فَلَمَّا جَاوَزَا قَالَ لِفَتَاهُ آتِنَا غَدَاءَنَا لَقَدْ لَقِينَا مِنْ سَفَرِنَا هَذَا نَصَبًا ﴿۶۲﴾ قَالَ أَرَأَيْتَ إِذْ أَوَيْنَا إِلَى الصَّخْرَةِ فَإِنِّي نَسِيتُ الْحُوتَ وَمَا أَنْسَانِيهُ إِلَّا الشَّيْطَانُ أَنْ أَذْكُرَهُ وَاتَّخَذَ سَبِيلَهُ فِي الْبَحْرِ عَجَبًا ﴿۶۳﴾ قَالَ ذَلِكَ مَا كُنَّا نَبْغِ فَارْتَدَّا عَلَى آثَارِهِمَا قَصَصًا ﴿۶۴﴾

﴾62﴿ Falammaa jaawazaa qaala lifataahu aatinaa ghadaaa'anaa laqad laqeena min safarinaa haazaa nasabaa
﴾63﴿ Qaala ara'ayta iz awainaaa ilas sakhrati fa innee naseetul hoota wa maaa ansaaneehu illash Shaitaanu an azkurah; wattakhaza sabeelahoo fil bahri'ajabaa
﴾64﴿ Qaala zaalika maa kunnaa nabghi; fartaddaa 'alaa aasaari him maa qasasaa

﴾62﴿ Then when they had passed beyond it, [Moses] said to his servant, Bring us our morning meal. We have certainly suffered fatigue from this journey of ours
﴾63﴿ He said, Do you remember when we rested by the rock, Indeed, I forgot the fish—and none made me forget to mention it except Satan—and it took its course into the sea in an amazing way
﴾64﴿ [Moses] said, That is what we were seeking. So they returned, retracing their footsteps

[62] This verse is a clear proof that Mūsā (peace be upon him) did not possess knowledge of the unseen (ʿilm al-ghayb) and shows his human limitations.
If he had known what happened to the fish, he would not have continued past that point, nor would he have requested the fish for food.
His need for food and his experience of fatigue both emphasize his status as a servant (‘abd) and his human nature. One who is truly a servant of Allah cannot be considered divine or share in Allah’s attributes.
(هَذَا) – “this” – refers to the journey that continued after the meeting point of the two seas (Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn).
There’s also a subtle insight in this verse: When a person travels with sincerity, passion, and spiritual purpose, even difficult journeys don’t feel exhausting.
But when one takes steps outside of the true purpose, even those steps become tiresome and heavy.
[63] Yūshaʿ (peace be upon him), out of courtesy, attributed forgetfulness solely to himself and did not include Mūsā (peace be upon him) in this attribution.
Then he presented his excuse and attributed the act of disobedience to Satan—although disobedience in this context is not considered a sin.
However, the principle is that certain actions, even if they are not sins, still please Satan because they result in a burden being placed on a monotheist.
Satan is pleased when a believer faces a religious obligation.
For example, when Mūsā (peace be upon him) attributed the killing of the Copt to Satan in verse 15 of Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ, it also falls under this principle.
Likewise, the attribution of menstruation and postnatal bleeding in women to Satan's influence is based on this, as reported in authentic ḥadīth.
The second reason is that since Satan plays a role in the causes of forgetfulness, forgetfulness can be attributed to Satan in view of its cause—similar to how yawning is attributed to Satan, as its cause is heedlessness, which comes from Satan.
[64] Mūsā (peace be upon him) accepted his excuse and then they both returned following their own footsteps, so that they would not make a mistake there again.