And when He bestowed upon them this great blessing of eating manna and quails and drinking this divine water, He made clear that they disbelieved in it by complaining about it and seeking something else. By being in a state of confusion, they were close to it. Indeed, just as this was of the highest nature, their request was of the lowest and most despicable. So Allah, the Most High, said: "And when you said"—meaning after all these blessings—"O Moses," calling him by his name without any reverence, "We will never be patient"—meaning for a long time—"on one food." Al-Harali said: Food is what nourishes the eater and becomes a recompense from him. "Let man look to his food" [Abasa: 24], the verse ends here.

"One"—meaning it does not change even if it is multiple, and even if it is noble, there is no hardship in it. "So pray for us"—Al-Harali said: This is from the supplication, which is a call for the need that the necessity requires from the one who is calling with humility and neediness. This is in contrast to the command from above, because it is a demand for what need does not call for from the commander. The commander in reality is the Rich, not the needy for what he decrees. The statement ends here.

"Your Lord"—adding this name to Him without yourselves, despite His numerous manifestations to you with this description, looking towards kindness. "Bring forth for us"—meaning even if you are not paying attention to that—"from what the earth produces"—from growth, which is nourishment and development—this is what Al-Harali said.

"The earth"—then they clarified what they meant by saying "from its herbs"—meaning its greenery. Al-Harali said: Herbs are what is abundant with food, and food is the rich things that are suitable with it from the produce of the earth, so it is herbs. The statement ends here.

"And its cucumbers and its garlic"—meaning wheat. Al-Harali said: It is said to be the grain that is baked. The statement ends here.

﴿And the lentils and onions﴾ So it is as if it was said that this wonder from them was what he said? It was said that he said ﴿He said﴾ denying them ﴿Do you exchange﴾ meaning do you take ﴿that which is lesser﴾ meaning of lower status ﴿for that which is better﴾ meaning in exchange for it. The 'ba' is included here on the omitted. This material, I mean the 'ba', the neglected 'dal', and the 'lam' in this arrangement, has many usages, differing in meaning with it, which complicates its understanding because of that. It may be mentioned with only opposites, and it may be mentioned with others, and it may not be like that, and it may be that with the exchange and substitution one of them is accompanied by 'ba', and it may not be like that. It may be mentioned with the replacement and substitution, and sometimes the 'ba' may be included on the omitted, and sometimes on the taken, and the action may be transitive by itself to the two objects, and sometimes it may be restricted to one object; and for some usages (p-415) there is a meaning different from the other, and its clarification will come, if Allah wills, in Surah Saba. So it is as if it was said: Did he respond to their question? It was said: Yes, he said ﴿Descend to a city﴾ meaning from the cities. Al-Harali said: The city is the place that gathers what is cooperated upon from worldly matters, which collects these demands that they requested because what is below the cities cannot contain except some of them. And from this, it was named a city for the gathering of worldly matters in it (p-416) and the strangeness of its irrigation. And if it coincides with what is said that it was named a city after a man, the agreement is in the wisdom of Allah, because every minute and great matter in it is governed by the knowledge and wisdom of Allah, whether it is behind a veil that conceals it or apparent and clear to the people of insight and understanding. Ended.

﴿So indeed for you﴾ meaning in it ﴿is what you asked﴾ and the favor and quails will cease from you. And the request, Al-Harali said, is the demand for what the need calls for and that which suffices. He said: And Allah mentioned that their demand is only found in the cities in which His wisdom is established, not in the wilderness where His word appears. And for this reason, often the norm is broken for the saints of this nation in the wilderness, and rarely does it break in the cities and villages, due to what is implied in this verse. And for this reason, the travelers strive for tourism and to detach from the buildings, for what they find in that from the spirit of Allah's provision away from His wisdom.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, arranged the news of Musa, peace be upon him, and what was from their news with Yusha, peace be upon him, after him, He arranged in this verse by addressing Musa, peace be upon him, what was from them after Yusha, peace be upon him, until the end of their affairs and the reversal of their conditions from the goodness of appearing to their Prophet to the state of aggression and killing of their Prophets, peace be upon them. In general, it indicates that this was only due to their preference for the world and its leadership and wealth over the Hereafter, preferring the immediate over the delayed. Within it is a severe warning for this nation in their following the ways of the People of the Book in similar conditions to theirs. Therefore, the verse was arranged with this comprehensive mention, beginning with the mention of those who believed from this nation, then completing the sects that have validity as mentioned earlier, if Allah, the Most High, wills. It has ended. And when the estimation was: So they did what they were commanded to do from descending to Egypt, what they were promised was then followed by His saying: "And humiliation was struck upon them," which is accompanying them, surrounding them from all sides, just as a house surrounds a person. It is a name of humiliation, which is a smallness in the soul due to oppression and dominance. Al-Harali said: And in its conjunction is an understanding of surpassing numerous news, the ultimate of which in appearance is what was conjoined to it, as if the address is understood that We brought them down where they brought themselves down and prevented them from what was not appropriate for their state, like their state. Thus, there appeared from them faces of corruption, and the enemy was unleashed upon them, so whoever Allah willed was uprooted from them, and those who remained were taken with various types of humiliation. It has ended.

