Verse:20 Commentary Commentary

Previous to the verses cited above, a pledge was mentioned in which the Bani Isra'il were bound to obey Allah and His Messenger. Mentioned along with it was their customary breach of trust, and its punishment. Taken up in the verses appearing above there is a particular event which shows such a breach.

That event goes back to the time when Pharaoh and his army were drowned in the sea and Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and his people, the Bani Isra'il, once delivered from the slavery of the Pharaoh, became the masters of Egypt. Then, to bless them with His added reward, and to let them repossess their ancestral land of Syria, Allah Ta` ala commanded them through Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) that they should enter the Holy Land, that is, Syria, with the intention of Jihad. And along-with it, they were given the good news that victory will be all theirs in this Jihad - as Allah had made that holy land their destiny and they were bound to have it. But, the Bani Isra'il had their peculiar traits of character. They saw the blessings of Allah with their own eyes, they saw the spectacle of the drowning of Pharaoh and the conquest of Egypt, yet they failed, once again, to stand by the solemn pledges they had given and elected to sit out the Jihad of Syria squarely against this Divine command. The punishment they received for it was in the form of a forty-year confinement to a limited area where, strangely enough, there were no walls or fences around them, nor were they in chains. Instead, they were free to move in an open area and actually travelled every day, right from the morning through the evening, with the intention of returning to Egypt, their homeland. But, when came the evening, they would find themselves exactly at the spot from where they had started in the morning. During this period, Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and Sayyidna Harun (علیہ السلام) left this mortal world and these people kept wandering in the wilderness of Tih. It was after that, that Allah Ta` ala sent other prophets for their guidance.

Thus, after the passage of full forty years, those who survived from among them resolved to take up the Jihad of Syria and Baytul-Maqdis under the leadership of the prophet of their time and the promise of Allah that the Holy Land had been destined for them was thus ful-filled. This is a summary of the event referred to in the verses cited above. Let us now see its details in the words of the Qur'an.

When Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) received the instruction to call his people to Jihad in order to conquer Baytul-Maqdis and Syria, he acted very much in accordance with his prophetic wisdom so crucial in giving good counsel. Therefore, before announcing the Divine command to his people, he reminded them of the many blessings bestowed upon them upto that time. He said:

اذْكُرُ‌وا نِعْمَةَ اللَّـهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ جَعَلَ فِيكُمْ أَنبِيَاءَ وَجَعَلَكُم مُّلُوكًا وَآتَاكُم مَّا لَمْ يُؤْتِ أَحَدًا مِّنَ الْعَالَمِي

O my people, remember the blessings of Allah upon you when He made prophets from among you, made you kings and gave you what He did not give to anyone in the worlds.

Recounted here are three blessings. The first of these is a spiritual blessing, that is, many prophets were sent to them continuously, a spiritual honour which can hardly be matched. It has been reported in Tafsir Mazhari that no other community has had such a large number of prophets as compared to Bani Isra'il.

Hadith authority, Ibn Abi Hatim, reports on the basis of a narration from A'mash that in only one single period, the last period of the people of Bani Isra'il which extends from Sayyidna Musa علیہ السلام to Sayyidna 'Isa (علیہ السلام) one thousand prophets were sent to Ban' Isra'il. The second blessing mentioned in the verse quoted immediately above is a material blessing, that is, they were made masters and wielders of power. The hint given here is that the people of Bani' Isra'il who were the oppressed slaves of the Pharaoh and his people for many ages saw how Allah Ta` ala destroyed their enemies and how they themselves were made masters and kings. Noteworthy here is the statement about prophets where it was said: جَعَلَ فِيكُمْ أَنبِيَاءَ (He made prophets from among you) which carries the sense that the whole people were not prophets, and this is the truth as prophets are only a few while the large body of people follows them. But, when it comes to the subject of temporal power on countries and states, said there was: وَجَعَلَكُم مُّلُوكًا (and made you kings) the outward sense of which is that they (all) were made kings. The Arabic word, ` muluk' used in the text is the plural of Malik which means a king in common usage. Obviously, when a whole people cannot be all prophets, no people of a country can be all kings.

