• People of Moses commanded to march into die Holy Land

• The people’s refusal to act the punishment

Al-Ma’idah Verses 20 – 26

وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ يَا قَوْمِ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ جَعَلَ فِيكُمْ أَنْبِيَاءَ وَجَعَلَكُمْ مُلُوكًا وَآتَاكُمْ مَا لَمْ يُؤْتِ أَحَدًا مِنَ الْعَالَمِينَ

“And remember when Moses said unto his people: “O’ my people! Remember the bounties of God upon you when He raised prophets among you, and made you kings and gave you what He hath not given to anyone else (among the peoples) in the world1.” (5:20)

يَا قَوْمِ ادْخُلُوا الْأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنْقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ

“O’ my people! enter ye the Holy Land which God hath assigned for you, and turn not on your backs, for then ye will return (as) losers.” (5:21)

قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّ فِيهَا قَوْمًا جَبَّارِينَ وَإِنَّا لَنْ نَدْخُلَهَا حَتَّىٰ يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فَإِنْ يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فَإِنَّا دَاخِلُونَ

“Said they: “O’ Moses! Verily, there are in it people of might; and Verily, we will never enter it until they get out from it, and if they get out from it, Certainly, we will enter.” (5:22)

قَالَ رَجُلَانِ مِنَ الَّذِينَ يَخَافُونَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمَا ادْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْبَابَ فَإِذَا دَخَلْتُمُوهُ فَإِنَّكُمْ غَالِبُونَ وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَتَوَكَّلُوا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

“Then two men of those who feared (God), and upon whom both, God hath bestowed His) favour: “Enter ye upon them (suddenly) by the gate (of the city); for (once) ye have entered it, Verily, (ye shall see) ye are victorious, and upon God ye should rely, if ye be (true) believers.” (5:23)

قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّا لَنْ نَدْخُلَهَا أَبَدًا مَا دَامُوا فِيهَا فَاذْهَبْ أَنْتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَاتِلَا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ

“Said they: “O’ Moses! Verily, Never shall we enter it at all, while they remain therein, go thou and thy Lord and fight ye two Verily, we shall stay here sitting.” (5:24)

قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي لَا أَمْلِكُ إِلَّا نَفْسِي وَأَخِي فَافْرُقْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِقِينَ

“Said he (Moses), “O’ My Lord! No hold have I, except on myself and my Brother2, so cause (Thou), a separation between us and the people (who are) rebellious.” (5:25)

قَالَ فَإِنَّهَا مُحَرَّمَةٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً يَتِيهُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَلَا تَأْسَ عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِقِينَ

“Said He (God), “Forbidden it shall be upon them, the land for forty years; They shall wander (perplexed) in the earth; therefore, grieve not over the people (who are) rebellious.” (5:26)

Commentary

Verse 20

The Israelites had been specially favoured by God. Prophets were raised among them. They were liberated from the bonds of the Egyptian kings. They were made independent rulers. The spiritual dominance was combined in them with political supremacy which was a unique distinction bestowed only upon them and upon no other nation.

The bounties referred to here should be taken as de jure and Spiritual and not de facto and Temporal which the Jews gained for some time before Moses during Joseph’s time and for some time after Moses (A.P.)

Verse 21

The apprehension of the Prophet about his people’s heresy and revolt against Islam, i.e., complete unconditional submission to the will of God evidently was usual with all the Prophets.

The order to enter the Holy Land or to turn from one direction to another direction (Qiblah) or to remain stationed at a certain place in the valley (at Uhud) are the instances of the test of the degree of the people’s submission to the divine command. Qur’an’s referring to such instances of the past, is a warning to the Muslims, asserting the possibility of the similar behaviour on their part. (A.P.)