"And poverty" means likewise appropriate to the lowliness of what they asked for.

Al-Harali said: It is the appearance of the meaning of humiliation or subservience on the apparent form and image, stillness and withdrawal of movement. It has ended.

"And they returned" means they returned and they were more deserving of "anger" from the one who is truly deserving of being killed due to equality with him. Al-Harali said: Its meaning is the consensus of the conqueror on revenge concerning the right of opposition. It has ended.

"From Allah," the Greatest King, for their audacity towards this greatest position time after time and again after again. Al-Harali said: And in it is a threat to this nation regarding what has overwhelmed the people of the world from them, similar to their conditions by substituting the lesser in meaning from the forbidden and the ambiguous with the greater from the pure and the best taken freely and with satisfaction. It has ended.

Then he mentioned the reason for this and said: Al-Harali said: And when anger is only directed at one who opposes the Majestic in his disobedience, and they have indeed opposed Him in their disobedience and transgressions, he mentioned their actions. It has ended. He said: "That is" meaning the great matter that has befallen them from anger and what accompanies it. It is permissible that it refers to their concern for their livelihood and their attention to the states of their desires in this lower, lesser manner. "Because they" meaning due to the fact that they (p-420) "were" meaning by nature and disposition "disbelievers" meaning renewing and continuing "in the signs of Allah" meaning concealing their submission and acknowledgment due to the signs of Allah, to whom belongs all greatness, hiding it from those who do not know the signs and misleading them. The renewal of that and the insistence upon it was a habit for them and a characteristic established in them. Al-Harali said: And disbelief in the signs is the furthest rank from faith, because it is lesser than disbelief in Allah, for disbelief in Allah is disbelief in the unseen, while disbelief in the signs of Allah is disbelief in testimony. "And those who disbelieved in Our signs are the companions of the left" [Al-Balad: 19] It has ended.

"And they kill the prophets" meaning this was a disposition for them and a nature. Al-Harali said: And this is the plural of Nabi, which is from the news, meaning the report of the unseen that the reporter is unable to provide from what he has reported - it has ended. (p-421) And when the prophet is infallible in religion and worldly matters, he said: "Without right" meaning the complete right, indicating that his killing only occurs in such a manner. However, this does not negate that there may be a suspicion, like the assumption of prophecy, so the blame is on the act of shedding blood without complete clarity in accordance with the prohibition.

"And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden except by right" [Al-Isra: 33] So it is lighter than what is in the family of Imran. Then he explained this audacity and said: "That is" meaning the great matter of disbelief and killing, which is one of the greatest forms of disbelief "because they disobeyed" and this is from disobedience. Al-Harali said: And it is opposing the command. It has ended.