What happens is that authority in a country rests in the hands of an individual or some individuals while the rest of the people are subordinate to them. But, here the words of the Qur'an are attributing king-ship to all of them.

One reason for this is what has been stated by Maulana Ashraf ` Ali Thanavi (رح) with reference to some righteous elders in his Tafsir Bayan al-Qur'an, that is, the sovereignty of the ` king' of a country is customarily attributed to his entire people, for example, during the middle centuries of Islam, the government was called as that of Ummaiyyids and ` Abbasids. Similarly, the rule of Ghaznavis and Ghauris, then, that of Mughals, and after that, the rule of the British in India was attributed to all individuals of entire people of that country. Therefore, a whole people having a ruler are known (by proxy) to be rulers of that country.

It was according to this usage that the Qur'an has attributed king-ship to the whole people of Bani Isra'il. In this, there may be a hint that an Islamic state is really run by a government of the people. It is the people who have the right to elect their Amir (Imam, leader or ruler) and it is once again, the right of the people who can, by their collective will, remove the holder of that office. Therefore, when seen outwardly, a ruler rules as one individual, but, in reality, that rule is that of the people.

The second reason as reported from some elders by Ibn Kathir, Mazhari and others is that the sense of ` malik' is more general than that of a king. In common usage, this word is also applied to a person who is well-to-do, has a home, owns property and employs help. In the light of this sense, that was a time when every individual from the Bani Isra'il was like a king of his castle. That explains the attribution of kingship to the entire Bani Isra'il.

The third blessing mentioned in this verse is a combination of both, the spiritual and the material. It was said: وَآتَاكُم مَّا لَمْ يُؤْتِ أَحَدًا مِّنَ الْعَالَمِينَ that is, they were given the kind of blessings which were not given to any-one else in all the worlds. Included under these blessings is spiritual distinction highlighted by the station of prophethood and, along with it, the more obvious temporal power, authority, domain and wealth too. However, a question may arise here regarding the belief that the Muslim Ummah, the large body of believers in the Last among Prophets صلى الله عليه وسلم is the most distinct among all Communities as supported by the textual authority of the Holy Qur'an, such as: كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ‌ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِ‌جَتْ لِلنَّاسِ (You are the best Ummah raised for mankind - 3:110) and: جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا (And in the same way, We made you a moderate Ummah - 2:143) prove it, as do the many narrations from the Prophet's living Traditions. The answer is that the people of the world being mentioned in this verse are the people who were living in the particular

period of Bani Isra'il which was marked by the presence of Sayyidna Musa among them. That was the time when no one in all the worlds was as blessed as were the Bani Isra'il. That any other community in times to come could be blessed more than them should not be considered contrary to this. Verse:21 Commentary The saying of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) in the first verse (20) was his introductory remark to the Divine command which appears in the following verse (21) in the words: يَا قَوْمِ ادْخُلُوا الْأَرْ‌ضَ الْمُقَدَّسَةَ الَّتِي كَتَبَ اللَّـهُ لَكُمْ (0 my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has destined for you ...).

Which land is the Holy Land?

