Aligned sentence by sentence
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The explanation for this and the purpose of its being reported are very difficult. And we already said what the Rabbanites and Anan say, that they were circumcised but the skin was not removed underneath the foreskin and thus their circumcision was not complete. And if their circumcision was not complete, it was as if they were uncircumcised. Anan does not say why they did not completely remove the foreskin and why they withheld this. However, the Rabbanites, if they are asked regarding the purpose of this say it is because they were on a journey and their travel was dependent on the rising of the clouds, and they did not know when they would travel. Thus, they were not sure if suddenly the clouds would rise when they removed the foreskin before the baby healed, and if they traveled in this condition it could cause the baby damage.
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And this is the answer of one of our companions who says that they were not circumcised at all, and he supports this with the same reason. In this way, his view is more justifiable than the Rabbanites, and this is because if the Rabbanites say this reason prevented them from removing the foreskin, why was any part of circumcision not prevented? Why would they want to perform part of circumcision, which has some danger to the children, for behold they are exposing the child to risk without fulfilling the commandment? And they have no answer prepared for this, beyond saying that removing the foreskin completely is more difficult.
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And one of the “people of speculation” says that the children of Israel who were born in the desert are of two kinds. Amongst them are those born while they were camped, and those who were born while they were traveling. For those who were born during their encampment were circumcised, for there is no other acceptable possibility other than this. And those who were not circumcised, they were born during the travels and this is proved from the verse (Joshua 5:5) “For all the people that came out were circumcised; but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, had not been circumcised.” He says, behold the verse’s “by the way” teaches that they were born on the journey, meaning while they were walking along the way. This is what is said regarding this, and only Allah knows best. And we already prefaced our discussion by noting that this is one of the difficult and obscure passages in the Torah.