Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:23
Said two men from those who feared [to disobey] upon whom Allah had bestowed favor, "Enter upon them through the gate, for when you have entered it, you will be predominant. And upon Allah rely, if you should be believers."
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 Him, exalted is His praise: قَالَ رَجُلانِ مِنَ الَّذِينَ يَخَافُونَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمَا ("Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said...").
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a report from Allāh, mighty is His remembrance, concerning the two righteous men from the people of Moses—"Joshua, the son of Nūn" and "Kālib, the son of Yāfanā"—that they were faithful to Moses in what he had charged them with, namely that they should not inform their people, the Children of Israel—whom he had commanded to enter the Holy Land against the tyrants among the Canaanites—about what they had seen and witnessed with their own eyes of the mighty striking power of the tyrants and the enormity of their stature. And Allāh, mighty and exalted, described them both as belonging to those who fear Allāh and observe Him closely in His command and prohibition, as:-
11664 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us = ḥ, and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān = ḥ, and Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān = on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said," he said: Kalāb, the son of Yāfanā, and Joshua, the son of Nūn.
11665 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Abī Qays, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour," he said: Joshua, the son of Nūn, and Kalāb, the son of Yāfanā, and they both belonged to the chieftains (al-nuqabāʾ).
11666 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, in a narrative that he mentioned, he said: Then the chieftains returned, all of them holding back their tribe from fighting against them, except Joshua, the son of Nūn, and Kalāb, the son of Yāfana; they both commanded the tribes to fight against the tyrants and to do battle with them, but they disobeyed them both and obeyed the others. They both, therefore, are the two men upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour.
11667 - Ibn Ḥumayd and Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, like the narration of Ibn Bashshār, on the authority of Ibn Mahdī = except that Ibn Ḥumayd said in his narration: they both belonged to the twelve chieftains.
11668 - ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn al-Haytham related to me, saying: Ibrāhīm ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Abū Saʿīd said: ʿIkrima said, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, in a narrative that he mentioned, he said: Then they—that is, the twelve chieftains—returned to Moses and informed him of what they had witnessed of their condition. Moses said to them: Keep their condition secret and inform no one of the army camp about it, for if you convey this report to them, they will shrink away in fear and not enter the city. He said: Then each of them went off and informed his relative and his cousin, except these two men—Joshua, the son of Nūn, and Kalāb, the son of Yūfanna—for they both kept it secret and informed no one about it. And they both are those concerning whom Allāh, mighty and exalted, said: "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said," up to His saying: وَبَيْنَ الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِقِينَ ("and the iniquitous people").
11669 - Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said," and they both are those who kept it secret for them: Joshua, the son of Nūn, the servant of Moses, and Kālūb, the son of Yūfanna, the son-in-law of Moses.
11670 - Sufyān related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Fuḍayl ibn Marzūq, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya: "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said," Kālūb and Joshua, the son of Nūn, the servant of Moses.
11671 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said," and the two men upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour from the Children of Israel are: Joshua, the son of Nūn, and Kālūb, the son of Yūfanna.
11672 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said"—it has been mentioned to us that the two men were Joshua, the son of Nūn, and Kālib.
11673 - al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: that Moses said to the chieftains when they returned and told him the astonishing thing: "Tell no one about what you have seen; Allāh will surely conquer it for you and give you the upper hand over it after what you have seen" = but the people spread the report among the Children of Israel. Then two men stood up from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour—one of them was, according to what we have learned, Joshua, the son of Nūn, and he was the servant of Moses, and the other was Kālib—and they both said: ادْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْبَابَ ("Enter upon them through the gate") up to إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ ("if you are believers").
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed concerning the reading of His saying: "Two men from among those who feared said."
The reciters of the Ḥijāz, Iraq, and Syria read it: (قَالَ رَجُلانِ مِنَ الَّذِينَ يَخَافُونَ أَنْعَمَ اللهُ عَلَيْهِمَا) with the fatḥa on the "yāʾ" in "yakhāfūn" (feared), in accordance with the explanation we have mentioned from those whom we have just transmitted it from, namely that they both are Joshua, the son of Nūn, and Kālib, from the people of Moses, belonging to those who fear Allāh, and that He bestowed favour upon them by guiding them to what is right.
