In verse 20, it was said: وَجَاءَ مِنْ أَقْصَى الْمَدِينَةِ رَجُلٌ يَسْعَىٰ (And there came a man rushing from the farthest part of the city.) In the first verse (13), the place where this incident transpired was expressed as: اَلقَریَۃ (al-qaryah: town) which, according to the Arabic lexical usage, does not signify a small village, instead, it means a habitation in the absolute sense. It may be a small habitation or a big city. Now, in this verse, this place has been identified as: اَمَدِینۃ (al-madinah), a name used only for a big city. From here, we learn that the habitation where this event took place was some big city. Hence, this too supports the saying where it has been identified as Antakiyah. The expression: أَقْصَى الْمَدِينَةِ (aqsal-madinah: farthest part of the city) means outskirts of the city. The word: يَسْعَىٰ as a rushing) in the phrase: رَجُلٌ يَسْعَىٰ has been derived from: سَعٰی يَسْعَىٰ (run) which means to walk in a running gait. Therefore, the expression would mean that a man came running from the farthest part of the city. Then, there are occasions when this word is also used in the sense of walking with concern, poise and sense of purpose to be accomplished - which may not include running- as in Surah Al-Jumu` ah: فَاسْعَوْا إِلَىٰ ذِكْرِ اللَّـهِ (fas` aw ila dhikril-lah: hasten for the remembrance of Allah (Khutbah and Salah of Jumu'ah) - 62:9). Here, this very sense is intended.
The event relating to the person coming from the farthest part of the city
The noble Qur'an has left this too as ambiguous. It does not mention his name, nor does it say who he was. As part of historical narrations, Ibn Ishaq has reported from Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas, Ka` b al-Ahbar And Wahb Ibn Munabbih that the name of this person was Habib. There are different sayings about his profession. The most famous is the one that says that he was a carpenter. (Ibn Kathir).
Other historical narrations reported by commentators at this stage tell us that this person too was initially an idolater. He happened to meet the two messengers who came to this town the first time. It was either as a result of their teachings or, as it appears in some narrations, by seeing extraordinary working of wonders at their hands, his heart was lit with faith. He repented from past idolatry, embraced Islam and retired to a cave devoting to worship. When he got the news that the people of the city have rejected the teachings of these messengers, have become hostile to them and were threatening to kill them, he came to his people prompted by the mixed objectives of his concern for their good as well as the safety of the messengers. He advised them to follow these messengers and declared that he himself had become a believer: (I have believed in your Lord; so listen to me.- 25)