None Believed but the Young

But none believed in Mūsā except the offspring of his people. Dhurriyyah means the young. Who are the people who believed in Mūsā? The young. There are two tafsīrs given for this ayah. Either it is talking about the young of Banū Isrāʾīl, meaning that the youth of Banū Isrāʾīl followed Mūsā but the elders did not. The other tafsīr is that all of Banū Isrāʾīl followed Mūsā, and some of the youth of the people of Egypt also followed him.

And these are the ones who followed the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and these are the ones who follow the anbiyāʾ: the youth. Because the elders are already established. They have a business, they have a wife, they have children, they have a job, and they are not willing to sacrifice any of that and follow a nabī. So they are willing to live subdued, as long as they still have the wealth and the family and the kids. And the ones who are willing to sacrifice, and go ahead and give to Allah (swt), are the youth.

But even so, they still had fear that Firʿawn would kill them. This regime was unbelievable — unbelievable. People would hear the name of Firʿawn, and their knees would shake. It was a very difficult situation. Allah (swt) says that Firʿawn was an arrogant tyrant in the land, and he was indeed one of al-musrifīn. Al-musrifīn are the ones who transgress the bounds. He was powerful — a powerful tyrant. So even these weak ones, these youth who followed Mūsā, still had fear of Firʿawn, that he might kill them.