Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:61
And [recall] when you said, "O Moses, we can never endure one [kind of] food. So call upon your Lord to bring forth for us from the earth its green herbs and its cucumbers and its garlic and its lentils and its onions." [Moses] said, "Would you exchange what is better for what is less? Go into [any] settlement and indeed, you will have what you have asked." And they were covered with humiliation and poverty and returned with anger from Allah [upon them]. That was because they [repeatedly] disbelieved in the signs of Allah and killed the prophets without right. That was because they disobeyed and were [habitually] transgressing.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَإِذْ قُلْتُمْ يَا مُوسَى لَنْ نَصْبِرَ عَلَى طَعَامٍ وَاحِدٍ فَادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُخْرِجْ لَنَا مِمَّا تُنْبِتُ الأَرْضُ مِنْ بَقْلِهَا وَقِثَّائِهَا وَفُومِهَا وَعَدَسِهَا وَبَصَلِهَا
(And when you said: "O Mūsā, we will not be patient with one single kind of food; so call upon your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us of what the earth grows of its herbs, its cucumbers, its fūm, its lentils, and its onions.") (2:61)
We have already explained earlier what the meaning of "patience" (al-ṣabr) is: namely the restraining and withholding of the soul from something. If that is so, then the meaning of the verse is therefore: And remember when you said — O community of the Children of Israel: "We will not be able to withhold our souls upon one single kind of food." And that "one kind of food" is that which Allah, exalted be His praise, has reported that He fed them in their wandering in the wilderness, namely "the quails" (al-salwā) — according to the saying of some of the exegetes; and according to the saying of Wahb ibn Munabbih it is "the pure bread with the meat" — "So ask your Lord for us that He may bring forth for us of what the earth grows of herbs and cucumbers", and what Allah named therewith. And He mentioned that they asked Mūsā for this.
* * *
And the reason for their asking Mūsā about that was, according to what has been transmitted to us, the following:
1054 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related it to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying (And when you said: "O Mūsā, we will not be patient with one single kind of food"), he said: The people were in the wilderness; the clouds were spread over them as shade and upon them was sent down the manna and the quails. Then they grew weary of that and remembered a life they had had in Egypt, and they asked Mūsā about this. Then Allah, the Exalted, said: اهْبِطُوا مِصْرًا فَإِنَّ لَكُمْ مَا سَأَلْتُمْ (Go down to a city, for indeed for you is what you have asked for.)
1055 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related it to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying (We will not be patient with one single kind of food), he said: They grew weary of their food and remembered their life in which they had previously lived, and they said: (Call upon your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us of what the earth grows of its herbs, its cucumbers, and its fūm) — the verse.
1056 – Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His saying (And when you said: "O Mūsā, we will not be patient with one single kind of food"), he said: Their food was the quails and their drink was the manna. They asked for what is mentioned, and it was said to them: اهْبِطُوا مِصْرًا فَإِنَّ لَكُمْ مَا سَأَلْتُمْ (Go down to a city, for indeed for you is what you have asked for.)
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And Qatāda said: When they had arrived in Syria (al-Shām), they missed their foods which they were accustomed to eat, and they said: (Call upon your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us of what the earth grows of its herbs, its cucumbers, its fūm, its lentils, and its onions). And the clouds had been spread over them as shade and upon them had been sent down the manna and the quails, but they grew weary of that and remembered a life they had had in Egypt.
1057 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, saying: I heard Ibn Abī Najīḥ concerning the saying of the Almighty, the Exalted (We will not be patient with one single kind of food): the manna and the quails; and they desired in place of that the herbs and what is mentioned along with it.
1058 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, with exactly the same.
1059 – Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, with the same.
1060 – Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: There was given to them in the wandering of the wilderness what was given to them, but they grew weary of that and said: (O Mūsā, we will not be patient with one single kind of food; so call upon your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us of what the earth grows of its herbs, its cucumbers, its fūm, its lentils, and its onions.)