And they were, meaning by nature and instinct, those who transgress. This means they exceed the limits in a manner of renewal and continuity. For indeed, whoever does that returns to it and becomes accustomed to committing great sins. Al-Harali said: 'And this transgression is the act of enmity, and enmity is exceeding the limit in that which is permitted to the extent that there is no excuse for the one who exceeds it, as it has been permitted to him.' This has ended. And the arrangement of these verses from their stories has come in a manner that does not follow their order in existence, and in the Torah for the reasons I mentioned of these great connections, and Allah knows best the explanation of its matter. From the Torah, it is said in the last of the fourth book of it in the copies that are present among the Jews now in this ninth century, in what I read in a translated copy in Arabic, and its script is likewise, and it has the traces of their recitation of it and the specification of the times in which each section of it is recited. Then I compared it with the meaning as it has passed with a person from them, and he was the reader. Its text is: 'And these are the journeys of the Children of Israel when they went out from the land of Egypt with their hosts under the hand of Musa and Harun, blessings and peace be upon them. And Musa wrote their departures and their stages by the saying of the Lord: They departed from Ramesses - and in one copy: from Ain Shams - on the fifteenth day of the first month after the Passover - and in one copy: the day after the Passover - and the intended first month for them is Nisan, which is the month of the spring. And the Children of Israel went out with a great strength against all the people of Egypt, who were busy burying the firstborn whom the Lord killed, and with what the Lord avenged from their gods. So the Children of Israel departed from Ramesses - and in one copy: from Ain Shams - and they camped at Succoth and departed from Succoth and camped at Etham - and in one copy: Atam - which is in the farthest wilderness. And they departed from Atam and camped at the mouth of the trench which is in the mountains of Baal-Zephon. And they camped opposite Migdol - and in one copy: Magdol - and departed from the mouth of the trench and passed through the midst of the sea to the wilderness - and in one copy: between the sea and the wilderness - and they traveled a journey of three days in the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah - and in one copy: the bitter - and they came to the sea - and in one copy: and camped at the bitter and departed from the bitter and went to the sea - and there were in the sea twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water. And they departed from the sea and camped at the shore of the Sea of Suv - and in one copy: at the Red Sea - and they departed from the shore of the Sea of Suv - and in one copy: from the Red Sea - and in another: the sea of Qulzum - and they camped in the wilderness of Sin and departed from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Diphkah. And they departed from Diphkah and camped at Alush. And they departed from Alush and camped at Rephidim - and in one copy: Rephidim - and there was no water there for the people to drink. And they departed from Rephidim - and in one copy: Rephidim - and they camped in the wilderness - and in one copy: the wilderness of Sinai - and they departed from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at the place known as the graves of lust, and they departed from the grave of lust - and in one copy: the wilderness of the graves of lust - and they camped at Hazaroth. And they departed from Hazaroth and camped at Rithmah - and in one copy: the ramah - and they departed from Rithmah - and in one copy: the ramah - and they camped at Rimmon.

And he said in the second narration regarding the mention of the favor upon them by saving them from the hands of the Egyptians with those great signs which will be explained, if Allah, glorified and exalted is He, wills, in Surah Al-A'raf. So Moses said to the people: Remember this day on which you came out from Egypt from servitude and bondage, for your Lord brought you out from here with a mighty hand. Therefore, leavened bread shall not be eaten on this day, and behold, you are going out in the month of Fiqakh - and in another version: Farik. When your Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Jebusites, and Girgashites, as He swore to your forefathers to give you the land that flows with milk and honey, you shall do this work in this month. Eat unleavened bread for seven days, and let there be no leavened bread among you; and you shall teach your children on that day and say to them: Indeed, Allah has done this deed for us when He brought us out from the land of Egypt. And let this be a sign on your hand and a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord and His ordinance may be in your mouth, for your Lord brought you out from Egypt with a mighty and strong hand. And keep this, and this commandment is from year to year at its time. When your Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, which He swore to you and to your forefathers to give you, then every male that opens the womb shall be for the Lord, and every male among the livestock that you have that opens the womb shall be specially for the Lord. You shall redeem it with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, then you shall kill it. And you shall redeem every firstborn male of your children. When your son asks you tomorrow, saying: What is this work? Then you shall say: Indeed, the Lord brought us out from the land of Egypt from servitude and bondage with a mighty and strong hand, for Pharaoh was harsh and cruel and refused to let us go. So the Lord killed all the firstborn of the land of Egypt from the firstborn of humans to the firstborn of livestock. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord every male that opens the womb and redeem all my firstborn sons. And this shall be a sign on your hand and a memorial between your eyes, for the Lord brought you out from Egypt with a mighty and strong hand.

