Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:159
And among the people of Moses is a community which guides by truth and by it establishes justice.
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 His word: وَمِنْ قَوْمِ مُوسَى أُمَّةٌ يَهْدُونَ بِالْحَقِّ وَبِهِ يَعْدِلُونَ (7:159) (And among the people of Mūsā is a community (umma) that guides by the truth and acts justly thereby.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: "And among the people of Mūsā," by which He means the Children of Israel = "is a community (umma)," He says: a group = "that guides by the truth," He says: they let themselves be guided by the truth, that is to say: they hold fast to it steadfastly and act according to it = "and acts justly thereby," that is to say: by the truth they give and they take, and they do justice to themselves and commit no injustice.
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And concerning the description of this community which Allah has mentioned in the verse, various people have made statements; we mention what we have available of that.
15250 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Zubayr related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿUyayna, on the authority of Ṣadaqa Abū al-Hudhayl, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And among the people of Mūsā is a community that guides by the truth and acts justly thereby," he said: a people between you and whom lies a river of honey.
15251 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His word: "And among the people of Mūsā is a community that guides by the truth and acts justly thereby," he said: it reached me that the Children of Israel, when they had killed their prophets, became unbelievers. And they were twelve tribes; one tribe of them declared itself free of what they had done, and they excused themselves, and they asked Allah to separate between them and the others. Then Allah opened for them a tunnel in the earth, and they journeyed through it until they emerged behind China. There they are, pure monotheists (ḥunafāʾ), Muslims, who face toward our prayer direction (qibla). Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: that is His word: وَقُلْنَا مِنْ بَعْدِهِ لِبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اسْكُنُوا الأَرْضَ فَإِذَا جَاءَ وَعْدُ الآخِرَةِ جِئْنَا بِكُمْ لَفِيفًا [sūra al-Isrāʾ: 104] (And We said after him to the Children of Israel: "Dwell in the land; and when the promise of the Hereafter comes, We shall bring you together, in a mingled multitude.") And "the promise of the Hereafter" is ʿĪsā the son of Maryam: they will go forth with him. Ibn Jurayj said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: they journeyed in the underground passage (al-sarab) for a year and a half.