The story of Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush is retold in this sūra in the first of three quranic versions. This account is interesting because of the names that Allah uses to introduce himself to Moses and because of the long ensuing conversation in which Allah commissions Moses.
The sūra begins with the seemingly self-conscious first-person-plural (“We”) assertion to the messenger that the contents of his recitation are sent down from the Creator. This language of reassurance appears twice more in the sūra.
The largest part of the sūra is taken up by a series of episodes in the life of Moses. This is one of the longest narratives about Moses in the Quran. In terms of the first part of the familiar Moses story, it is the most complete. This version includes Moses’ infancy, his killing of a man, his sojourn in Midian, his commission and appearance before Pharaoh, and the deliverance of the Children of Israel from Egypt. The episode of the golden calf is unique in specifying that a Samaritan leads the people astray.
Another important passage in this sūra is the third of three quranic versions of the story of Adam. This version is striking in offering a strong verb to characterize Adam’s behaviour.