So when Pharaoh sent the people and they departed, Allah, the Most High, did not send them on the way to the land of Palestine, because it was close and because Allah said: Perhaps the people, when they see fighting, will fear and be terrified and return to Egypt. So Allah guided the people on the way of the wilderness of the Sea of Suf. And the Children of Israel came out from the land of Egypt while they were armed. And Musa, peace be upon him, carried the bones of Yusuf, peace be upon him, with him, because he had sworn to the Children of Israel with oaths and said: Indeed, Allah will remember you, so take my bones with you from here. So they departed from Sahuṭ and descended to the places in the wilderness. And the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to guide them on the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. And He was going before them by night and by day, and the pillar of cloud did not depart by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. And the Lord spoke to Musa and said to him: Tell the Children of Israel to turn back and camp by the shore of the trench, between Mighrāl and the sea in front of Baal-Ṣafon. Camp there facing the sea until Pharaoh says: Indeed, the Children of Israel are lost in the land, and he thinks that they have become confused in the wilderness and that the land has closed in on them. And the Lord said to Musa: I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will pursue you, and I will be glorified in Pharaoh and all his armies. Then the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord. So they did so. And Pharaoh and his servants were sorry for sending the people and regretted it. So he harnessed his horses and went with all his people, and he departed with six hundred chosen riders and all the chariots of the Egyptians as well, and the men - and in one version: and the commanders - over all of them. So the Egyptians went in pursuit of them and overtook them while they were encamped by the sea. And Pharaoh drew near, and the Children of Israel lifted up their eyes and saw the Egyptians coming after them, and they feared greatly. And the Children of Israel prayed before the Lord and said to Musa: Because there are no graves in Egypt, have you taken us out to die in the wilderness? Why have you done this to us and brought us out from Egypt? Did we not say to you in Egypt: Let us serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness? So Musa said to the people: Do not be afraid! Wait and see the salvation of the Lord for you today, for you have seen the Egyptians today; you will never see them again forever. And the Lord will fight for you while you remain still and at peace. So Musa prayed before the Lord and said: Command the Children of Israel to go forward, and you raise your staff and strike the water of the sea, and the Children of Israel will walk on dry ground through the sea. And behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians and make them stubborn so that they will follow them. And I will be glorified in Pharaoh and all his armies and his chariots and his horsemen, and the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord when I am glorified in Pharaoh and all his armies. Then the angel of Allah who was going before the army of the Children of Israel moved and went behind them, and the cloud that was before them stood behind them and came between the army of the Egyptians and the camp of the Children of Israel. And the cloud and the darkness were there all night, and the light and the brightness were for the Children of Israel all that night, so they could not come near them that night.

So Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to be struck with a scorching wind - and in one version: a fierce wind - all night long. Then He turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. The Children of Israel entered the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters became like a wall between their right and their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and Pharaoh's horses and all his troops entered the sea. When it was dawn, the Lord appeared to the Egyptian army in a pillar of fire and a cloud, and He caused the Egyptian army to panic and confused them. He bound their chariots and made them struggle to move forward. The Egyptians said, 'Let us flee before the Children of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against Egypt.' The Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may return upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.' So Moses raised his hand over the sea, and at the time of dawn, the sea returned to its place, while the Egyptians were fleeing before it. The Lord drowned the Egyptians in the sea, and the waters flowed and covered the chariots and horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that had gone into the sea after them. Not one of them remained. Thus, the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel witnessed the great power that the Lord had wielded against the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord and believed in Him and in His servant Moses. Then Moses and the Children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying: 'We will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him; my father's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; his chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; they sank to the bottom like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. And in the greatness of Your excellence, You overthrow those who rise against You; You send forth Your wrath; it consumes them like stubble. And with the blast of Your nostrils, the waters were gathered together; the floods stood upright like a heap, and the depths congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.' You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand; the earth swallowed them. You, in Your mercy, have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation. The people will hear and be afraid; sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling will take hold of them; all the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away. Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of Your arm, they will be as still as a stone, till Your people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over whom You have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which You have made for Your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. The Lord shall reign forever and ever!' Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?' So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, 'If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.' Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters. And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, 'Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!' Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.' Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, 'At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord; for He hears your complaints against the Lord. But what are we, that you complain against us?' Also Moses said, 'This shall be seen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and in the morning bread to the full; for the Lord hears your complaints which you make against Him. And what are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord.' Then Moses said to Aaron, 'Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel,