1061 – Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd informed us, saying: The food of the Children of Israel in the wandering of the wilderness was one single kind and their drink was one single kind. Their drink was honey which descended to them from the sky, called the manna, and their food was a bird, called the quail; they ate the bird and drank the honey, and they knew neither bread nor anything else. Then they said: "O Mūsā, we will not be patient with one single kind of food; so call upon your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us of what the earth grows of its herbs" — and he recited on until he reached: اهْبِطُوا مِصْرًا فَإِنَّ لَكُمْ مَا سَأَلْتُمْ (Go down to a city, for indeed for you is what you have asked for.)
* * *
And the Exalted, glorified be His mention, said only: (that He may bring forth for us of what the earth grows) — and He did not name that which they asked that he call upon his Lord to bring forth for them from the earth — such that He would say: they said: "Call upon your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us this and that of what the earth grows of its herbs and its cucumbers". This is because "min" (of) can have the meaning of indicating a portion of what follows it, so that one suffices with "min" without expressly naming the portion, since by its entering, the meaning of what is intended by the clause in which it stands is known. This is like when someone says: "This morning there is at so-and-so's some of the food" (min al-ṭaʿām), by which he means some of it.
And some have said: "min" here has the meaning of superfluousness and omission. According to his view, the meaning of the saying would then be: that He may bring forth for us what the earth grows of its herbs. And he adduced as proof for this the saying of the Arabs: "I have not seen anyone of anybody" (mā raʾaytu min aḥad), with the meaning: "I have not seen anybody"; and the saying of Allah: وَيُكَفِّرُ عَنْكُمْ مِنْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ (And He will expiate for you of your evil deeds) [al-Baqarah: 271]; and their saying: "There was a story, so leave me be that I may go," by which they mean: "There was a story."
And a group of the linguists has denied that "min" in any part of the language would have the meaning of superfluousness, and they claimed that its entering, in every place into which it enters, signifies that the speaker intends a part of that into which it has entered, and not the whole of it, and that it does not enter into any place except for an intelligible meaning.
The explanation of the saying is therefore — in accordance with what we have described concerning "min" —: "So call upon your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us a part of what the earth grows of its herbs and its cucumbers."
* * *
And "the herbs" (al-baql), "the cucumbers" (al-qiththāʾ), "the lentils" (al-ʿadas), and "the onions" (al-baṣal), that is what people mutually know of the crops and the seeds of the earth.
* * *
As for "the fūm", the exegetes have differed concerning it. Some of them said: it is the wheat and the bread.
* Mention of who said that:
1062 – Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad and Muʾammal both related to us, they said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, he said: The fūm: that is the bread.
1063 – Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ and Mujāhid, concerning His saying (and its fūm), they both said: its bread.
1064 – Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Abī Zāʾida and Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr both related to me, they said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā ibn Maymūn, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (and its fūm), he said: the bread.
1065 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda and al-Ḥasan: The fūm, that is the grain that the people bake into bread.
1066 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda and al-Ḥasan, with the same.
1067 – Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥuṣayn informed us, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning His saying (and its fūm), he said: the wheat.
1068 – Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ ibn Naṣr related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (and its fūm), the wheat.
1069 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, and on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning His saying (and its fūm): the wheat.
1070 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: The fūm, the grain from which the people bake bread.
1071 – Al-Qāsim related to me, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ said to me concerning His saying (and its fūm), he said: its bread; Mujāhid said it [also].
1072 – Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said to me: The fūm, that is the bread.
1073 – Yaḥyā ibn ʿUthmān al-Sahmī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying (and its fūm), he says: the wheat and the bread.
1074 – It was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb, he said: Bishr related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying (and its fūm), he said: it is the wheat grain itself, the grain.
1075 – ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Muslim al-Jarmī related to us, saying: ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus related to us, on the authority of Rishdīn ibn Kurayb, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the saying of Allah, the Almighty, the Exalted (and its fūm), he said: The fūm, that is the wheat in the language of the Banū Hāshim.
