Appearance
Verses 20–26
The verses are not without connection with the preceding ones: they show how they broke some of the covenants they had made for listening to and obeying Moses. How they confronted Moses with open rejection of his order and how they were inflicted for the sin with the Divine punishment of wandering in wilderness.
وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ يَا قَوْمِ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ جَعَلَ فِيكُمْ أَنْبِيَاءَ وَجَعَلَكُمْ مُلُوكًا وَآتَاكُمْ مَا لَمْ يُؤْتِ أَحَدًا مِنَ الْعَالَمِينَ ٢٠
(5:20) And when Moses said to his people: “O my people! Remember the favor of Allah upon you when He raised prophets among you and made you kings and gave you what He had not given any other in the worlds.”
The verses related to Moses’ life show that this incident—the call of Moses to them to enter the holy land—had occurred after their exodus from Egypt; as the phrase: “and made you kings,” in this verse too proves it.
The clause: “and gave you what He had not given any other in the worlds,” shows that before that time they were favored with several signs of divine favor, like manna and quails, gushing forth of water from stone and making the clouds to give shade over them.
The phrase: the nation of transgressors, repeated twice, shows that even before this event they were habitually opposing and disobeying the divine messenger, that is, Moses, until transgression became a confirmed trait of their character.
All these aspects prove that this wandering in wilderness had occurred during the last phase of Moses’s life among them, and that most of the events described in the Qur’an concerning them had taken place before it.
Moses’ words: “Remember the favor of God upon you,” point to the sum total of all the favors God had bestowed on them. He has used it to prepare them for what he was going to command them, that is, to enter the holy land. He reminded them of the Lord’s favors, in order that they might become enthusiastic for receiving more favors and blessings. God had bestowed His bounties upon them by sending Moses to them, guiding them to His religion, delivering them from Pharaoh, sending the Torah to them and legislating a shariah. They had got almost everything; now there was only one thing to complete these favors that they should have a holy land where they would live in and rule over it independently.
Moses, while enumerating the favors, divided them into three categories:
First, ... He raised prophets among you: It could refer to the prophets in their direct ancestral line, that is, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and those after them, or specifically to those from the Children of Israel, that is, Joseph, the tribes, Moses and Aaron. Prophethood is another favor.
Second, ... and made you kings: The word mulūk (plural of al-malik) is usually translated as “kings.” Here it means: free from humiliation of Pharaohs’ subjugation, independent of tyrants’ oppression. He is truly a king who independently manages the affairs of his own self, his family and his property. The Israelites, at the time of Moses, followed a social system that was the best of all. It was the system of monotheism which exhorted them to obey God and His messenger, to enforce complete justice in society and non-aggression against other nations; they did not allow anyone of their group to acquire mastery over them; there was no such class distinction among them which could disrupt their social order. There was no one over them except Moses—and he was a prophet who did not behave like a king or a tribal chief who gains upper hand unjustly.
Someone has offered another explanation for this phrase: “made you kings”; that God had decreed that there would be kings among them beginning with Tālūt, then David and going to their last king. The speech, accordingly, refers to the future and is the news of the unseen, because kingdom did not come to them except sometime after Moses. There is no difficulty in this explanation, except that the phrase: “and made you kings,” does not agree with it. If this explanation were perfect, God would have said: ‘and made among you kings’, as He has said: “He raised prophets among you.”
Possibly, the “kingdom” could merely indicate concentration of authority in some members; it would then include the custom of sheikhdom. In this light, Moses too would be a king, followed by Joshua; before them Joseph was king; this would reach to well-known kings, Tālūt, David, Solomon and others. But the above-mentioned objection applies to this explanation also.
Third, ... and gave you what He had not given any other in the worlds: It reminds them of the divine care and blessings that were joined with clear important signs. Those favors guaranteed that their lives would improve and straighten out if they remained firm on their words and adhered to their covenant. Those were the clear signs that surrounded them from all sides during their stay in Egypt, and after they were delivered from Pharaoh and his people. It is a fact that no nation before Moses’s time was given so many and so continuous signs, miracles, and brilliant proofs. Israelites were the first to be blessed with such favors in their nation’s life.
Accordingly, there is no reason to say (as some have done) that “the worlds” means ‘worlds of that time’. The verse asserts that no nation throughout the world up to that time was blessed with so many favors as were the Israelites. And it is a fact.