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And Qatāda used to say: in some readings it is: (قَالَ رَجُلانِ مِنَ الذِينَ يَخَافُونَ اللهَ أَنْعَمَ اللهُ عَلَيْهِمَا) ("Two men from among those who fear Allāh, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said").
11674 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda = ḥ, and al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said," in some readings: (يَخَافُونَ اللهَ أَنْعَمَ اللهُ عَلَيْهِمَا) ("who fear Allāh, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour").
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And this too belongs to what indicates the soundness of the explanation of those who explained it as we have mentioned about him, that he said: Joshua and Kālib.
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And it has been transmitted from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr that he used to read it: (قَالَ رَجُلانِ مِنَ الذِينَ يُخَافُونَ) with the ḍamma on the "yāʾ" (yukhāfūn, "who were feared") (أَنْعَمَ اللهُ عَلَيْهِمَا).
11675 - Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related that to me, saying: al-Qāsim ibn Sallām related to us, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Ayyūb = and we do not know whether he heard it from him = on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: that he used to read it with the ḍamma on the "yāʾ" of: (يُخافُونَ, "who were feared").
And it seems that Saʿīd, by this reading of his, held the view that the two men about whom Allāh reported that they said to the Children of Israel: ادْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْبَابَ فَإِذَا دَخَلْتُمُوهُ فَإِنَّكُمْ غَالِبُونَ ("Enter upon them through the gate; when you have entered it, you shall surely be victors"), belonged to the group of the tyrants, and that they both had converted to Islam and followed Moses. They both, therefore, are from the children of the tyrants whom the Children of Israel feared, even though they differed from them in religion.
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And an explanation in this vein has been transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās.
11676 - al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning his saying: ادْخُلُوا الأَرْضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَلا تَرْتَدُّوا عَلَى أَدْبَارِكُمْ فَتَنْقَلِبُوا خَاسِرِينَ ("Enter the Holy Land that Allāh has decreed for you, and do not turn back on your heels, for then you would return as losers"), he said: It is the city of the tyrants. When Moses and his people were encamped there, he sent out twelve men from among them = and they are the chieftains whose dispatch was mentioned = so that they should bring him their report. They set off, and a man of the tyrants met them, put them in his cloak, and carried them until he brought them to the city. He called his people and they gathered around him, and they said: Who are you? They said: We are the people of Moses, he has sent us to you so that we should bring him your report! Then they gave them a single grape equal to the load of a man, and said to them: Go to Moses and his people and say to them: Estimate the size of their fruits! When they came to them, they said to Moses: "Go, you and your Lord, and fight, we shall sit here"! = "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said," and they both belonged to the inhabitants of the city, had converted to Islam, and followed Moses and Aaron, and they both said to Moses: ادْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْبَابَ فَإِذَا دَخَلْتُمُوهُ فَإِنَّكُمْ غَالِبُونَ وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَتَوَكَّلُوا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ ("Enter upon them through the gate; when you have entered it, you shall surely be victors. And put your trust in Allāh, if you are believers").
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Abū Jaʿfar said: According to this reading and this explanation, not one of the twelve chieftains kept secret what Moses had commanded them to keep secret from the Children of Israel of what they had seen and witnessed of the enormity of the bodies of the tyrants, the severity of their striking power, and the marvellousness of their affairs; rather, they spread all of that. And those who said to the people and to Moses: ادْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْبَابَ ("Enter upon them through the gate") were only two men from among the children of those whom the Children of Israel feared and were afraid to confront among the tyrants, and they both had converted to Islam and followed the Prophet of Allāh, may Allāh bless him and grant him peace.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the more preferable of the two readings according to us is the reading of those who read: (مِنَ الَّذِينَ يَخَافُونَ أَنْعَمَ اللهُ عَلَيْهِمَا), because of the consensus of the reciters of the regions upon it = and what has come down widespread by transmission from them is a proof from which deviation is not permitted, whereas that in which the lone individual stands alone is liable therein to error and mistake. Then, in the consensus of the proof concerning its explanation—that they both were two men from the companions of Moses from the Children of Israel and that they are Joshua and Kalāb—there is sufficient ground to dispense with adducing testimony for the soundness of the reading with the fatḥa on the "yāʾ" therein, and for the unsoundness of the other. And that is the correct explanation according to us, because of what we have mentioned about the consensus upon it.