And he said in the fourth travel: The manna resembled a coriander seed, and its appearance was white like the white of the gazelle. The people would go back and forth, picking it up, grinding it in the mill, and crushing it in the mortar. They would cook it in pots and make from it a dough, and its taste would be like the taste of bread whose flour is kneaded with oil. He returned to the second [point] and said: The Children of Israel ate the manna for forty years, and they continued to eat the manna until they reached the borders of the inhabited land and until they reached the borders of the land of Canaan. And that measure was ten jars, meaning ten waibah. And indeed, a group of the Children of Israel departed from the wilderness of Sin in their stages as the Lord commanded, and they arrived at Refidim, and the people had no water to drink. So the people complained to Moses and said to him: Give us water to drink. He said: Why do you complain, and how long will you test the Lord? And the thirst of the people intensified there, so they grumbled against Moses and said to him: Why have you brought us up from the land of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? So Moses prayed before the Lord and said: What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said to Moses: Go before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel, and the staff with which you struck the sea and it split. Take it in your hand and go. And behold, I am standing before you there on the rock of Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and the people will drink. So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And that place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Children of Israel quarreled and were contentious, and because they tested God and said: Is the Lord among us or not? And when it was in the third month after the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt, they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai. When they departed from Refidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped there opposite the mountain. And Moses went up to the mountain, and God called him from the mountain and said: Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now, if you will obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples of the earth. So Moses came and called for the elders of the people and told them all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together and said: We will do all that the Lord has commanded. So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses: Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe forever. And the Lord said to Moses: Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set bounds for the people all around, saying: Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain. So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes. And he said to the people: Be ready for the third day; do not come near a woman. Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the Lord said to him: Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish. And let the priests who come near the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them. And Moses said to the Lord: The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us, saying: Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it. Then the Lord said to him: Away! Go down, and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break out against them. So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

So the people saw that and they were terrified and stood at a distance. They said to Musa: Speak to us, you, so that we may hear, and let Allah not speak to us lest we die. Musa said: There is no fear upon you, for Allah only spoke to you to test you and to try you so that you may fear Him and be in awe of Him and not err nor commit sins. So the people stood at a distance and Musa drew near to the cloud which Allah had manifested in it. And the Lord said to Musa: Thus say to the Children of Israel: You have seen and known that I spoke to you from the heaven. Do not take with Me gods of gold nor make for yourselves gods of silver. Then He said: Here I am sending to you the angel before you to protect you in your journey and to bring you to the land which I have perfected - and in another version: which I have prepared - so beware of him and listen to him, for My name is upon him. If you accept his words and obey his command and act upon all that he commands you, I will make your enemies hate you and My angel will go before you and will bring you to the Amorites - and he mentioned after them five factions - so kill them and destroy them and I will send terror and fear and dread before you and I will destroy all the nations to which you go and I will not destroy them in one year so that the land does not become desolate, but gradually, gradually until it becomes strong - and in another version: until it increases - so that it becomes powerful and you inherit the land. And set your borders from the Sea of Suf to Palestine and from the wilderness to the river - and he explained it in another place as the Euphrates. And the Lord said to Musa: Ascend to the mountain, you and Harun and Nadab and Abihu and seventy men from the elders of the Children of Israel, and they shall worship from a distance. And Musa alone shall draw near to the Lord, and they shall not draw near, nor shall the people ascend with him. So Musa came and recounted to the people all the covenants of the Lord and all His commandments. Then the people all called out with a loud voice and said: We will do what the Lord has commanded us. And Musa wrote all the words of the Lord, and early the next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of the Children of Israel. Then he mentioned sacrifices and offerings and other than that. Then he said: Then he took the Book of the Covenant and recited it to the people, and they said: We are listening and we will do what the Lord has commanded us. Then Musa took that blood - meaning the blood of the offering - and sprinkled it upon the people and said: This is the blood of the covenant which He has made with you in all these words. And Musa ascended with those mentioned with him, then he left them in a place of the mountain. Then he said to them: Stay here, and Musa ascended to the mountain and the cloud covered it, and the glory of Allah settled upon Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it for six days. And the Lord called to Musa on the seventh day from the midst of the cloud, and he saw the glory of the Lord like a fire burning on the top of the mountain before all the Children of Israel. So Musa entered into the midst of the cloud and ascended to the mountain, and Musa remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. And the Lord spoke to Musa and said to him: Say to the Children of Israel: Let them set apart for Me the offering of their wealth, and take that from every man who has reached maturity - then he mentioned the wealth that is to be set apart until he said: And let them make for Me a sanctuary so that I may dwell among them, like the pattern of the tabernacle and all its furnishings, so shall they make it. Then He said: And work according to the pattern which I showed you on the mountain. And let them make an ark of acacia wood, its length two and a half cubits and its width one and a half cubits, and overlay it with pure gold inside and outside, and make a crown of gold around it. And put four rings of gold for it and fasten them to the four corners of the ark, two rings on one side and two rings on the other side. And make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, and put the poles in the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it, and the poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it. And you shall put the testimony which I will give you in the ark, and this shall be called the Ark of the Testimony. And make two cherubim of gold, of hammered work shall you make them, at the two ends of the mercy seat. And the wings of the cherubim shall be spread out above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and the faces of the cherubim shall be toward each other; and the faces of the cherubim shall be above the mercy seat. And He said: And make a dwelling for the tabernacle from the south side, and He continued to describe to him the work of this tabernacle and its pillars and its curtains and its utensils and its service and what is to be brought into it and the place of its striking from the army and in what manner, in about fifteen sheets, and He called it the Tabernacle of the Time. Then He commanded him, exalted is He, at the end of this second book of things that relate to its furnishings and its curtains and other than that in more than ten sheets as will come. And He said in the folds of that: And the testimony which I will give you in the ark, and I will meet you there, and I will speak to you from above the mercy seat from between the cherubim that are above the Ark of the Testimony with all that I command you concerning the Children of Israel. And He said: And let them make this offering continually at all times in your generations at the door of the Tabernacle of the Time before the Lord.