يَا قَوْمِ ادْخُلُوا الْأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلَا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنْقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ ٢١
(5:21) “O my people! Enter the holy land, which Allah has prescribed for you and turn not on your backs, for then you will turn back losers.”
Moses ordered them to enter the holy land; but looking at their past he knew they would not obey him. That is why he emphasized the order by forbidding them to turn on their backs and warning them of the consequences of disobedience, that they would turn losers.
The proof that he was apprehensive of their disobedience because of their past behavior is found in his description “transgressors” used for them after their refusal to enter. Just one disobedience does not justify the use of this active participle for them; it is generally used when one repeatedly and continuously indulges in that action.
The land is described as holy. Exegetes have explained it as the land free from polytheism because prophets and believers made it their abode. There is nothing in the Qur’an to explain this word. Yet there are in it other expressions nearer in meaning. For example:
... to the remote mosque of which We have blessed the precincts ... (). And We made the people who were deemed weak to inherit the East and the West of the land, which we had blessed; ... (). To bless a land means only to place in it a great good; and a part of that great good is establishment of the religion and removal of the impurity of polytheism.
The clause: “God has prescribed for you,” apparently means that God had decreed that they would abide therein. The later coming clause: So it shall surely be forbidden to them for forty years, does not contradict it, rather it supports it, because the clause: “God has prescribed for you,” is general, it has left vague many details—it does not say for what time and for whom it has been assigned; it is addressed to the ummah without specifying who comes under its circle. It has been said that all the people who had been addressed and were given that order, had expired and perished in the wilderness, and it was their sons and grandsons who entered the holy land under Joshua b. Nun. In any case, the clause: So it shall surely be forbidden to them for forty years, indicates that this assignment was to take place after this period.
This prescription is seen in the verses: And We desired to bestow a favor upon those who were deemed weak in the land, and to make them the Imams, and to make them the heirs, and to grant them power in the land (). Moses hoped that his people would get that land provided they sought help from God and were patient, as God says: Moses said to his people: “Ask help from Allah and be patient; surely the land is Allah’s; He causes such of His servants to inherit it as He pleases, and the end is for those who fear (God).”They said: “We have been persecuted before you came to us and since you have come to us.” He said: “It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you rulers in the land, then He will see how you act” (7:128–9).
And it is this promise whose fulfilment is mentioned in these words: And We made the people who were deemed weak to inherit the East and the West of the land which We had blessed; and the good word of your Lord was fulfilled in the Children of Israel because they bore up (sufferings) patiently; ... (). This verse shows that their domination over the holy land and their settlement there was a divine word; a decided fact and firm decree provided they remained patient in God’s obedience, in avoidance of His disobedience and in bitter happenings.
We have widened the circle of patience because the verse is unrestricted, and also because hard events were piling up over them during Moses’s time in addition to the divine commands and prohibitions. The more they persisted in disobedience, the harder became their assignments, as may be seen in their stories mentioned in the noble Qur’an.
This is the apparent Qur’anic connotation of prescription of the holy land for them. Yet the verses are vague as to its time and extent. However, the following verses make it clear that this prescription was conditional, not unrestricted, or irrevocable: It may be that your Lord will have mercy on you, and if you again return (to disobedience) We too will return (to punishment). And We have made hell a prison for the unbelievers (); [Moses’s words in the above-mentioned verse]: “It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you rulers in the land, then He will see how you act” (7:128–9). And when Moses said to his people: “Call to mind Allah’s favor to you when He delivered you from Pharaoh’s people ... And when your Lord made it known: ‘If you are grateful, I would certainly give you more; and if you are ungrateful, My chastisement is truly severe’” ().
An exegete has said that the words of Moses, God has prescribed for you, refer to the promise God had given to Abraham; then he quoted from the Old Testament the divine promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that He would give the land to their progeny; and has gone to some length in this topic. But keeping in view the limit we have put for our book, it is not of much concern to us to discuss it, no matter whether those promises were in the original Torah or are the handiwork of manipulators and forgers. Certainly the Qur’an is not explained through the Torah.
قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّ فِيهَا قَوْمًا جَبَّارِينَ وَإِنَّا لَنْ نَدْخُلَهَا حَتَّىٰ يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فَإِنْ يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فَإِنَّا دَاخِلُونَ ٢٢
(5:22) They said: “O Moses! surely there is a strong race in it, and we will on no account enter it until they go out from it, so if they go out from it, then surely we will enter.”
al-Rāghib has said:
“The real meaning of al-Jabr is to restore a thing with some force. It is said: Jabartuhu fa-injabara wa ijtabara, ‘I mended it, so it became mended and restored.’”
