Tafseer of The Table · Al-Maaida · 5:24
They said, "O Moses, indeed we will not enter it, ever, as long as they are within it; so go, you and your Lord, and fight. Indeed, we are remaining right here."
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, whose remembrance is mighty: قَالُوا يَا مُوسَى إِنَّا لَنْ نَدْخُلَهَا أَبَدًا مَا دَامُوا فِيهَا فَاذْهَبْ أَنْتَ وَرَبُّكَ فَقَاتِلا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ (24) (They said: "O Mūsā, we will never enter it, as long as they are in it. So go, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you; we will sit here." (24))
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is a report from Allah, mighty is His remembrance, concerning the saying of the prominent ones among the people of Mūsā to Mūsā, when they were urged to fight against their enemy and were promised the help of Allah if they would assail them and enter upon them the gate of their city. They said to him: "We will never enter it," meaning: we will never enter their city.
The "hā and alif" in His saying "We will never enter it" refers to "the city."
And by their saying "never" they mean: the days of our lives. "As long as they are in it" means: as long as the tyrants (al-jabbārūn) remain established in that city which Allah has prescribed for them and which they have been commanded to enter. "So go, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you; we will sit here," that is to say: we will not come with you, O Mūsā, if you go to them to fight them, but we will let you go alone, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you, against them.
Some of them said concerning this: the meaning of the words is not "go, and let your Lord go with you and fight, both of you," but rather the meaning is: go, O Mūsā, and let your Lord help you. For going does not befit Allah, mighty is His remembrance.
This, however, would only be necessary to seek a way out for it if it were a report about a believing people. But as for a people that rebels against Allah, mighty is His remembrance, and against His messenger, there is no reason to seek a way out for what they said concerning Allah, mighty and exalted is He, and what they fabricated about Him, except that which accords with their unbelief (kufr) and their misguidance.
It has been related from al-Miqdād that he said to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the opposite of what the people of Mūsā said to Mūsā.
11682 - Sufyān ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us — and Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us — on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Mukhāriq, on the authority of Ṭāriq: that al-Miqdād ibn al-Aswad said to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: "We do not say as the Banū Isrāʾīl said: 'Go, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you; we will sit here,' but we say: go, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you; we will fight alongside you."
11683 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: It has been narrated to us that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to his companions on the day of al-Ḥudaybiya, when the polytheists (mushrikīn) had held back the sacrificial animal and the way to their rituals was barred to them: "I am going with the sacrificial animal and will slaughter it at the House!" Then al-Miqdād ibn al-Aswad said to him: "Truly, by Allah, we will not be like the prominent ones among the Banū Isrāʾīl when they said to their prophet: 'Go, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you; we will sit here,' but rather: go, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you; we will fight alongside you!" When the companions of the prophet of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, heard this, they followed one another in it.
Ibn ʿAbbās, al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn Muzāḥim, and a group of others said: they spoke these words to Mūsā, peace be upon him, only when the affair of the tyrants and the severity of their power had become clear to them.
11684 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh al-Faḍl ibn Khālid, who said: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say: Allah, mighty and exalted is He, commanded the Banū Isrāʾīl to march to the Holy Land with their prophet Mūsā, peace be upon him. When they were near the city, Mūsā said to them: "Enter it," but they refused and were cowardly, and they sent out twelve leaders to look at them. These went and looked and came back with a fruit from their fruits, the size of a man's load. They said: "Estimate the strength and the might of a people whose fruit is this!" Thereupon they said to Mūsā: "Go, you and your Lord, and fight, both of you; we will sit here."
11685 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, in a similar manner.