And I promise you to go there to speak to you. And I promise the Children of Israel to go there, so I may sanctify myself with My honor and establish between the Children of Israel, and they will know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt. Then He said: Let each person among them give zakah on behalf of himself when I count them, so that the plague does not descend upon them. Then He mentioned to him the details of what is to be given and that zakah is upon the rich and the poor. And the Lord spoke to Moses and said to him: Know that I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur from the tribe of Judah, and I have bestowed upon him the Spirit of Allah and filled him with wisdom and knowledge in every craft, so that he may know the crafts in the making of vessels of gold, silver, and bronze, and in the cutting of stones and their setting and perfection, and in the trade of wood, so that he may carry out every work. And I have joined to him Oholiab son of Ahisamach from the tribe of Dan, and I have placed wisdom and understanding in the hearts of those endowed with wisdom and intellect, so that they may carry out all that I have commanded you regarding the work of the Tabernacle of Meeting and the Ark of the Testimony and the purification that is above it, and all the furnishings of the Tabernacle of the Table and all its furnishings, and the lampstand and all its vessels, and the altar of incense and the altar of burnt offerings and all its vessels, and the basin and its base, and the garments of the priests and the garments of holiness for Aaron the priest, meaning the Imam, and the garments for his sons so that they may serve as priests, and the anointing oil and the incense of sweet spices for the sanctuary. Let them do all that I have commanded you. Until he said: And it was given to Moses when he had finished speaking to him on Mount Sinai the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone written on by the hand of Allah. When the people saw that Moses had delayed in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together and said: Come, let us make gods that shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. So they mentioned making the calf and that they sacrificed to it and sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play and indulge. And Aaron, peace be upon him, was frightened by that and was alarmed. And I did not narrate the text of the Torah about this verbatim because in its first phrase I did not see it appropriate in relation to the status of Aaron, peace be upon him, and may he be protected from anything that implies deficiency. So I allowed that it could be something that they altered. Then I reflected on what was narrated by al-Nasa'i, Abu Ya'la, Ibn Abi Hatim, and Ibn Jarir from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, in the hadith of the calamities, and I found it not far from its interpretation. And I have mentioned the place of its necessity in Surah Taha, and Allah is the Grantor of success. Then He said: And the Lord said to Moses: Go down from here, for your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted their conduct and have turned aside quickly from the way which I commanded them to follow. They have made for themselves a molten calf and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said: This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses: I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation. So Moses pleaded with the Lord and said: Oh Lord! Turn away Your fierce wrath from Your people whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. And let not the Egyptians speak, saying: He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth. Oh Lord, turn from Your fierce anger, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them: I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever. So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand, the tablets were written on both sides, on the one side and the other. The tablets were the work of Allah, and the writing was the writing of Allah, engraved on the tablets. Now when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses: There is a noise of war in the camp. But he said: It is not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear. So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses' anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. And Moses stood in the entrance of the camp and said: Whoever is on the Lord's side, come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. Then Moses said: Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every one of you has opposed his son and his brother. Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people: You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. Then Moses returned to the Lord and said: Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin, forgive it; but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. And the Lord said to Moses: Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin. And the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. And the Lord said to Moses: Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molded calf and worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said: This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses: I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation. Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: O Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever. So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand, the tablets were written on both sides, on the one side and the other. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. Now when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses: There is a noise of war in the camp. But he said: It is not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear. So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses' anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. And Moses stood in the entrance of the camp and said: Whoever is on the Lord's side, come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day. Then Moses said: Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, that He may bestow on you a blessing this day, for every one of you has opposed his son and his brother. Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people: You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. Then Moses returned to the Lord and said: Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin, forgive it; but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. And the Lord said to Moses: Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin. And the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made.