He further says:
“Sometimes al-Jabr is used for restoring and mending [without connotation of force]; for example, the saying of ʿAlī (may God be pleased with him): ‘O who sets every broken (thing or heart), O who makes easy every difficult (situation or problem)’; in this sense they call bread Jābir b. habbah (restorer son of grain); at other times it is used for force and compulsion only, as [the Prophet] has said: La jabra wa la tafwīd (‘There is no compulsion nor delegation’).”
He goes on to say:
“al-Ijbār (to compel) actually means to make someone to restore another one, but it is commonly used for mere compulsion; the clause: ‘I forced him’, has the meaning of, ‘I compelled him’.”
He has further explained:
“al-Jabbār (tyrant, gigantic, insolent) when used for a man implies that having a defect, he tries to make it up by claiming for himself a high position which he does not deserve. It is only used in derogatory sense. God says: ... and every insolent opposer was disappointed []. and He has not made me insolent, unblessed []. ‘... there is a strong race in it’ ().”
Also he writes:
“Keeping in view the idea of overwhelming by towering over one’s fellows, they say: a jabbārah (giant) date tree; a jabbārah (colossal) she-camel.”
It is now clear that “strong race” in this verse refers to the group with power and authority who compel people to obey them.
The sentence, “and we will never enter it until they go out from it,” makes their entering the land conditional on the exit of the strong race from it; in reality it is rejection of Moses’s order, although they promised again to enter it if their condition was met: “so if they go out from it, them surely we will enter.”
A number of traditions have been narrated describing those Amalekites, how huge were their bodies and how tall their stature, they contain such strange things as no sane person can accept; no archaeological findings support those stories, nor any physical research has found their trace. Obviously those traditions are mere forgeries, inserted in Islamic literature.
قَالَ رَجُلَانِ مِنَ الَّذِينَ يَخَافُونَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمَا ادْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْبَابَ فَإِذَا دَخَلْتُمُوهُ فَإِنَّكُمْ غَالِبُونَ ۚ وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَتَوَكَّلُوا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ ٢٣
(5:23) Two men of those who feared, upon both of whom Allah had bestowed a favor, said: “Enter upon them by the gate, for when you have entered it you shall surely be victorious, and on Allah you should rely if you are believers.”
The context clearly shows that the fear means fear of God; there were people who feared God and avoided disobedience of God and His prophet; and these two men belonged to that group; that is why they said what they said. Moreover, they had a distinction among that group that God had bestowed His favor upon them, it has been earlier mentioned in this book that when “favor” comes in the Qur’an without any condition, it denotes divine wilāyah (friendship); so, the two men were among the friends of God. This in itself indicates that the above-mentioned fear refers to fear of God, because friends of God are not afraid of anything, they fear only God. He says: Now surely the friends of Allah—they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve ().
It may possibly be said that bestowal of divine favor is related to fear; that is, God had bestowed His fear upon them. In the phrase: “those who feared,” object of the verb, “feared,” is omitted because it is understood from the phrase: “upon both of whom God had bestowed a favor,” because clearly they were not afraid of the strong race, otherwise they would not have exhorted the Israelites to enter as they said: “‘Enter upon them by the gate’ .”
Some exegetes have given a strange explanation: The phrase: “of those who feared,” means: Two men from among those whom the Children of Israel feared and upon both whom God had bestowed a favor by guiding them to Islam. They support it with the recital of Ibn Jubayr, who read, yukhāfūn (in passive case; meaning: they were feared). They say: Two men from the Amalekites had believed in Moses and joined the Children of Israel, then they advised them as described in the verse, showing the way to vanquish Amalekites and capture their towns and land.
This explanation is based on some explanatory traditions; but they are solitary narratives, and are not supported by the Qur’an, etc.
“Enter upon them by the gate”: “Gate” may refer to the first town of that strong race, nearest to the Israelites; reportedly, it was called Arihā’, such usage is not uncommon. Or it may refer to the gate of the town.
“for when you have entered it you shall surely be victorious”: It was their promise to the Israelites for victory over the enemy. They gave such a definite promise, as they had full faith in Moses who had said that God had prescribed the holy land for them—because they knew that his statements were true. Or, probably they knew about this victory through the light of divine friendship.