Apparently, commentators differ about it. Some say that it means Baytul-Maqdis (Jerusalem). Some identify the city of Quds and Eliah as fitting the description of the Holy Land. Still others point out to the city of Ariha which was located between the Jordan river and Baytul-Maqdis and was reported to be one of the oldest cities of the world. In fact, it is still there. Unusual statements portraying its grandeur and vastness have been reported historically. Some narrations say that the city-was divided over one thousand wards or counties and every such section had some one thousand public gardens each. Then, there are other narrations which indicate that the Holy Land means Damascus and Palestine, or Jordan, according to some others. And Sayyidna Qatadah has said that the entire land of Syria is the Holy Land. Sayyidna Ka'b al-Ahbar has said that he has seen in the Book of Allah (perhaps, the Torah) that the country of Syria is a special treasure of Allah on this entire earth and there are in it Allah's very special and very dear servants. This land has been called ` holy' because it has been home to the blessed prophets of Allah. According to some narrations, on a day when Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) climbed a mountain in Lebanon, Allah Ta` ala said: 0 Ibrahim, look from here and as far as you will see, that land We have made the Holy Land. All narrations cited here have been taken from Tafsir Ibn Kathir and Tafsir Mazhari and the truth of the matter is that there is not much of a contradiction in these sayings. According to later narrations, the whole country of Syria is the Holy Land - it is just that some narrators have described a certain part of the country of Syria while some others have identified the whole of it. Verse:22 Commentary Looking at verse 22 which begins with the words: قَالُوا يَا مُوسَىٰ (They said, 0 Musa ...), it will be recalled that, in the verse previous to it (21), Allah Ta` ala had commanded the Bani Isra'il through Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) that they should wage a Jihad against the Amalkites and conquer Syria given along with it was the good news that the land of Syria has been destined for them, therefore, their victory is certain.

The present verse (22) tells us that, despite the Divine command and assurance, the Bani Isra'il, because of their well-known contumacy and crookedness, just did not obey that command as well. Instead of doing that, they said: ` 0 Musa, there is a nation of tyrants over there, and we shall never go in there until they get out of it. If they do get out of it, then, we are ready to go in.'

The actual event as reported from the masters of Tafsir (Exegesis), Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas, ` Ikrimah, ibn Abi Talhah and others ؓ is that it was a time when the Amalkites ruled Syria and Baytul-Maqdis. They were an offshoot of the people of ` Ad, unusually big in height and size and very ferocious in looks and behavior. They were the people Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and his community were asked to fight against and go on to conquer Baytul-Maqdis.

To carry out the Divine command, Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) marched towards Syria in the company of his people, the Bani Isra'il. Baytul-Maqdis was their first destination. After crossing the Jordan river, when they reached Ariha, the oldest city of the world, they made a stopover. We have already read about the appointment of twelve chiefs to administer the affairs of Bani' Isra'il in the previous verses of the Holy Qur'an. The same chiefs were asked to go on an advance fact-finding mission into enemy territory. Their duty was to gather intelligence on local conditions, the battle front and about the people who control Baytul-Maqdis and against whom they have to wage the Jihad. When these chiefs reached Baytul-Maqdis, they were stopped by an Amalkite man right outside the gate of the city. He, all alone, put them under arrest and took them to his king reporting to him that these people had come to fight them. The king went into consultation with his courtiers. Their decision was that all of them should either be killed or punished in some other way. Finally, they agreed upon the proposal that they should be allowed to go free so that they could return to their people and become walking eye witnesses of the great power and grandeur of the Amalkites against which they would never dare to think of marching.

At this point in most books of Tafsir, reported there are tall tales from Isra'ilite narrations which give the name of the person who accosted these chiefs as ` Awj ibn ` Unuq. His extra-ordinary height and size and his power and strength has been described there with such exaggeration that a sensible person would find it too thick even to just pass it onwards.

Tafsir authority, Ibn Kathir has said: Tales reported in such Isra'ilite narrations can neither be accepted by reason nor do they have any justification in the Shari` ah. In fact, all this is a bundle of lies and imputations. The truth of the matter is no more than that there are the people called the Amalkites. Since they are the remnants of the people of ` Ad whose awesome height and size has been mentioned by the Holy Qur'an itself, so, their huge size and unusual strength were proverbial. One of their men proved strong enough to arrest and take away twelve men from the people of Bani Isra'il.

However, freed by the Amalkites, the twelve chiefs of Bani Isr-a'il returned to their people at Ariha. They told Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) about these unusual people and how unbelievable was their power and grandeur. Whatever they said to him left his heart unmoved because Allah Ta` ala had already given him the good news of victory over them through revelation.