Verse 22

The following extract is given from Milman’s History of the Jews:

“At length the nation, arrived on the southern frontier of the promised land (Verse 21) Twelve spies, one from each tribe, are sent out to make observations on the fruitfulness of the land, the character of the inhabitants and the strength of their fortifications. Among these the most distinguished are Caleb of the tribe of Judah and Joshua of Ephraim. In one respect their report is most satisfactory: Canaan had undergone vast improvements, since the time when Abraham and Isaac had pastured their flocks in the open and unoccupied plains. But on the other hand, the intelligence, exaggerated by the fears of the rest of the twelve spies, overwhelms the whole people with terror. Their treasures were guarded by fierce and warlike tribes, not likely to abandon their native plains without an obstinate bloody conquest. Their cities were strongly fortified, and above all the first enemies they would have to encounter would be men of colossal stature, the descendants of the gigantic people, celebrated in their early national traditions, people before whom they would be grasshoppers (Verse 22).

The confidence in the Divine protection gave way at once before their sense of physical inferiority, and the total deficiency of moral courage, ‘Back to Egypt’ is the general cry. The brave Joshua and Caleb in vain reprove the general pusillanimity (Verse 23); their own lives are in danger; and in bitter disappointment the great law-giver perceives that a people. . .inured to slavery from their birth, are not the material from which he can construct a bold conquering and independent nation. (Verse 2).

The decisions instantly formed. They are neither in return to Egypt nor assail an easier conquest; but they are condemned to wander for a definite period of forty years, in the barren and dismal regions through which they had marched (Verse 5:26).

(B.H. Vol. II pp. 187 and 188).

“And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying. The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that cateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.” Num. 13/32.

1. “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.”

2. “And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said upto them, would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!”

3. “And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should he a prey! were it not better for us to return into Egypt?”

4. “And they said one to another. Let us make a captain, and let ns return into Egypt.”

   Num. 14/1-4.

Verse 23

There is a mention of this event in the Old Testament:

6. “And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes”

7. “And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying. The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.”

8. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.”

9. “Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them and the LORD is with us; fear them not.”

   Num. 14/6-9

Those who feared God, i.e., Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son Jephunneh (M.S.).

The command to depend upon God saying ‘if ye are believers’ denote that dependence upon God, is the quality of only the believers, i.e., those who believe in God depend upon Him.

When out of the multitude of the followers of Moses only two men proved to be faithful to the covenant, there can be no surprise or wonder if the bulk of the Muslims have similarly turned disloyal to the covenant taken from them by the Holy Prophet about the ‘Wilayat’ of Ali Ibn Abi Talib, at Ghadir Khumm. (A.P.)

Verse 24

‘Rabbaka’ stands for Aaron, who was elder to Moses and verb ‘Fa qaatala’, i.e., fight ye two,

denotes that by ‘Rab’ Aaron is meant (M.S.)

Verse 25

Moses mentioning the name of Aaron along with his own established that ‘Rabboka’ in the preceding Verses stands for Aaron.

The insulting and the impertinent disobedience of the people to the order of Moses bears similarity to the Muslims’ desisting from the order of the Holy Prophet to march under the command of Osama and refusing to give paper and ink to the Holy Prophet when it was demanded by him, saying:

‘Innar Rajol leyahjor’ i.e., Certainly the fellow is uttering nonsense. On the eve of the departure of the Holy Prophet from this world, and the reaction of Moses in the next Verse, i.e., Verse 5:25 is similar to the exclamation of the Holy Prophet at the above revolting behaviour of the companions, saying: -

‘Qoomo anni, la tabghit tanaazo’a indi’ i.e., Get ye away from me, it behoves not to quarrel in my presence, Leave me in my present state. (A.P.)

Verse 26

The Old Testament refers to this - (Num. 14/28). The Ahmadi commentator takes the forty

years mentioned in this Verse as the life of the generation. The land was forbidden for forty years. The children of Israel have only to cover a strip of about 15 miles, but God made it to happen so that they walked the whole day and at the end of the day they used to be only at the starting place. In this way they were made to walk for forty years. (M.S., U.B.)