Most of the Shīʾah and Sunnī exegetes have written that the two men were Joshua b. Nun and Caleb b. Yuqina, and that they were among the twelve chiefs of the Israelites.
Then the two men invited them to rely on God: “and on God should you rely if you are believers,” because God is sufficient for him who relies on Him; the call was meant to set their minds at rest and give them encouragement.
قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنَّا لَنْ نَدْخُلَهَا أَبَدًا مَا دَامُوا فِيهَا ۖ فَاذْهَبْ أَنْتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَاتِلَا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ ٢٤
(5:24) They said: “O Moses! We shall never enter it at all so long as they remain therein; go therefore you and your Lord, then fight you both, surely we will here sit down.”
They repeated their refusal, “We shall never enter it,” in order to make Moses lose all hope of their compliance, so that he should not go on telling them to enter.
This speech is full of derision, insult and contempt for Moses and the divine order and promise that he had conveyed to them. The sentences are set in an amazing way: They totally ignored the advice of the two men who had told them to obey Moses’s order, as if they did not deserve any reply; then they told off Moses in a few words after they had talked with him in the beginning to some length and given him their reason, etc. Resorting in argumentation to brevity after lengthy talk indicates that the speaker is tired of talking with his opposite party and does not like to hear his voice any more. Then they emphasized the repeated refusal, “We shall never enter it,” with the word, “at all”; then their stupidity emboldened them to commit the most improper folly when they told Moses: “go therefore you and your Lord, then fight you both, surely we will here sit down.” This speech very clearly proves that they thought, like Idol-worshippers, that God had a body like His creatures. And they were like this, for God quotes them as saying: And We made the Children of Israel to pass the sea; then they came upon a people who kept to the worship of their idols. They said: “O Moses! Make for us a god as they have (their) gods.” He said: “Surely you are a people acting ignorantly.” (). To this day they have continued to believe in anthropomorphization and embodiment of God, as their books clearly show.
قَالَ رَبِّ إِنِّي لَا أَمْلِكُ إِلَّا نَفْسِي وَأَخِي ۖ فَافْرُقْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِقِينَ ٢٥
(5:25) He said: “My Lord! Surely I have no control (upon any) but my own self and (so does) my brother; therefore make a separation between us and the nation of transgressors.”
The context shows that the clause: “Surely I have no control (upon any) but my own self and (so does) my brother,” is an indirect declaration that he cannot make anyone accept his call except his own self and his brother. Obviously he could himself follow the divine command and call his brother, Aaron, to do so; his brother was, after all, a messenger prophet and was his successor in his life, he could not go against the divine commands. Another meaning: Moses had no control except on his own self, and likewise his brother had no control except on himself.
Moses did not mean that he had no power at all even in making someone to listen to his invitation to belief. Such an explanation does not agree with the context: Certainly there were the two men who feared and many others who believed in him and had accepted his call. What we should ponder upon is the fact that he had not included even his and his brother’s families in the people under his control, while obviously they were not disobedient to him in any way.
This mystery is solved when we look at the context and the situation. Moses had called his people to a legitimate responsibility; he put all his efforts in it; but the Israeli society rejected his call in a very ignominious and repulsive manner. This situation demanded that he should say to God: ‘O my Lord! I diligently conveyed your message to them, but in this affair I have no control on anyone except my own self, and so does my brother; we have discharged the responsibility put on our shoulders; but these people confronted us with total refusal. Now, we have lost hope concerning them and our path is blocked. Now, we pray to You to open this knot and with Your Lordship, pave the way for them to get your complete favor, that they may inherit the land and be made successors in it. O Lord! Decide and judge between these transgressors and us.’
They had in past disobeyed Moses on many occasions: in their demand to see the Lord, in worship of the calf, in entering the door saying hittah, etc. But this time they transgressed all limits; they openly rejected Moses’s call in a very rude manner. If Moses had left them in their insolence, and remained silent on their flaunting his order, it would have been the end of his prophetic call; his orders and prohibitions would have lost their value and the society would have disintegrated, losing the unity which Moses had established with so much trouble.
The above statement shows that:
First: The situation demanded that Moses should mention his own condition and that of his brother while complaining to God, because these two were the conveyors of the divine message, and should not refer to other believers’ condition (even though they were not insubordinate), because the others had no concern with tablīgh and mission. The context required description of the conveyor of the order, not of those who accepted the call, followed, and obeyed the divine commandment.
