52 Preface وَنادَيناهُ مِن جانِبِ الطّورِ الأَيمَنِ وَقَرَّبناهُ نَجِيًّاYusuf AliAnd we called him from the right side1 of Mount (Sinai), and made him draw near to Us, for mystic (converse).The incident here I think refers to the incidents described more fully in 20:9-36; a reference may also be made to Exod. 3:1-18 and 4:1-17. The time is when Moses (with his family) was travelling and grazing the flocks of his father-inlaw Jethro, just before he got his commission from God. The place is somewhere near Mount Sinai (Jabal Musa). Moses sees a Fire in the distance, but when he goes there, he hears a voice that tells him it is sacred ground. God asked him to put off his shoes and to draw near, and when he went near, great mysteries were revealed to him. He was given his commission, and his brother Aaron was given to him to go with him and aid him. It is after that that he and Aaron went and faced Pharaoh in Egypt, as narrated in 7:103-144, etc. The right side of the mountain may mean that Moses heard the voice from the right side of the mountain as he faced it: or it may have the figurative meaning of “right” in Arabic, i.e., the side which was blessed or sacred ground (see also 20:80). (R)