1076 – ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Manṣūr related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ ibn Abī Nuʿaym, that ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās was asked about the saying of Allah (and its fūm). He said: the wheat. Have you not heard the saying of Uḥayḥa ibn al-Julāḥ, in which he says:
I was indeed the wealthiest of people, as a single person, when Medina was supplied from the cultivating of fūm.
* * *
And others said: it is the garlic (al-thawm).
* Mention of who said that:
1077 – Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Ahwāzī related to me, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: it is this garlic.
1078 – Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, he said: The fūm, that is the garlic.
* * *
And in some readings (qirāʾāt) it is "and its garlic" (wa-thūmihā).
* * *
And it has been mentioned that the naming of both the wheat and the bread as "fūm" belongs to the old language. It has been transmitted, heard from the speakers of this language: "Bake fūm for us" (fūmū lanā), with the meaning: "Bake bread for us."
* * *
And it has been mentioned that this is the reading of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd: "and its thūm" with the thāʾ. If that is correct, then it belongs to the interchanged letters, like their saying: "They fell into a pool of evil" (ʿāthūr / ʿāfūr sharr), and like their saying for "the support-stones of the cooking pot" (al-athāfī): athāthī; and for "the mughāfīr": mughāthīr, and the like, in which the thāʾ is changed into a fāʾ and the fāʾ into a thāʾ, because of the nearness of the place of articulation of the fāʾ to that of the thāʾ. And the "mughāfīr" resembles something sweet, it is compared to honey; it descends sweet from the sky and falls upon the trees and the like.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: قَالَ أَتَسْتَبْدِلُونَ الَّذِي هُوَ أَدْنَى بِالَّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ
(He said: "Would you exchange that which is less for that which is better?")
He means by His saying (He said: "Would you exchange that which is less for that which is better?"): Mūsā said to them: Would you take that which is lesser in importance, value, and standing as sustenance, in exchange for that which is better than it in importance, value, and standing? And that was their exchanging.
* * *
And the root meaning of "exchanging" (al-istibdāl) is: the leaving of something in favor of something else, in the place of that which is left.
* * *
And the meaning of His saying (adnā) is: lesser, lower, and smaller in standing and importance. Its root form comes from their saying: "This is a contemptible man (rajul daniyy), clearly of lowliness", and "He indeed strives after the low in things" (yudannī) — without hamza, when he pursues the contemptible thereof. And the hamza has been mentioned among some of the Arabs in this connection, as something heard from them. They say: "You were not contemptible (dāniʾan), but you have become contemptible (danaʾta)." And one of our companions recited to me on the authority of another, that he heard some of the Banū Kilāb recite the verse of al-Aʿshā:
Brave in temper are their coats of mail, white, up to the visible outer surface of them.
— with the hamza in dāniʾihā; and that he heard them say: "He is indeed contemptible and wicked" (dāniʾ khabīth), with the hamza. If that is correct from them, then the hamza in it is a dialectal variant, and its omission is another.
* * *
And there is no doubt that whoever exchanges the manna and the quails for the herbs, the cucumbers, the lentils, the onions, and the garlic, has indeed exchanged the low sustenance for the exalted of it.
* * *
And some have explained His saying (that which is adnā) with the meaning: that which is nearer, and they took His saying (adnā) as being the afʿal-form of "al-dunuww", which has the meaning of nearness.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning the meaning of His saying (that which is adnā), a number of the exegetes have explained it in their exegesis.
* Mention of who said that:
1079 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: (Would you exchange that which is less for that which is better), he says: Would you exchange that which is worse for that which is better than it?
1080 – Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying (that which is adnā), he said: the worse.
* * *
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted, glorified be His mention: اهْبِطُوا مِصْرًا فَإِنَّ لَكُمْ مَا سَأَلْتُمْ
(Go down to a city, for indeed for you is what you have asked for.)
And the explanation of it is: Then Mūsā called upon [his Lord], and We answered him, and We said to them: "Go down to a city." This belongs to the omitted, in which one suffices with the indication of the visible portion regarding the mention of what is omitted and left from it.