Second: The situation also demanded that Moses should turn to his Lord with this complaint, which in reality was a call to God to help him in enforcement of His command.
Third: The clause, “and my brother,” is in conjunction with “I” in, “Surely I have no control,” The meaning thus will be as follows: and my brother too, like me, has no control except on his own self. It is not in conjunction with, “my own self,” which would imply that he had no control except on himself and on his brother, because it would not agree with context, although both connotations are correct in themselves. Moses and Aaron both had control on their own selves in obedience and compliance, and Moses had control on Aaron that he would obey him (Moses), because he was Moses’s successor in his life; likewise, both had control on sincere believers that they would listen to, and obey them.
Fourth: The sentence: ‘therefore make a separation between us and the nation of transgressors.” Moses does not invoke God against the Children of Israel that He should enforce on them His final judgement by sending punishment on them, or by separating Moses and Aaron from them (by removing them from there or by giving death to both brothers); Moses was calling them to what God had prescribed for them with completion of favor, and it was through him that God bestowed His blessings on the Israelites by delivering them and making them successors in land—all on his hands, as God says: And We desired to bestow a favor upon those who were deemed weak in the land, and to make them the Imams, and to make them the heirs (). Also the Israelites were aware of the role of Moses in their lives, as God quotes them as saying: They said: “We have been persecuted before you came to us and since you have come to us.” He said: “It may be that your Lord will destroy your enemy and make you rulers in the land, then He will see how you act” ().
Another evidence may be found in the divine advice to Moses: therefore do not grieve for the nation of transgressors (). It shows that Moses was afraid of divine punishment overtaking them, and not unexpectedly he would grieve for them when they were encircled in the wilderness.
قَالَ فَإِنَّهَا مُحَرَّمَةٌ عَلَيْهِمْ ۛ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً ۛ يَتِيهُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ فَلَا تَأْسَ عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِقِينَ ٢٦
(5:26) He said: “So it shall surely be forbidden to them for forty years, they shall wander about in the land, therefore do not grieve for the nation of transgressors.”
The pronoun, “it,” refer to the holy land. The forbidding implies divine creative decree to that effect; al-Tīh (wondering, wilderness); “in the land”: “the” here refers to the land where they were at that time; “do not grieve”: Moses is advised not to be sorry for them. God has confirmed here Moses’s description of his people as “transgressors.”
Meaning: The holy land, that is, entering and capturing it is forbidden to them, that is, We have decreed that they would not be able to enter it for forty years; they will wander in the land all those years—neither will they be ‘civilized’ and dwell in a town, nor will they be ‘bedouins’ living a life of desert-dwellers; do not grieve for the nation of transgressors because of this chastisement, because they are transgressors, one should not be sorry for them when they are inflicted with retribution of their deeds.
Examining Narrations
- Ibn Abī Hātim has narrated from Abū Saʾīd al-Khudrī that the Messenger of God said: “The Children of Israel, if one of them had a servant, a riding animal and a woman he was written a king.” (al-Durr al-manthūr)
- Abū Dāwūd has narrated in his marāsīl from Zayd b. Aslam, in explanation of: and made you kings, that the Messenger of God said: “A wife, house and servant.” (ibid.)
Author’s comments: [al-Suyūtī] has narrated other traditions too of the same theme. But the verse’s context does not agree with this explanation. Although it was possible that the Israelites used to call everyone having a house, woman and servant a king, or write him as king, yet obviously not all of them (even their servants!) fulfilled this condition and had houses, women and servants. Certainly, only some of them were of that status, as is the case in other nations and generations; acquiring house, wives and servants is a worldwide custom and no nation is without houses, wives, and servants. Therefore, it was not something particularly bestowed on the Children of Israel, so that God should count it as a special favor to them that He made them kings—and the verse counts His special favors.
Probably awareness to this defect has led some narrators to say—as is narrated by Qatādah—that the Israelites were first to have servants! But history does not agree with it.
