The Heights (Al-A‘raf) الأعراف 160–162
160
وَقَطَّعْنَاهُمُ اثْنَتَيْ عَشْرَةَ أَسْبَاطًا أُمَمًا وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى إِذِ اسْتَسْقَاهُ قَوْمُهُ أَنِ اضْرِب بِّعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانبَجَسَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَّشْرَبَهُمْ وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْغَمَامَ وَأَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَى كُلُواْ مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَمَا ظَلَمُونَا وَلَـكِن كَانُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ
We divided them up into twelve tribes, each a whole community, and We revealed Our will to Moses, when his people asked for water, saying, ‘Strike the rock with your staff.’ Twelve springs gushed from it and each tribe knew its drinking place. We caused the clouds to draw their shadow over them and sent down for them manna and quails, saying, ‘Eat the good things We have given you.’ They did not wrong Us; rather it was themselves they wronged.
161
وَإِذْ قِيلَ لَهُمُ اسْكُنُواْ هَـذِهِ الْقَرْيَةَ وَكُلُواْ مِنْهَا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمْ وَقُولُواْ حِطَّةٌ وَادْخُلُواْ الْبَابَ سُجَّدًا نَّغْفِرْ لَكُمْ خَطِيئَاتِكُمْ سَنَزِيدُ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
When they were told, ‘Settle down in the town and eat wherever you wish in it, and pray for forgiveness and enter the gate in humility: We shall forgive you your sins and shall bestow further favours upon those who do good,’
162
فَبَدَّلَ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُواْ مِنْهُمْ قَوْلاً غَيْرَ الَّذِي قِيلَ لَهُمْ فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِجْزًا مِّنَ السَّمَاء بِمَا كَانُواْ يَظْلِمُونَ
the transgressors among them substituted something else for the word they had been given. So We sent them a punishment from heaven for their wrongdoing.
No class discussions published for this verse group yet.
(a) God took the Israelites from the polytheistic atmosphere of Egypt and settled them in the desert of Sinai. Here they were organised and divided into twelve groups. Each group had a leader and all were under the charge of Moses. Then, the Children of Israel were specially provided with all the necessities of life. Water was provided for them from mountain springs. For their food, ‘manna and quails’ were sent down and these were readily available to them right in front of their tents. For their regular settlement one entire city, Ariho, (in the Jordan valley) was given to them. God then advised them that He had arranged for all their necessities and that they should therefore desist from being greedy for the pleasures of the world and the flesh and should not rush towards unholy things; instead, they should adopt the way of contentment and gratefulness towards God. (a) Literally, ‘Enter the gate bowing down or kneeling down.’ The Jews were asked to enter their place of worship with humility and modesty and to worship their Lord; they were enjoined to remember the majesty and supremacy of God and admit their shortcomings before Him. But the Jews forgot the admonition of God. Instead of adopting the way shown by God, they followed a path devised by themselves in the name of God. They adopted the way of arrogance instead of treading the path of humility. Their utterances were not of gratitude but of insolence. When the Jews went to this extent in their wrongdoing, God withdrew His grace from them. They were surrounded by different kinds of punishments instead of God’s blessings.