142

And We appointed (read wa-wā'adnā or wa-wa'adnā) for Moses thirty nights, at the end of which We would speak to him, after he has fasted [during that period]; that was the month of Dhū'l-Qa'da. He completed the fast. But when it came to an end, he disliked the [bad] odour of his mouth and so cleaned his teeth. Allahu ta’ālā then commanded him [to fast for] another ten nights so that He may speak to him despite the odour in his mouth: as Allahu ta’ālā says, and completed them with ten, nights of Dhū'l-Hijja. Thus was the time appointed by his Rabb concluded - the time at which Allahu ta’ālā had promised him to speak to him - as forty (arba'īna is a circumstantial qualifier) nights (laylatan is for specification); and Moses said to his brother Aaron, when he was departing to the Mount for the communion [with his Rabb]: 'Succeed me, be my deputy, over my people, and be righteous, [among them] with regard to their affair, and do not follow the way of the agents of corruption', by consenting with them to acts of disobedience.