Because this people is a people with hard necks, and forgive our sins and our mistakes and the evil of our intentions; he said to him: Here I am, I make a covenant in front of all the people and I show wonders that I have not shown like them in all the earth and among all the peoples, so that all this people, in which you are, sees the act of the Lord which He commanded you, that it is fearful and to be feared. Keep what I command you on this day. Here I am coming and I will destroy those before you from the Canaanites - and he named those who preceded, and repeated the prohibition against prostrating to others, glorified and exalted is He, and he advised about things from the Feast of Unleavened Bread, saying: And keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days as I commanded you in the time of the month of Fiqaj - and in one version: Farik - because you only came out of Egypt in the month of Fiqaj. Then he said: So he remained there with the Lord for forty days and nights, he did not eat food and did not drink drink, and Allah wrote on the two tablets of stone the words of the covenant, which are the ten verses. When Moses descended from Mount Sinai, he had the tablets of testimony in his hand, and Moses did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant when Allah spoke to him. Then Aaron and all the children of Israel looked at the face of Moses and they were afraid to approach him. So he called them and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation came to him, and Moses spoke to them. When he finished speaking to them, he covered his face with a veil, and whenever he entered to speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil until he came out. He would come out and command the children of Israel with what he was commanded. And he said to them: Indeed, the Lord commanded that you work your work for six days, and the seventh day shall be a holy day, the Sabbath is a day of rest for the holiness of the Lord, and whoever does work on it shall be put to death, and do not kindle fire in all your dwellings on the Sabbath day. Then he commanded them, glorified and exalted is He, about the zakat of gold, silver, copper, linen, skins, and other things, and about things they would add to the Tabernacle of the congregation in more than ten sheets. And he said at the end of that: And the Lord said to Moses: Set up the Tabernacle of the congregation on the first day of the first month; and place the Ark of the Testimony there, and spread the glory over the Ark - until he said: And bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation and wash them with water, and clothe Aaron with the holy garments and anoint him, so that he may serve as a priest for Me, and bring his sons near and clothe them with trousers and anoint them as you anointed your brother Aaron, so that they may serve as priests for Me, and let their anointing be for the priesthood forever throughout their generations. So Moses did as Allah commanded him. When the first day of the first month of the second year came, he set up the Tabernacle on the day of Sunday, and he struck its pegs and erected its boards and joined its crossbars and set up its pillars and covered the Tabernacle with the covering as Allah commanded. He took the testimony and placed it in the Ark, and he placed the purification over the Ark from above, and he brought the Ark into the Tabernacle, and he took the veil of the door and covered the Ark of the testimony as Allah commanded. He set up the lampstand at the edges of the Tabernacle facing the north outside the veil, and he arranged the rows of bread before the Lord as Allah commanded Moses. He set up the lampstand opposite the table at the edges of the Tabernacle facing the south, and he placed its lamps before the Lord as Allah commanded Moses. He set up the golden altar in the Tabernacle of the congregation outside the veil, and he burned incense on it as Allah commanded, and he spread the veil over the door of the Tabernacle, and he set up the altar of burnt offerings at the door, and he offered the burnt offerings on it as Allah commanded, and he placed the basin between the Tabernacle of the congregation and the altar and poured water for washing on it. Aaron and his sons would wash their hands and feet when they wanted to enter the Tabernacle of the congregation, and they would also wash when they approached the altar as Allah commanded Moses. He set up a courtyard surrounding the Tabernacle and the altar, and he spread the veil over the door of the courtyard, and Moses completed its work. The cloud covered the Tabernacle of the congregation, and the Tabernacle was filled with the glory and honor of the Lord, and Moses could not enter the Tabernacle of the congregation because the cloud had settled upon it. The Tabernacle was filled with the glory and honor of the Lord. So when the cloud rose from the Tabernacle, the children of Israel would journey in all their journeys, but if the cloud did not rise, they would not journey until the day it rose, because the cloud of the Lord was covering the Tabernacle by day, and fire would light upon it by night, and it would shine and illuminate before all the children of Israel in all their journeys. And it was said at the beginning of the fourth book: Allah commanded to count the children of Israel, and they were from the sons of twenty years and above, whoever went out from them for war in the ranks was six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty, excluding the tribe of Levi, for they were for the preservation of the Tabernacle of the congregation and its service, and their dwellings would be around it, and they were from the son of a month and above, twenty-two thousand. Then it was said: And the Lord spoke to Moses and said to him: When a man from the Levites reaches twenty-five years, he shall be strong enough to work in the Tabernacle of the congregation, and when he reaches fifty years, he shall retire from work and not work in the Tabernacle of the congregation. The children of Israel would encamp around the sons of Levi by the command of Allah, each having a place from the Tabernacle on the circumference, and Moses and Aaron and their sons would encamp from the east of it to preserve the sanctity and the offerings for the children of Israel, and whoever approached the Tabernacle of the congregation and its works from the strangers would be commanded to be killed. It has been known from this and from what preceded it that everyone who prays at the door of his tent, that their qiblah while they are in the wilderness is the Tabernacle of the congregation. And on the day the tent was set up, that is, in the Tabernacle of the congregation, a cloud from the Lord covered the Tabernacle of the congregation and the veil of the door of the testimony, and they would see in the tent at night a fire burning until morning. Thus it would always be in the tent, and a cloud would cover it by day and a fire would be seen in it by night. So when the cloud rose from the Tabernacle, the children of Israel would journey from their places, and wherever the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would encamp. And the journey of the children of Israel was by the word of the Lord and by His command. Perhaps the cloud would remain over the Tabernacle from evening until morning and rise after dawn, and they would journey, and perhaps it would remain for the night and the day, and perhaps it would remain for days and months, and perhaps it would remain for a year. And the Lord spoke to Moses and said to him: Take two silver trumpets that shall be for the calling of the congregation and for the journey of the army, and the priests shall blow them, and the congregation of the children of Israel shall gather to you at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. And if one is blown, the leaders and the captains of thousands shall gather to you. And when it was in the second year, on the tenth of the second month, the cloud rose from the Tabernacle of the testimony, and the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai.