So, despite having heard about the power of his enemy, he stood like a rock making preparations for the Jihad initiative. But, he had realized the danger that, should the Bani Isra'il come to hear about this unusual strength of their adversary, they would cringe and back out. Therefore, he instructed those twelve chiefs not to talk about the Amalkites before their people, in fact, he asked them to keep this as a guarded secret. But, what actually happened was that everyone from among them passed on the information to their respective friends privately. There were only two of them, Yusha` ibn Nun and Kalib ibn Yu'qina, who strictly followed the instructions of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and did not disclose the secret to anyone.

When ten out of the twelve chiefs let the secret out, it was only natural that the secret became public knowledge. Hit by the news of conditions prevailing in the enemy country, they were all upset. Wailing and protesting, they said: It would have been much better if we too had been drowned in the Nile like the people of the Pharaoh! Now those who saved us there have brought us here to be killed at the hands of those tyrants! It was under these conditions that the Bani Isra'il said the following words:

إِنَّ فِيهَا قَوْمًا جَبَّارِ‌ينَ وَإِنَّا لَن نَّدْخُلَهَا حَتَّىٰ يَخْرُ‌جُوا مِنْهَا فَإِن يَخْرُ‌جُوا مِنْهَا

They said, "0 Musa, there is a nation of tyrants over there and we shall never go in there until they get out of it. If they do get out of it, we are ready to go in."

It appears in the next verse (23) that two persons, God-fearing and blessed by Allah, hearing the remarks made by the Bani Isra'il, gave them some good counsel by saying: Why are you so scared of death much before it has come? Just take a few steps. The gate of the city of Baytul-Maqdis is not far. Take heart and make your move. Only this much of your action, we believe, will become the cause of your victory. Once you enter the gate of Baytul-Maqdis, you will overcome your enemy who would run in defeat. These two persons mentioned in this verse are, according to most commentators, the same two of the twelve chiefs who had faithfully acted upon the advice given by Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and had abstained from telling the Bani Isra'il every-thing about the Amalkites - that is, Yusha` ibn Nun and Kalib ibn Yu'gina. Verse:23 Commentary At this place, the Holy Qur'an has particularly mentioned two attributes of these two elders: (1) الَّذِينَ يَخَافُونَ , that is, 'those who fear.' Not said here is as to who it is that they fear. The hint thus given is that there is only one Being in this whole world who deserves to be feared, that is, Allah Jalla Sha'nuhu, because He is the Absolute Master of this entire universe. No one can, without His will and permission, bring the least benefit to anyone, nor cause any harm - and when only one Being is deserving of being feared, and that is already determined, then, there remains no need to redetermine it.

The second attribute of these two elders pointed to by the Holy Qur'an is: (2): أَنْعَمَ اللَّـهُ عَلَيْهِمَا ، that is, 'Allah had blessed them.' The hint given here is that whoever has any excellence in him anywhere, that is nothing but the blessing and favour of Allah Ta` ala - otherwise, these twelve chiefs were all blessed with similar outward gifts of hands, feet, eyes and ears with reason and sense on the inside, along with the fortunate company of Sayyidna Musa They had all the strengths on their side, yet they all slipped except these two who stood firm on their commitment. This tells us that real guidance does not depend upon one's strength of inward and outward faculties or his effort or deed. Instead, it is a reward from Allah Ta` ala. However, to become de-serving of this reward, effort and deed are, no doubt, a condition.

The standard rule of conduct we learn from here is that a person whom Allah Ta` ala has blessed with reason, intelligence and smartness should not wax proud over these personal strengths while conducting the business of his life. The best course for him is to seek good guidance in all matters of his life from Allah alone.