* * *
And we have already explained earlier that the meaning of "the descending" (al-hubūṭ) to a place is only the coming down to it and the settling in it.
* * *
The explanation of the verse is therefore: And when you said: "O Mūsā, we will not be patient with one single kind of food; so call upon your Lord for us, that He may bring forth for us of what the earth grows of its herbs, its cucumbers, its fūm, its lentils, and its onions." Mūsā said to them: "Would you exchange that which is lesser and worse as sustenance for that which is better than it?" Then Mūsā called upon his Lord for them that He should give them what they asked, and Allah answered his call and gave them what they desired, and Allah said to them: (Go down to a city, for indeed for you is what you have asked for.)
* * *
Then the reciters differed concerning the reading of His saying (miṣran). Most of the reciters read it: "miṣran", with tanwīn upon "al-miṣr" and as declinable (fully inflected). And some of them read it without tanwīn and with the omission of the alif from it. As for those who provided it with tanwīn and declined it, they meant by it a city among the cities, not a specific city. The explanation of it is therefore — according to their reading —: Go down to a city among the cities, for you are in the wilderness, and that which you desired is not present in the wildernesses and the deserts, but only in the villages and the cities; and then for you — when you have gone down to it — is what you have asked for of sustenance. And it is possible that, for some of those who read this with declension and tanwīn, the explanation of the saying was this: "Go down to Miṣr (Egypt)", the city which is known by this name, namely "Miṣr" from which they had departed; only he declined it and provided it with tanwīn in following of the script of the muṣḥaf, because in the muṣḥaf there is a fixed alif in "Miṣr". Then the manner in which he read this with declension and tanwīn is like the manner of him who read: قَوَارِيرَا * قَوَارِيرَا مِنْ فِضَّةٍ [al-Insān: 15-16] with tanwīn, in his following of the script of the muṣḥaf. As for him who did not provide "Miṣr" with tanwīn, there is no doubt that he meant "Miṣr", which is known by this name, specifically to the exclusion of all the other cities.
* * *
And the exegetes have differed concerning this, in accordance with the difference of the reciters concerning the reading of it.
1081 – Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda: (Go down to a city), that is to say: a city among the cities, for indeed for you is what you have asked for.
1082 – And Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (Go down to a city) among the cities, for indeed for you is what you have asked for. And when they departed from the wandering of the wilderness, the manna and the quails were taken away and they ate the herbs.
1083 – And al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to me, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying (Go down to a city), he said: He means a city among the cities.
1084 – And al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: (Go down to a city), he said: a city among the cities. They claimed that they did not return to Egypt (Miṣr).
1085 – Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: (Go down to a city), he said: a city among the cities. And "Miṣr" is not declined in speech. Then it was asked: which city? He said: The holy land which Allah has prescribed for them. And he read the saying of Allah, exalted be His praise: ادْخُلُوا الأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ (Enter the holy land which Allah has prescribed for you) [al-Māʾida: 21].
* * *
And others said: it is Miṣr (Egypt) in which Farʿawn was.
* Mention of who said that:
1086 – Al-Muthannā related to me, Ādam related to us, Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His saying (Go down to a city), he said: He means by it the Miṣr of Farʿawn.
1087 – It was related to us on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, on the authority of Ibn Abī Jaʿfar, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, the same.
