī yaʿidukum
"A believing man from the family of Pharaoh, who was concealing his faith, said: 'Will you kill a man for saying "My Lord is God", when he has come to you with clear proofs from your Lord? If he is a liar, his lie is against himself; and if he is truthful, some part of what he threatens you with will befall you.'"
His name is not given. His attributes are: a believer, from the family of Pharaoh, and yaktumu īmānahū — concealing his faith.
The root ك-ت-م — analysed here for the first time in this series. Its meaning: to hold a thing within and not let it out, to keep it hidden. The lexicographers record the root's picture of "keeping something in a closed vessel".
That the three attributes stand together is worth recording: the man is at once from within the other side, a believer, and concealing it. And he speaks from exactly that position.
The argument the man builds is one of the clearest examples of reasoning in the Qurʾān, and it covers both possibilities:
| Possibility | Consequence |
|---|---|
| If he is a liar | Fa-ʿalayhi kadhibuh — the harm is his own |
| If he is truthful | Yuṣibkum baʿḍu'lladhī yaʿidukum — some part of the threat will touch you |
The strength of the argument lies in its not debating which possibility is the true one. The man does not claim that Moses is right — he shows that on either possibility the killing is unnecessary.
And the word in the second branch is worth recording: baʿḍu — "some part". Not the whole of the threat, a part of it. I give this as my own reading: the expression looks deliberately softened so as not to corner the other side. The argument is built on the lowest possible claim: "even if only some part of it comes" is enough.
This comes from the same place as the form of the demand for proof treated at al-Aḥqāf 46/4: there too what was asked for had been reduced to something as small as a remnant of a book. To leave the other side the widest possible margin and still reach the conclusion.
And the man's speech does not end here: it continues in verses 29-35 and 38-44. The longest uninterrupted speech in the sūra belongs to this person, whose name is not even given.