In short, these two elders advised their people that they should not feel nervous about the apparent power of the Amalkites. If they would place their trust in Allah, just walk upto the gate of Baytul-Maqdis, victory shall be theirs. As for the decisive statement of these elders that once they reach the city gate, they will overcome and the enemy will run away defeated, it could have been based on a close assessment of the Amalkites, that they were, no doubt, unusually huge in built and strength, but were also weak at heart as a result of which, once they hear about the surprise attack, they would be unable to stay there.-And it is also possible that their total faith in the Divine decree which they had heard from Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) as a glad tiding was the basis on which they said so. Verse:24 Commentary But the Bani Isra'il who had not listened to their own prophet Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) would have hardly listened to these elders. They gave them the same response, even in a manner which was more uncouth and grotesque. They said: فَاذْهَبْ أَنتَ وَرَ‌بُّكَ فَقَاتِلَا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ (So go, you and your Lord, and fight. As for us, we are sitting right here). Had this remark of the Bani Isra'il been by way of mockery, it would have been open blasphemy (Kufr). After that, the fact of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) living with them and praying for them in the wilderness of Tih which finds mention in the next verse would have not been possible.

Therefore, the sense of this statement given by leading commentators is: 'You go and fight them. Your Lord will help you. As for us, we cannot help you.' Given this sense, their statement cannot be taken as blasphemy, though the response given by them remains grotesque and hurtful. This is why this statement of the Bani Isra'il became proverbial.

Let us recollect a related episode from the early period of Islam. This is the Battle of Badr. An army contingent of a thousand strong young men starts marching against Muslims, who are hungry and almost unarmed. Seeing this happen, the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم started praying before his Lord. Then, a Sahabi, Sayyidna Miqdad ibn al-Aswad ؓ stepped forward and said: 'Ya Rasul Allah , we swear by Allah we shall never say what was said to Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) by his people, that is فَاذْهَبْ أَنتَ وَرَ‌بُّكَ فَقَاتِلَا إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ (So go, you and your Lord, and fight. As for us, we are sitting right here). Instead of that, we shall defend you from your right and left and from the front and rear. Please feel free of any concern and go ahead with your battle plan.'

When he heard this, the Holy Prophet I صلى الله عليه وسلم was very pleased, and his Companions ؓ too were fired with a renewed zeal for Jihad. Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn Masud رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہما always used to say: 'I really envy this feat of Miqdad ibn al-Aswad. I wish I too had this good fortune.'

In gist, the people of Sayyidna ibn Musa (علیہ السلام) ، bygiving him a flat response at such a crucial time, broke all pledges they had made. Verse:25 Commentary The Determination of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) against the Treachery of his People

The prayer of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) ; قَالَ رَ‌بِّ إِنِّي لَا أَمْلِكُ إِلَّا نَفْسِي "0 My Lord, I have no control except over myself" should be seen in the perspective of the events in the life of the people of Bani Isra'il, the favours of Allah bestowed upon them and the conduct of their prophet, Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) in their case. An impartial observer would not fail to notice that the people of Bani Isra'il had been suffering from all sorts of pain and disgrace as slaves and serfs of the Pharaohs for centuries. It was the teaching of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and his barakah by virtue of which Allah Ta` ala blessed them with unprecedented stations. With their own eyes, they saw so many manifestations of the most perfect power of Allah Jalla Sha'nuhu . The Pharaoh and the people of Pharaoh were defeated on their own grounds, in the Court confrontation summoned by them at the hands of Sayyidna Musa and Sayyidna Harun, peace be upon both of them. The magicians they had trusted were the magicians who placed their trust in Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and elected to stay by his side. Then, there was the Pharaoh, the one who claimed to be God, and along with him, there were so many members of his family who lived in luxury in the royal palace. And then, their eyes saw how the great subduing power of Allah, the Mighty, the Exalted, made all of them vacate all palaces and mansions they lived in and leave behind all they once owned, all simultaneously, in a single sweep of time. And how He drowned the Pharaoh in the sea with Bani Isra` il looking on the spectacle and how did He make the miracle of Bani Isra` il themselves cross the river. And finally, how was the wealth, over which the Pharaoh waxed proud by saying: أَلَيْسَ لِي مُلْكُ مِصْرَ‌ وَهَـٰذِهِ الْأَنْهَارُ‌ تَجْرِ‌ي مِن تَحْتِي (Is it not that this land of Egypt is for me and these are rivers which flow from beneath me?) given out by Allah Ta` ala, the entire country and the entire wealth, without any fighting or killing, to the Bani Isra'il