* * *
And among the argumentation of him who said that Allah, exalted be His praise, by His saying (Go down to a city) meant only a city among the cities and not "Miṣr" of Farʿawn specifically, is the following: that Allah made the land of Syria (al-Shām) into dwellings for the Children of Israel after He had caused them to depart from Egypt. And He tested them with the wandering of the wilderness only because of their refusal toward Mūsā in the war against the tyrants, when he said to them: يَا قَوْمِ ادْخُلُوا الأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَى أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنْقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ * قَالُوا يَا مُوسَى إِنَّ فِيهَا قَوْمًا جَبَّارِينَ وَإِنَّا لَنْ نَدْخُلَهَا حَتَّى يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فَإِنْ يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا فَإِنَّا دَاخِلُونَ * قَالَ رَجُلانِ مِنَ الَّذِينَ يَخَافُونَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمَا ادْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْبَابَ فَإِذَا دَخَلْتُمُوهُ فَإِنَّكُمْ غَالِبُونَ وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَتَوَكَّلُوا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ * قَالُوا يَا مُوسَى إِنَّا لَنْ نَدْخُلَهَا أَبَدًا مَا دَامُوا فِيهَا فَاذْهَبْ أَنْتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَاتِلا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ
(O my people, enter the holy land which Allah has prescribed for you, and do not turn back upon your heels, for then you would turn back as losers. * They said: "O Mūsā, indeed in it is a tyrannical people, and we will certainly not enter it until they depart from it; if they then depart from it, then we shall enter." * Two men of those who feared [Allah] — Allah had bestowed a favor upon them — said: "Enter upon them through the gate; and when you have once entered it, then you will be victorious. And put your trust in Allah, if you are believers." * They said: "O Mūsā, we will never enter it as long as they are in it. So go, you and your Lord, and fight, you both; indeed, we are sitting here.") [al-Māʾida: 21-24].
Then Allah, the Almighty and Exalted, forbade those who said this — according to what has been mentioned to us — from entering it, until they perished in the wandering of the wilderness. And He tested them with roaming about in the land for forty years; then He caused their descendants to go down to Syria and settled them in the holy land, and He brought about the destruction of the tyrants by their hands, together with Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn — after the passing of Mūsā ibn ʿImrān. Thus we see that Allah, the Almighty and Exalted, reported concerning them that He prescribed the holy land for them, but He did not report concerning them that He brought them back to Egypt after He had caused them to depart from it, such that it would be permissible for us to read: "Go down to Miṣr" and to explain this in such a way that He brought them back to it.
They said: And if a disputant argues with the saying of Allah, exalted be His praise: فَأَخْرَجْنَاهُمْ مِنْ جَنَّاتٍ وَعُيُونٍ * وَكُنُوزٍ وَمَقَامٍ كَرِيمٍ * كَذَلِكَ وَأَوْرَثْنَاهَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ (So We caused them to depart from gardens and springs * and treasures and a noble dwelling. * Thus it was, and We caused the Children of Israel to inherit these) [al-Shuʿarāʾ: 57-59], then it is said to him: Indeed, Allah, exalted be His praise, only caused them to inherit that and gave them possession of it, but He did not bring them back to it; and He made Syria into their dwellings.
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As for those who said: indeed, Allah meant by His saying, the Almighty and Exalted (Go down to Miṣr) only Miṣr (Egypt), among their argumentation with which they argued is the verse in which He said: فَأَخْرَجْنَاهُمْ مِنْ جَنَّاتٍ وَعُيُونٍ * وَكُنُوزٍ وَمَقَامٍ كَرِيمٍ * كَذَلِكَ وَأَوْرَثْنَاهَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ (So We caused them to depart from gardens and springs * and treasures and a noble dwelling. * Thus it was, and We caused the Children of Israel to inherit these) [al-Shuʿarāʾ: 57-59], and His saying: كَمْ تَرَكُوا مِنْ جَنَّاتٍ وَعُيُونٍ * وَزُرُوعٍ وَمَقَامٍ كَرِيمٍ * وَنَعْمَةٍ كَانُوا فِيهَا فَاكِهِينَ * كَذَلِكَ وَأَوْرَثْنَاهَا قَوْمًا آخَرِينَ (How many gardens and springs they left behind * and crops and a noble dwelling * and bounty in which they delighted! * Thus it was, and We caused another people to inherit these) [al-Dukhān: 25-28]. They said: Thus Allah, exalted be His praise, reported that He caused them to inherit that and made it for them; and they would not inherit it and then derive no benefit from it. They said: And they would derive no benefit from it unless some of them would go to it; otherwise there is no manner in which one benefits from it, if they or some of them would not go to it. They said: And another [argument] is that in the reading of Ubayy ibn Kaʿb and ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd it stands as: "Go down to Miṣr" without alif. They said: In that lies the clear proof that it is "Miṣr" itself.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And that which we say concerning this is that in the Book of Allah there is no proof for the correctness of either of these two explanations, nor is there a report concerning it from the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, whose transmission cuts off the excuse. And the exegetes dispute the explanation of it. The most preferable of the sayings herein according to us in correctness is that one says: Indeed, Mūsā asked his Lord that He should give his people what they asked for of the crops of the earth — in accordance with what Allah, the Almighty and Exalted, has explained concerning that in His Book — while they were roaming about in the land. Then Allah answered for Mūsā his call and commanded him to go down with those of his people who were with him to a fixed dwelling place in the land that brings forth for them what he had asked for them of it, since that which they asked is only brought forth by the villages and cities, and that He gave them that when they went to it. And it is possible that that dwelling place was "Miṣr", and it is possible that it was "Syria (al-Shām)".
