And when the Exalted mentioned the consequence of the affair of Pharaoh and his people, and that they did not benefit from what came to them of the clear signs, despite what was in them of clear explanation and in some of them of hardships and trials, until the last of it was that when he saw the beginning of destruction from the parting of the sea, he was not deterred from his obstinacy by a moment of heedlessness regarding its consequence. And he concluded it by informing of the abundance of heedlessness, indicating that this trait is also present in others besides the Copts. He followed that with a mention of the conclusion of the affair of the Children of Israel regarding what He granted them after their salvation from the blessings that necessitate certain knowledge that there is no deity other than Him, and that whoever opposes Him is in danger of destruction. And they - despite witnessing the signs that came to Pharaoh because of them - were given from the signs specific to them, fulfilled in accordance with His promise, glorified and exalted is He, to their forefathers, what contains the utmost kindness towards them and honor for them. And they were under the hand of Pharaoh on one path, with no disagreement among them. And they did not differ until they became factions in beliefs and parties in religions, until the clear knowledge came to them from Allah. Thus, what necessitated their unity upon Allah became a cause for their division along the path of Satan due to the wickedness of their inner selves and the evil of their consciences, standing with the transient witness and being stagnant with the tangible perishable, and forgetting the fixed, certain, and known absent. All of this is because We decreed it, so the matter is dependent on what We will, not on what He commands and prohibits. Thus, the greatest deterrent from seeking the signs and the assumption that they would necessitate [for him] a response to the misguidances was that He, the Exalted, said: 'And certainly We settled' meaning: We settled with what We have of greatness that causes necks to bend before its loftiness and diminishes the brightest of thoughts from encompassing it, 'the Children of Israel' in a dwelling that is worthy for one who has gone out from it to return to it. This is what is meant by His saying: 'a dwelling of truth' meaning: in the holy land, for Our promise had preceded for them with it. And the custom of the Arabs is that when they praise something, they attribute it to truth, for with its stability, it is beloved to every soul, and what is presumed of it is good.

And when the dwelling is not pleasant except with provision, and the expression about it by the word 'mubawwa' indicates provision by the indication of obligation, He made it clear by saying: ﴿And We provided them﴾ meaning (p-190) with what is ours of greatness ﴿from the good things﴾ meaning the tangible, delightful and desirable things from fruits, grains, milk, honey, and others. And the spiritual from the Shari'ah, the Book, and knowledge as we previously promised their forefathers with that. And when they were like others, if they were on matters they agreed upon, they would come close in it and be in accord. But if they were on limits set for them by the Benefactor alone, they would soon differ. Allah criticized them for that and said: ﴿So what﴾ meaning: So it resulted from our truthfulness to them in the promise that they did not ﴿differ﴾ meaning: they did not create the disagreement that leads to making each of them behind his companion and behind his back. And they took it lightly ﴿until knowledge came to them﴾ which necessitated their gathering on one word due to its precision so that his followers would be of one heart. So it was as if it was said: So what will be done with them? Neither do they benefit with their minds nor do they return to what has come to them from the truth? So it was said, affirming the denial of the Arabs of resurrection: ﴿Indeed, your Lord﴾ meaning the Benefactor to you by instructing the Prophets about you and describing you in their Books and making you the bearer of the banner of praise on the Day of Resurrection: ﴿will judge between them﴾.

And when this was a great threat, He increased its terror and greatness by saying: ﴿On the Day of Resurrection﴾ meaning the one that is the greatest of days ﴿in what they﴾ meaning: by their natural actions ﴿will differ in it﴾, so He will distinguish the truth from falsehood, the truthful from the hypocrite, and He will settle each in his abode.

He mentioned some of what is in the Torah regarding the favor upon them in the holy land: He said during the fifth journey: Your eyes have seen all the great works of Allah that He has done. So, keep all the commandments that Allah has commanded you today, so that you may enter the land to which you are going to inherit it, and that your lives may be prolonged in the land which Allah has sworn to your forefathers to give them and their descendants; the land which produces oil and honey; for the land which you are entering to inherit is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to plant with your feet and irrigate it like gardens of irrigation. But the land to which you are going to inherit is a land of mountains and deserts, and you will only drink from the rain of the sky. Allah, your Lord, takes care of it at all times, and the eye of Allah, our Lord, is upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. So, if you hear the commandments that I command you today and you fear Allah, your Lord, and you worship Him with all your hearts and souls, He will continue to look upon you, and He will send down rain for you in the autumn and the spring altogether, and you will harvest food, drink, and oil, and He will cause grass to grow in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful not to let your hearts be deceived and turn to other gods and prostrate to them and worship them, lest the anger of the Lord become fierce against you, and He withhold the rain from the sky and the earth from its produce, and you perish quickly from the land which Allah, your Lord, is giving you. Rather, make these signs in your hearts, and make them a mark between your eyes, and teach them to your children to speak of them in your presence and during your travels, and when you lie down and when you rise up. And write them on the doorposts of your houses and your gates, so that your lives and the lives of your children may be prolonged in the land which Allah has sworn to your forefathers to give them. And if you keep all these commandments and act upon them and love Allah, your Lord, and walk in His ways and adhere to His worship, the Lord will destroy all the kings before you, and you will inherit nations greater and mightier than you. And every land that your feet tread will be yours, from the wilderness and Lebanon and from the river to the Euphrates: the great river, and your borders will be at the other sea, and no one will be able to withstand you, and Allah, your Lord, will put your fear and terror upon all the land that you tread, as the Lord has said to you: Behold! I am reciting upon you a blessing and a curse. As for the blessing, you will attain it if you keep the commandments of Allah, your Lord. And as for the curse, it will overtake you if you do not listen to the commandments of Allah, your Lord, and you stray from the way which He has commanded you today and follow other gods which you have not known. And when Allah, your Lord, brings you into the land which you are entering to inherit, recite the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on a mountain opposite it in the passage of the Jordan behind the road at the setting of the sun in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the west facing the mountains and the mountains of oak - and in one version: Marj Mamre, for you will cross the Jordan to enter and inherit the land which Allah, your Lord, is giving you, and you will dwell in it and be preserved and act upon all the commandments that I command you today - ended.