These were great happenings. These people were direct witnesses to the manifestations of Allah's supreme power to subdue. No less was the good done to them by Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) who first delivered them from heedlessness and ignorance and then freed them from the slavery of the Pharaoh facing unbearable hardships in that process. After all that, when these very people were commanded to mount a Jihad on Syria, of course with assurances of Divine help and promises of rewards, they betrayed their mean nature and said: (So go, you and your Lord, and fight. As for us, we are sitting right here). Let the greatest possible reformer in the world stop for a while, cross his hand over his heart and think what effect such low attitudes demonstrated by the people he was working for would have produced on him. But, here we are talking about a highly determined Rasul of Allah who stands there as an immovable model of steadfastness, despite all odds, and pursuing his goal relentlessly.

Now that he was made helpless by repeated breaches of trust committed by his people, he turns to his Lord and to Him he says only this much: إِنِّي لَا أَمْلِكُ إِلَّا نَفْسِي وَأَخِي (I have no control except over myself and my brother). And the problem was how could he now carry out the Jihad expedition against the Amalkites? Also worth noticing is the fact that there were at least two chiefs of the Bani Isra'il, Yasha' ibn Nun and Kalib ibn Yu'qina, who had proved themselves to have been faithful followers of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and had made consistent efforts with him to give good counsel to their people and bring them to the right path. Still at this time, he made no mention of them as well. He simply talked about himself and his brother, Sayyidna Harun (علیہ السلام) . It had no other cause but the same treachery and disobedience of the people of Bani Isra'il. Sayyidna Harun (علیہ السلام) being a prophet was the only one Divinely protected there. That he would stand firm by the truth in word and deed was certain. As for the two chiefs, they were not so protected and infallible. So, being in pain and anger, he mentioned only those he was certain would stand firm on truth - 'I have no control except over myself and my brother.'

The prayer that Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) made after that was: فَافْرُ‌قْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِقِينَ (So, make a separation between us and the sinning people). The substance of this prayer, according to an explanation given by Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ was that 'the punishment these people deserved should be given to them; and whatever we are found to be deserving of should be awarded to us.'

The manner in which Allah Ta` ala answered this prayer was: مُحَرَّ‌مَةٌ عَلَيْهِمْ ۛ أَرْ‌بَعِينَ سَنَةً ۛ يَتِيهُونَ فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ (This [ land ] is prohibited to them for forty years. They shall be wandering around the earth). It means that the land of Syria was forbidden for them for forty years. They shall' not go there, even if they wanted to. And not simply that they would be unable to go to the land of Syria, they would also be unable to return back to their homeland of Egypt, if they thought of going there. Instead of that, they shall be detained in this wilderness.

For punishments that come from Allah Almighty who needs the police and their handcuffs or the high and strong walls and iron-gates of prisons? When He intends to detain anyone, He needs none of these formal arrangements. He can put one under arrest even on grounds open from all sides. The reason is obvious. The whole universe is at His command. It was created by Him and from Him it takes its orders. When the universe is served with Divine orders to put someone under arrest, the air and the atmosphere and the earth and the space become the jailor for the condemned.

So, this open land area located between Egypt and Baytul-Maqdis is comparatively small. Its measurement, according to the Tafsir of Sayyidna Muqatil (رح) is thirty Farsakh in length and nine Farsakh in width. If one Farsakh is taken to be equal to three miles, it comes to be a total area of ninety miles in length and twenty seven miles in width. And according to some narrations, the whole area is thirty by eighteen miles. Thus, Allah Ta` ala detained a whole people whose total number, according to the statement of Sayyidna Muqatil (رح) was six hundred thousand, restricting them within this small open ground in a manner that they kept struggling for full forty years to somehow get out of this open land area and return back to Egypt, or go forward and reach Baytul-Maqdis. But, what actually happened was that by the time came evening after a whole day's journey, they discovered that they have been as if moving in a circle having returned to the same spot from where they had started in the morning.