It has been reported on the authority of the ‘Tafseer-e-Abul Futuh’ that when the children of Israel owing to their disobedience to God’s commands, were made to wander for forty years, they told Moses, ‘Thou sayest that we are destined to wander in this desert for forty years, we can no more bear the scorching heat, we have with us neither tents nor there is any shelter for us in this desert.’ God sent a patch of cool cloud over their heads, to move with them wherever they went and to stay over them when they stayed at any place. For the night they complained that they had no light and God caused whichever place they occupied to be lighted. The light stayed from the sunset to the sunrise.

When they said, ‘What shall we eat?’ God caused ‘Manna’ to be showered upon them from heaven and every one of them had his desired share in it. They said they desired to have some animal food; God sent down upon them ‘Saha’ a kind of bird’s flesh. When they complained about thirst, God sent to Moses a stone down from heaven and directed Moses to strike his stave at the stone. Twelve springs gushed out from it and each spring earmarked for each group of them so that they may have water without any’ quarrel among themselves. They asked Moses how’ to clean their dresses which had got dirty, God sent a wind which when touched their clothes cleansed it to their satisfaction. They asked what would they do if their garments become old and get torn. Moses said it is the will of the Lord that your garments shall not become old nor get torn for these forty years. They again said what would they do for the garments of their growing children when they got short for them. Moses said that whenever it happened so he would lengthen the garment as the need be.

After forty years Moses took the children of Israel and fought and captured the Aruka tyrant people of the place called Aruka. The advance party of the army of Moses was under the command of Joshua, son of Nun and the Israelites entered the town from the rear. For a long time, they stayed here and Moses died at the place. This is a reliable version of the event unanimously accepted by the Holy Ahl Al-Bayt (M.S.). The place of the wandering of the Israelites has been reported to be called ‘Teeh’ and Moses and Aaron died in ‘Teeh.’ Aaron died before Moses. Moses lived for one hundred and twenty years. Twenty years in the time of Faridoon and a hundred years in the time of Manochahar, and Joshua was commissioned with the apostleship succeeding Moses. Joshua died in Aruka.

Joshua after assuming the apostleship led the Israelites and carried on the siege of Aruka. The siege continued for six months. It was a Friday when the battle was reaching a triumphant end but the Sun had set, and the victory was yet to be completed, and the night was very dark. Joshua prayed to God saying, ‘O Lord let the Sun return for a while for me in complete the victory over the tyrants.’ The Sun returned with the daylight and Joshua addressing the Sun said, ‘thou art in the Service of God, stay awhile.’ The return of the daylight was witnessed by the whole world around and when Joshua had completed the capture of the tyrants, suddenly the Sun went down, and it was a dark night.

Never did the Sun return but:

(a) for Solomon the successor of David,

(b) for Joshua the successor of Moses-

(c) and for Ali Ibn Abi Talib the successor of the Holy Prophet and once again after the Holy Prophet’s death, at the place called Babal.

This event has been reported by many reliable companions of the Holy Prophet viz. Abu- Darda, Miqdad, Jabir and Abdullah Ibn Abbas. Jovairiah bin Mushir has also reported the event.

Jabir relates saying that once the Holy Prophet standing along with a crowd of his companions and addressing them said:

“O’ people! This Ali son of Abu Talib is the Chief of the Arabs, the Superior-most of my heirs. He is to me as Aaron mas to Moses, save that there is no apostle after me loves him God and his Apostle. No repentance or turning to God is acceptable but along with love for or attachment to him.”

Having said this the Holy Prophet turned to Hisan the famous poet and said: “Get up and speak thou on this factor.” Hisan got up and said:

“No repentance of any repentant is accepted but with the love for Ali son of Abu Talib.”

“He is the Brother of the Apostle of God and his Son-in-law incomparable with any of the companions.”

“O’ people who can be compared to Ai, verily, the Sun returned for him from the West (i.e., after having set).”

This declaration of the Holy Prophet and also the fact of the Sun returning after having set, has been vouched by many great traditionist authorities.

The wandering of the people of Moses was limited only to forty years but the straying of the breakers of the Last Covenant of the Last Apostle of God shall last till the re-appearance of the Last Imam of the House of the Holy Prophet (i.e., of the Ahl Al-Bayt). (A.P.)

• 1. Refer to Verse 4:54.
• 2. Aron.