And in the book of Joshua son of Nun, peace be upon him: And when it was after Musa (may Allah be pleased with him), Allah said to Joshua son of Nun, the servant of Musa, peace be upon them: Musa, My servant, has died. Now arise and cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to the Children of Israel. Every place that the soles of your feet tread upon, I have given to you, as I said to Musa, My servant. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, shall not stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Musa, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and be courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Let not the Book of this Law depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And he commanded Joshua to appoint the leaders of the people, saying: Pass through the camp and command the people, saying: Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit. Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying: The Lord your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land. Your wives and your little ones and your livestock shall stay in the cities which Moses gave you, until the Lord has given rest to your brethren as He gave you, and they also take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrise. So they answered Joshua, saying: All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go, just as we heeded all the things Moses commanded us, so we will heed you. If the Lord your God is with you, as He was with Moses, then whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words in all that you command him shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage. Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men from the Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying: Go, view the land, especially Jericho. So they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying: Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country. So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying: Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the country. Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said: Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went, I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof. Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men: I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. So the men answered her: Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the Lord has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you. Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. And she said to them: Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way. So the men said to her: We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home. So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear. Then she said: According to your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window. They went and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did not find them. So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over the Jordan, and they came to Joshua son of Nun and told him all that had befallen them. And they said to Joshua: Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; and they commanded the people, saying: When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before. And Joshua said to the people: Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying: Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people. So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. And the Lord said to Joshua: This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying: When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan. So Joshua said to the children of Israel: Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said: By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites, and the Hivites and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites and the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.

{"translation": "And when the people set out and dismantled their tents to cross the Jordan, the priests who carried the Ark went before the people. When they reached the Jordan, which was overflowing all the days of the harvest, the Jordan was cut off. The water that was flowing down from above stood like a heap, and it was far from the village of Adam, which is near Zarethan. And the water that was flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah, which is called the Salt Sea, was cut off and ceased. And the people crossed opposite Jericho. And the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan until all the people had crossed over the Jordan. When all the people had crossed over, the Lord said to Joshua: 'Choose twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, and tell them: Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, from the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm, and carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.' So Joshua commanded them to do that, and that each man should carry his stone on his shoulder. They took them to the place where they lodged and set them up there. The stones which they took from the Jordan, from under the feet of the priests who carried the Ark, are there to this day. And the priests who carried the Ark stood firm until all the words that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak to the people were completed, as Moses had commanded Joshua. And the people hurried and crossed over. When all the people had crossed over and the priests who were carrying the Ark went before the people, and the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over in front of their brothers, as Moses had commanded, about forty thousand armed for war crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for battle. On that day, Joshua was exalted in the sight of all the children of Israel, and they feared him as they had feared Moses all the days of his life. And the Lord said to Joshua: 'Command the priests who carry the Ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan.' So Joshua commanded them, and when they came up from the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place as soon as the priests' feet touched the dry ground, and the waters flowed as before. They came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month - I said: and it is Nisan according to what some of the distinguished Jews said - and they camped in Gilgal on the eastern outskirts of Jericho. And the twelve stones which they took from the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. And Joshua said to the children of Israel: 'When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying: What are these stones? Then you shall let your children know, saying: Israel crossed

{"translation": "So when all the kings of the Amorites [who are on the western side of the Jordan] and all the kings of the Canaanites [who are] by the seashore heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the children of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no spirit left in them because of the children of Israel. And at that time the Lord said to Joshua: Take a sword from Turan and circumcise the children of Israel a second time. So Joshua circumcised the children of Israel a second time at the hill of the foreskins. And Joshua circumcised all the males [who] were born in the wilderness when they came out of the land of Egypt, because all the valiant fighting men had perished in the wilderness [because they] did not obey the Lord their God, and they were all circumcised. So the Lord swore to them that He would not show them the land which He had promised their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. But their children who were after them [were] those whom Joshua circumcised because they were uncircumcised. So when Joshua had circumcised all the people, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. And the Lord said to Joshua: This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. And he called the name of that place Gilgal. And the children of Israel camped at Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the produce of the land after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain on that same day. And the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten of the produce of the land, and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him: Are you for us or for our adversaries? So he said: No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him: What does my Lord say to His servant? So the Commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua: Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua: See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him. Then Joshua called the priests and said to them: Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said to the people: Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord. So the ark of the Lord was circled around the city, going around it once. Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them, but the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. And Joshua commanded the people, saying: You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you: Shout! Then you