Authentic scholars of Tafsir say that the punishment Allah Jalla Sha'nuhu gives to a people is in proportion to their evil deed. Since these disobedient people had uttered the words: إِنَّا هَاهُنَا قَاعِدُونَ (we are sitting right here), Allah Ta` ala had them detained right there for forty years in punishment. Historical accounts in this matter differ. Some say that during these forty years, the present generation which had disobeyed was totally destroyed. Their next generation survived and it was this generation which, after having been delivered from this forty year detention, entered Baytul-Maqdis; or, there were some people from the earlier generation who were still surviving. However, there was that promise of the Holy Qur'an: كَتَبَ اللَّـهُ لَكُمْ (that is, Allah has destined the Holy Land of Syria for the Bani Isra'il). That promise had to be fulfilled, that the Bani Isra'il should take it over and rule the land. But, the people of Bani Isra'il present during that time elected to ignore this Divine award for which they were duly punished: مُحَرَّ‌مَةٌ عَلَيْهِمْ ۛ أَرْ‌بَعِينَ سَنَةً that is, they were deprived of victory over the Holy Land for forty years. Then, it was at the hands of their next generation, that this country was conquered, and the promise of Allah Ta` ala stood fulfilled.

In this wilderness of Tih, Sayyidna Musa and Harun were with their people for whom this wilderness was nothing but detention and punishment, while, for these two blessed souls, it was the fountain head of Divine blessings. This is why this period of forty years during which the Bani Isra'il were condemned was still full of many silver linings. Such was the barakah of the presence of Sayyidna Musa and Harun (علیہما السلام) among them, that Allah Ta` ala showered on them blessings of many kinds. When they became helpless against the scorching sun over their heads in an open field, Allah Ta` ala, answering the prayer of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) stretched out a canopy of clouds over their heads. Wherever they went, these clouds would follow them with their shade. When they complained of thirst and the shortage of water, Allah Ta` ala gave Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) a special stone which went with him wherever he went, and when they needed water, Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) would strike it with his staff and twelve streams would gush forth from it. When they were hit by hunger, the heavenly food of Mann and Salva was sent to them. And when they complained about the darkness during nights, Allah Ta` ala provided for them a tower of light under the light of which they did what they had to do.

To sum up, this wilderness of Tih was not full of condemned people only. In fact, there were two dear prophets of Allah Ta` ala and with them two favoured elders, Yusha` ibn Nun and Kalib ibn Yu'qina, as well. It was for their sake that, even during this period of detention and punishment, blessings kept coming to them. And since Allah Ta` ala is the Most Merciful of all those merciful, it is possible that these once disobedient people from the Bani Isra'il, after having witnessed the happenings around them, may have repented from their sins and may be it was in return for their act of repentance that they were being blessed with these rewards.

According to authentic narrations, it was during this period of forty years that Sayyidna Harun (علیہ السلام) died. Then, after a year or six month, came the death of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) After them, Allah Ta` ala appointed the revered elder, Yusha` ibn Nun as a prophet and gave him the mission of guiding the Bani Isra'il. When the period of forty years of detention was over, the remaining people of Bani Isra'il got together under the leadership of Sayyidna Yusha` ibn Nun and marched towards Baytul-Maqdis on this mission of Jihad. True to the promise of Allah Ta` ala, they conquered Syria and the wealth of the land they inherited was unimaginable.

That it has been said: لَا تَأْسَ عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِقِين (so do not grieve for the sinning people) at the end of verse 26 has a basis, for the blessed prophets, may peace be upon them all, are endowed with a natural disposition which makes it impossible for them to bear by the pain and hardship of their people. Even if they are punished, the prophets too are affected emotionally. Therefore, Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) has been comforted here that he should not grieve over the punishment given to those people. Verse:26 Commentary - - -