- al-Mufīd narrates through his chains through Abū Hamzah from Abū Jaʾfar that he said: “When Moses arrived with them near the holy land, he told them: ‘Enter the holy land which Allah has prescribed for you and turn not on your backs, for then you will turn back losers.’ And God had certainly prescribed it for them. They said: ‘Surely there is a strong race in it, and we will never enter it until they go out from it, so if they go out from it, then surely we will enter.’ Two men of those who feared, upon both of whom Allah had bestowed a favor, said: ‘Enter upon them by the gate, for when you have entered it you shall surely be victorious, and on Allah you should rely if you are believers.’ They said: ‘O Moses! We shall never enter it at all so long as they remain therein; go therefore you and your Lord, then fight you both, surely we will here sit down.’ He said: ‘My Lord! Surely I have no control (upon any) but my own self and (so does) my brother; therefore make a separation between us and the nation of transgressors.’ So, when they refused to enter it God made it forbidden to them, and they kept wandering within about four parasang for forty years, wandering in the land; therefore do not grieve for the nation of transgressors.”
Abū ʿAbdillāh said: “When evening came, their crier called: ‘Departure’, so they set out with chanting and songs; until came the dawn, and God ordered the land to turn round with them, and in the morning they found themselves in the place which they had started from, then they said (to one another): ‘Certainly you lost the way.’ They remained in this (punishment) for forty years; and manna and quails were sent down to them; until all of them had died except two persons, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Yuqina as well as the children of the (first generation). They kept wandering within for about four parasang. When they wanted to go from there, their clothes and socks dried up upon them.” He said: “They had with them a rock; when they came down, Moses hit on it with his staff and there gushed out twelve streams from it, one stream for each tribe; and when they departed, the water returned to the rock and it was put on an animal ... “ (al-Amālī, al-Mufīd)
Author’s comments: There are so many traditions of nearly the same meaning narrated through Shīʾah and Sunnī chains. The words, “Abū ʿAbdillāh said,” indicate beginning of another tradition.
Although these traditions give such details about the wandering and other matters that are not expressly supported by the verses, yet they do not contain anything, which might be considered against the Book. Actually the affairs of Israelites in the time of Moses were amazing, and their life was surrounded on all sides by supernatural happenings; therefore, there is nothing wrong if their wandering had the features mentioned in the traditions.
- Masadah b. Sadaqah narrates from Abū ʿAbdillāh that he was asked about the words: enter the holy land which Allah has prescribed for you; he said. “He wrote it for them, then erased it, then wrote it for their children; so they (the children) entered it; Allah erases what He pleases, and establishes (likewise), and with Him is the basis of the Book [].” (al-Tafsīr, al-ʿAyyāshī)
Author’s comments: This theme has been narrated also by Ismā’īl al-Juʾfī from Abū ʿAbdillāh, and by Zurārah, Humrān and Muḥammad b. Muslim from Abū Jaʾfar. The Imam has looked at the generation which received from Moses the order to enter the land with assurance that it was prescribed for them and at the generation which actually entered it; this resulted in al-badāʾ regarding the generation prescribed for. It does not go against the apparent context of the verse, which shows that those who were prescribed for had entered the land; it was forbidden to them for forty years, then they entered it. In fact, the order was given to the Israeli society collectively; thus the same people entered it for whom it was prescribed, because all were one nation and one society. It was prescribed to that society to enter, then it was forbidden for a time, then they succeeded in entering. In this light, there was no badāʾ, although looking at the particular people there certainly was badāʾ.
- [al-Kulaynī] has narrated through his chains from ʿAbd al-Rahmān b. Yazīd that Abū ʿAbdillāh, said: “The Messenger of God, said: ‘The Prophet David died on Saturday morning, so the birds overshadowed him with their wings, and Moses (Kalīmullāh) died in wilderness, so a crier announced from the sky: “Moses has died, and which soul would not die?”’” (al-Kāfī)
King Saul in the Bible. (Ed.) ↩︎
The Genesis reports that when Abraham passed into the land of Canaan, the Lord appeared unto him and said: “Unto thy seed will I give this land” (Gen. ); “In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram [Abraham], saying, ‘Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.’” (Gen. )
The Deuteronomy gives the following details: “The Lord our God spoke unto us in Horeb, saying, ‘Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.’” (Deut. 1:6–8). (Auth.) ↩︎
That is, Marāsīl is the plural of mursal. al-Ahādīth al-Mursalah means the traditions which one relates as on the authority of a tābiʾī (one next in the order of time after the sahābah) by tracing up the ascription thereof uninterruptedly to him; when the tābiʾī says, “The Messenger of God said, ...” without mentioning a sahābī who heard it from the Messenger of God. (Ed.) ↩︎
The Prophet whom God spoke to. (Ed.) ↩︎