As for the reading, it is with the alif and the tanwīn: (Go down to a city — iḥbiṭū miṣran), and that is the reading other than which is, in my judgment, not permissible, because of the consensus of the scripts of the muṣḥafs of the Muslims and the agreement of the reading of the reciters concerning it. And no one has read it with the omission of the tanwīn in it and the dropping of the alif from it, except him with whom one is not authorized to dispute against the recognized authority, in that which she has put forward of reading, transmitted in widespread fashion among them both.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَضُرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الذِّلَّةُ وَالْمَسْكَنَةُ
(And humiliation and poverty were imposed upon them.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His saying (and were imposed — wa-ḍuribat): namely were made obligatory. And the humiliation was imposed upon them and they were burdened with it. This comes from the saying of someone: "The imām imposed the jizyah (poll-tax for non-Muslims) upon the people under dhimma-status", and "The man imposed upon his slave the land-tax (kharāj)", by which he means: he fixed it and burdened him with it; and from their saying: "The commander imposed upon the army the mobilization", by which is meant: he obligated them to it.
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As for "the humiliation" (al-dhilla), that is the "fiʿla"-form of the saying of someone: "So-and-so was humiliated (dhalla), he is humiliated (yadhillu), with dhull and dhilla", like "al-ṣaghra" from "the matter became small (ṣaghura)", and "al-qiʿda" from "he sat (qaʿada)".
And "the humiliation" is the lowliness (al-ṣaghār) to which Allah, exalted be His praise, has commanded His believing servants to give them no safe-conduct to persist in that in which they are of unbelief toward Him and toward His Messenger — unless they offer the jizyah for it to them. Thus He said, the Almighty and Exalted: قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلا بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَلا يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَلا يَدِينُونَ دِينَ الْحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حَتَّى يُعْطُوا الْجِزْيَةَ عَنْ يَدٍ وَهُمْ صَاغِرُونَ
(Fight against those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the Last Day, and do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, and do not submit to the religion of truth, from among those who were given the Book, until they pay the jizyah out of hand, while they are subdued.) [al-Tawba: 29], as:
1088 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and Qatāda, concerning His saying (And humiliation was imposed upon them), they said: they pay the jizyah out of hand, while they are subdued.
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As for "the poverty" (al-maskana), that is the verbal noun of "al-miskīn (the destitute)". One says: "There is none among them poorer (askan) than so-and-so", and "He was indeed destitute (miskīn)", and "He was indeed in poverty (tamaskana maskana)". And among the Arabs is he who says: "He was in poverty (tamaskana tamaskunan)." And "the maskana" in this place is the poverty of destitution and want, and that is its subjection and humiliation, as:
1089 – Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related it to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His saying (and the poverty), he said: the want.
1090 – Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His saying (And humiliation and poverty were imposed upon them), he said: the poverty.