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And as for His saying: "upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour," by it He means: Allāh bestowed favour upon them by obedience to Allāh in obedience to His prophet Moses, peace be upon him, and by their holding fast to his command, and by their refraining from that which he, peace be upon him, forbade them, namely the spreading among the Children of Israel of what they had witnessed of the marvellous affair of the tyrants, about which their other companions who belonged with them to the chieftains had told.
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And it has been said that the meaning of it is: Allāh bestowed favour upon them both with the fear.
Mention of who said that:
11677 - al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Khalaf ibn Tamīm related to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn al-Qāsim related to us, on the authority of Sahl ibn ʿAlī, concerning his saying: "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said," he said: Allāh bestowed favour upon them both with the fear.
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And in the vein of what we have said about it, al-Ḍaḥḥāk used to say, and a group of others besides him.
11678 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say, he said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to me, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning his saying: "Two men from among those who feared, upon whom Allāh had bestowed favour, said," with the guidance, so He guided them both, such that they were upon the religion of Moses, and they both were in the city of the tyrants.
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The explanation of the saying of Him, exalted is His praise: ادْخُلُوا عَلَيْهِمُ الْبَابَ فَإِذَا دَخَلْتُمُوهُ فَإِنَّكُمْ غَالِبُونَ ("Enter upon them through the gate; when you have entered it, you shall surely be victors").
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a report from Allāh, mighty is His remembrance, about the saying of the two men who feared Allāh to the Children of Israel, when the latter became cowardly and were afraid to confront the tyrants, after they had heard their report and the chieftains who spread what they had witnessed of their affair had informed them of it, and they said: إِنَّ فِيهَا قَوْمًا جَبَّارِينَ وَإِنَّا لَنْ نَدْخُلَهَا حَتَّى يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا ("Verily, in it is a people of tyrants, and we shall never enter it until they depart from it"). Then they both said to them: Enter upon them, O people, through the gate of their city, for Allāh is with you, and He is your helper, and when you have entered the gate, you shall overcome them, as:-
11679 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of someone from the People of the Book of old possessing knowledge, he said: When the Children of Israel were intent on returning to Egypt, when the chieftains informed them of what they informed them about the affair of the tyrants, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces to the ground in prostration before the assembly of the Children of Israel, and Joshua, the son of Nūn, and Kālib, the son of Yāfanā, rent their garments—and they both belonged to the spies of the land—and said to the assembly of the Children of Israel: "Verily, the land that we have traversed and felt out is good; our Lord has found it pleasing for us and granted it to us, and it... overflows with milk and honey. But do one thing: do not disobey Allāh, and do not fear the people who are in it, for they are our bread and given into our hands; their pride has departed from them, and Allāh is with us, so do not fear them." Then a group of the Children of Israel wanted to stone them both with stones.
11680 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: It has been mentioned to us that they sent out twelve men, one man from each tribe, as scouts for them, so that they should bring them the reports about the people. As for ten of them, they made their people cowardly and made them averse to confronting them. And as for the two men, they both commanded their people to enter it and to follow the command of Allāh, and they urged them to that, and they informed their people that they would be victors if they did that.
11681 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allāh: "upon them the gate," the city of the tyrants.
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The explanation of the saying of Him, exalted is His praise: وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَتَوَكَّلُوا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ (5:23) ("And put your trust in Allāh, if you are believers").
Abū Jaʿfar said: This too is a report from Allāh, mighty and exalted, about the saying of the two men who feared Allāh, that they both said to the people of Moses in order to encourage them thereby and to urge them to carry out the command of Allāh to confront the tyrants in their city = Put your trust, O people, in Allāh upon your entering against them, and they both say to them: Rely upon Allāh, for He is with you if you obey Him in what He has commanded you concerning fighting against your enemy. And they both meant by their saying: "if you are believers": if you hold your prophet, may Allāh bless him and grant him peace, to be truthful in what he has informed you from your Lord concerning the help and the victory over them, and in his other reports about his Lord = and are believing that your Lord is able to fulfil for you what He has promised you concerning giving you a firm footing in the lands of His enemy and your enemy.