And the cloud descended in the wilderness of Paran. Then he said: 'And they set out from near the mountain of the Lord a journey of three days.' As for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, it set out before them a journey of a day to prepare a resting place. And there was a cloud from the Lord that shaded them when they set out, so that the heat of the sun would not harm them. When the bearers of the Ark set out, Moses said: 'Rise up to us, O Lord, that Your enemies may be scattered and Your adversaries may perish before You.' And when the bearers of the Ark descended, he said: 'O Lord, thousands of the Children of Israel have come to me.' Then the people complained, and the Lord was displeased with that and became angry. He heard their murmuring, and His anger intensified against them, and a fire from the Lord burned among them, and it consumed those at the edges of the camp and around it. The people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed before the Lord, and the fire subsided. He named that place 'the burning,' because the fire of the Lord had burned among them and consumed them there. And the mixed multitude that was among them had a craving and they approached the Children of Israel and said: 'Oh, that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt, and we ate the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our souls are dried up; there is nothing at all to look at except this manna before our eyes.' And Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused, and it was also displeasing to Moses. Then he said: 'From where can I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying:

So the Lord said to Moses: Gather seventy elders from the elders of the Children of Israel, those whom you know to be the leaders of the people and its scribes, and go with them to the Tent of Meeting. For I will descend to you and speak to you there, and I will take away from the gift of the Spirit that is upon you and put it upon them, so that they may bear the burden of this people with you and not leave you alone. Then Moses said to the people: Prepare yourselves tomorrow to eat meat, for you have wept before the Lord and said: Oh, that someone would give us meat to eat! For it would be better for us to die in the land of Egypt. So the Lord will give you meat, and you will not eat it just for one day or two days, but you will eat it for a month until it comes out of your nostrils and you become loathsome to it. And he gathered seventy elders from the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. And the Lord, glorified and exalted is He, descended and spoke to him, and took from the Spirit that was upon him and placed it upon the seventy. And Moses entered the camp, he and the elders of the Children of Israel. And a wind went forth from the Lord and brought quails from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side and a day's journey on that side around the camp, and they were two cubits above the ground. And the people gathered and spread them out around the camp to be dried. But while the meat was between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. And he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah. And the people journeyed from Kibroth Hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth. And it is mentioned that they stayed there for seven days. Then he said: Then the people journeyed from Hazeroth and camped at the Wilderness of Paran. And the Lord spoke to Moses and said to him: Send men to scout the land that I am giving to the Children of Israel - and he mentioned sending the twelve spies as will come, if Allah wills, in Surah Al-Ma'idah. Then he said: And they returned to Moses after forty days. They came to Moses and Aaron and the congregation of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh - this concludes the explanation of what was referred to in this Surah regarding the stories of the Children of Israel from the Torah.