1091 – And Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying (And humiliation and poverty were imposed upon them), he said: These are the Jews of the Children of Israel. I said to him: Are they the Copts of Egypt? He said: What have the Copts of Egypt to do with this? No, by Allah, they are not them, but they are the Jews, the Jews of the Children of Israel.
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Thus Allah, exalted be His praise, reported to them that He would exchange for them standing for humiliation, and ease for misery, and His good pleasure toward them for wrath, as a recompense from Him to them for their unbelief in His signs, and their killing of His prophets and His messengers, out of transgression and wrongdoing from them without right, and their disobedience toward Him, and their resistance against Him.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَبَاءُوا بِغَضَبٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ
(And they returned with a wrath from Allah.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His saying (And they returned with a wrath from Allah): they turned back and returned. And one says "bāʾū" only in connection with something, whether with good or with evil. One says of that: "So-and-so returned with his sin (bāʾa bi-dhanbihi), he returns with it (yabūʾu bihi), with bawʾ and bawāʾ." And to that belongs the saying of Allah, the Almighty and Exalted: إِنِّي أُرِيدُ أَنْ تَبُوءَ بِإِثْمِي وَإِثْمِكَ (Indeed, I want you to return with my sin and your sin) [al-Māʾida: 29], by which is meant: that you return bearing both and turn back with them, so that they rest upon you and not upon me.
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The meaning of the saying is therefore: And they returned, turning back, laden with the wrath of Allah; there rested upon them from Allah a wrath, and upon them was made obligatory His displeasure, as:
1092 – It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His saying (And they returned with a wrath from Allah): thus there came over them a wrath from Allah.
1093 – Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to us, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His saying (And they returned with a wrath from Allah), he said: they deserved the wrath of Allah.
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And we have already dealt with the meaning of the wrath of Allah toward His servant earlier in this book of ours, such that it is superfluous to repeat it in this place.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا يَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَيَقْتُلُونَ النَّبِيِّينَ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ
(That was because they used to disbelieve in the signs of Allah and kill the prophets without right.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His saying, exalted be His praise: "that" — the imposing of the humiliation and the poverty upon them, and the causing of His wrath to descend over them. Thus by His saying "that" — by which He means what we have described — He indicated that the saying of someone "that" comprises the many meanings when reference is made by it to them.
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And He means by His saying (because they used to disbelieve): on account of the fact that they used to disbelieve. He says: We inflicted upon them — the causing of the humiliation, the poverty, and the displeasure to descend over them — on account of the fact that they used to disbelieve in the signs of Allah and kill the prophets without right, as al-Aʿshā of the Banū Thaʿlaba said:
A royal [plant], become a neighbor in the Ḥijāz to a hostile people and a remote land,
because of her dwelling in the spring at the meadow of the sand-grouse and the meadow of the tanāḍub-trees, until she came to the water.
He means by it: this woman became, in this place, a neighbor to a hostile people and to a land far removed from her family — because of her dwelling, which was far from him and from her people and her town — on account of her dwelling in the spring at the meadow of the sand-grouse and the meadow of the tanāḍub-trees. So it is also with His saying: (And humiliation and poverty were imposed upon them and they returned with a wrath from Allah; that was because they used to disbelieve in the signs of Allah). He says: That was from Us because of their unbelief in Our signs, and as a recompense for them on account of their killing of Our prophets.
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And we have already explained earlier in our book that the meaning of "unbelief" (al-kufr) is the covering and concealing of something, and that "the signs of Allah" (āyāt Allāh) are His proofs, marks, and indications of His oneness and the truthfulness of His messengers.
The meaning of the saying is therefore: We inflicted that upon them, on account of the fact that they denied the proofs of Allah for His oneness and the confirmation of His messengers, and rejected the truthfulness thereof and gave the lie to them.
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And He means by His saying (and kill the prophets without right): and they killed the messengers of Allah whom He had sent — to proclaim that with which He had sent them from His side — to those to whom they were sent.
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And they are a plural, whose singular is "nabiyy", without hamza, while the root form has the hamza, because it comes from "he reported from Allah (anbaʾa), thus he reports from Him (yunbiʾu), with inbāʾ". And the name of it is properly "munbiʾ", but it was transformed, and it is "mufʿil", to "faʿīl", as "samīʿ" was transformed to "faʿīl" from "musmiʿ", and "baṣīr" from "mubṣir", and the like; and in the place of the hamza of "nabīʾ" the yāʾ was set, so that it was said: "nabiyy". This is so, and "al-nabiyy" is also collected into "anbiyāʾ"; and they collected it only thus, because they assimilated "al-nabīʾ" — through the replacement of the hamza in it by a yāʾ — to the adjectives that come on the pattern of "faʿīl", from those with the yāʾ and the wāw. For when they collect that which is of the adjectives on the pattern of "faʿīl", from those with the yāʾ and the wāw, they collect it on "afʿilāʾ", like their saying: "waliyy and awliyāʾ", and "waṣiyy and awṣiyāʾ", and "daʿiyy and adʿiyāʾ". And had they collected it on its root form which is truly its root form, and on the basis that the singular is "nabīʾ" with hamza, then they would have collected it on "fuʿalāʾ", so that it would be said: "al-nubaʾāʾ", after the model of "al-nubahāʾ", because that is the collection of what comes on "faʿīl" of the adjectives without yāʾ and wāw, like their collection of "al-sharīk" into "shurakāʾ", and "al-ʿalīm" into "ʿulamāʾ", and "al-ḥakīm" into "ḥukamāʾ", and the like. And there has been transmitted, heard from the Arabs, in the collection of "al-nabiyy" also "al-nubaʾāʾ", and that belongs to the language of those who pronounce "al-nabīʾ" with hamza and then collect it into "al-nubaʾāʾ" — in accordance with what I have explained. And to that belongs the saying of ʿAbbās ibn Mirdās in praise of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:
O seal of the prophets (nubaʾāʾ), indeed you have been sent with the good; all guidance of the way He has guided you.
Thus he said: "O seal of the nubaʾāʾ", on the basis that their singular is "nabīʾ" with hamza. And some have said: "al-nabiyy" and "al-nubuwwa" are without hamza, because they are both derived from "al-nabwa", and that is like "al-najwa", namely the elevated place. And he used to say: Indeed, the root meaning of "al-nabiyy" is "the way", and he adduces as proof for it the verse of al-Quṭāmī:
When they arrived at Nabiyy and there moved steadily along with her a wide outstretched [way], like the stripes of a swaying flowing garment.
He says: The way was called "nabiyy" only because it is visible and clear, from "al-nabwa". And he says: I have not heard anyone pronounce "al-nabiyy" with hamza. He said: And we have already mentioned what is concerning that, and explained what is sufficient therein, if Allah wills.
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And He means by His saying (and kill the prophets without right): that they killed the messengers of Allah, without Allah having given them permission to kill them, while they denied their messengership and gave the lie to their prophethood.
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted, glorified be His mention: ذَلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوْا وَكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ
(That was because they disobeyed and used to transgress.) (2:61)
And His saying (that) is a referring back to the first "that". And the meaning of the saying is: And humiliation and poverty were imposed upon them, and they returned with a wrath from Allah, because of their unbelief in the signs of Allah and their killing of the prophets without right — because of their disobedience toward their Lord and their transgression of His limits. Thus He said, exalted be His praise: (That was because they disobeyed), and the meaning is: That was on account of their disobedience and their unbelief, while they transgressed.
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And "the transgressing" (al-iʿtidāʾ) is the overstepping of the limit which Allah has set for His servants toward something else. And whoever oversteps the limit of something toward something else has indeed transgressed it toward that toward which he overstepped. And the meaning of the saying is: I inflicted upon them what I inflicted of that, because they disobeyed My command and overstepped My limit toward that which I had forbidden them.
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