His saying, exalted and glorified is He: "Then We resurrected you after your death so that you might give thanks." "And We shaded you with the clouds and sent down upon you manna and quails. Eat from the good things We have provided for you. And they did not wrong Us, but they were wronging themselves." "And when We said, 'Enter this city and eat from it wherever you wish in abundance, and enter the gate prostrating and say, 'Forgive us,' We will forgive your sins and We will increase the good-doers." (p-219) Allah, the Exalted, answered the desire of Musa (peace be upon him) and revived them from that state of lethargy or death so that they could fulfill their lifetimes. And He accepted their repentance. The resurrection here refers to revival, as He said: "Who will resurrect us from our resting place?" [Ya-Sin: 52] And some said: When they were revived and blessed with repentance, they asked Musa (peace be upon him) to make them prophets. So His saying: "Then We resurrected you after your death" means: prophets. "So that you might give thanks" means: for this blessing. The hope is only for the sake of humans. The tablets containing the Torah were sent down to Musa during that period, and this is the saying of a group. Others said: The tablets were sent down during his first departure alone.

And the commentators mentioned regarding the shading of the clouds that when Bani Israel faced what they faced of killing, and those who remained among them remained, they were lost in the wilderness between Egypt and the Levant. They were commanded to fight the tyrants, but they disobeyed and said: "Go, you and your Lord, and fight" [Al-Ma'idah: 24]. So Musa (peace be upon him) prayed against them, and they were punished by remaining in that wilderness for forty years, wandering in a distance of five or six miles. It has been narrated that they would walk all day and settle for the night, and they would find themselves in the same place as the previous morning. Musa (peace be upon him) regretted his prayer against them, and it was said to him: "So do not grieve for the rebellious people" [Al-Ma'idah: 26]. It has been narrated that they all died in the wilderness, and their children grew up in good obedience, and they were the ones who emerged from the wilderness and fought the tyrants. And when they were all in the wilderness, they said to Musa: Who will provide us with food? He said: Allah. So Allah sent down upon them manna and quails. They said: Who will provide us with shade from the sun? So He shaded them with the clouds. They said: How will we have light at night? So He struck for them a column of light in the midst of their place. And Makki mentioned a column of fire. They said: Who will provide us with water? So Musa was commanded to strike the stone. They said: Who will provide us with clothing? So they were given that their garments would not wear out, nor would they become old, and that their young ones would grow according to the growth of children.

And the meaning of "We shaded" is that We made it a shade. And "the clouds" refers to the clouds, as it covers the face of the sky, meaning it conceals it. Mujahid said: It is cooler than the clouds, higher, and purer, and it is what Allah comes with on the Day of Resurrection.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: His command, authority, and judgment will come, and it was said: "the clouds" refers to what is white from the clouds, and "the manna" is a sweet gum, this is the saying of a group, and it was said: It is honey. And it was said: It is a sweet drink, and it was said: It is what descends today upon the trees.

It is said: "Al-Manna" is the bread of thin bread like Al-Naqi, and it is said to be ginger, and it is said to be Zanjabeel. In some sayings, there are further opinions. It is said: "Al-Manna" is a source meaning all that Allah has bestowed in general. The Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, said in the book of Muslim: "Al-Kam'ah is among that which Allah has bestowed upon the Children of Israel, and its water is a cure for the eye." It is said that he meant, peace be upon him, that Al-Kam'ah itself is among that which its type was sent down upon the Children of Israel. It is said that he meant that there is no labor in Al-Kam'ah, nor is there cutting or harvesting, so it is a blessing without any effort from the kind of the Children of Israel in that it was without effort.

It has been narrated that "Al-Manna" used to descend upon them from the break of dawn until sunrise like snow, and a man would take from it what would suffice him for his day. If he stored it, it would spoil for him, except on the day of Friday, for they used to store it for Saturday, and it would not spoil for them, because Saturday is a day of worship. And "Al-Manna" here is a plural name with no singular form from its wording.

And "As-Salwa" is a bird according to the consensus of the interpreters, as said by Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Qatadah, Al-Rabi' ibn Anas, and others. It is said to be the same as the quail, and it is said to be a bird that leans towards redness like the quail, and it is said to be a bird like the dove that is gathered upon them by the south wind. Al-Akhfash said: "As-Salwa" is its plural, and its singular is with one word. Al-Khalil said: Its singular is Salwah. Al-Kisai said: "As-Salwa" is singular, and its plural is Salawa. And "As-Salwa" is a restricted name in which the grammatical case does not appear because its end is an Alif, and the Alif is a vowel letter resembling a movement, so its movement has become impossible. If it were to be moved, it would revert to another letter. Al-Hudhali has emphasized it and said:

And he swore by Allah a covenant that you are more delightful than As-Salwa when we spread it.

The thought of As-Salwa is honey.

And His saying, the Exalted, "Eat" means: And We said: Eat, so it was omitted for brevity due to the apparent indication of it. And "At-Tayyibat" here has gathered the lawful and the delicious.

And His saying, the Exalted, ﴿And they did not wrong Us﴾ is to be understood as: They disobeyed, and they did not respond to the blessings with gratitude. The meaning is: And they did not place their action in a position of harm to us, but they placed it in a position of harm to themselves where it was not necessary. Some of the interpreters said: "They did not wrong us, nor did they diminish us," and the meaning returns to what we have summarized.

'The city' is called that because it has gathered, meaning it has come together. From it, water is gathered in the basin, meaning it has collected it. The reference here is to the Sacred House in the saying of the majority. It is said to refer to Jericho, which is close to the Sacred House. Umar ibn Shabba said: It was a base and residence for kings. When the descendants of the Children of Israel came out of the wilderness, they were commanded to enter the mentioned city, while the elders died in it. It has been narrated that Musa, blessings and peace be upon him, died in the wilderness, as did Harun, peace be upon him. Al-Zajjaj narrated from some of them that Musa and Harun were not in the wilderness because it is a punishment, and the first is more common. 'Eat' is permission, and the meaning of 'raghad' has already been mentioned. It is a blessed land of great produce, and for that reason, it was said: 'in abundance.'

As for 'the gate,' Mujahid said: It is a gate in the city of the Sacred House known to this day as the Gate of Hittah. It is said to be the gate of the dome towards which Musa, blessings and peace be upon him, prayed. It has also been narrated from Mujahid that it is a gate in the mountain where Musa spoke, like the obligation. 'Prostrating' means, according to Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, bowing, and it is said to mean humbling oneself in submission, not in a specific manner. Prostration encompasses all of this because it is humility, and from it is the saying of the poet:

You see the hill in it prostrating to the hoofprints.

It has been narrated that the gate was lowered for them so that they could enter humbly.

'Hittah' is an action from one who lowers, meaning to ask for forgiveness for their sins. This is the interpretation of Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan. Al-Tabari said: The interpretation is our entering the gate as we were commanded, 'forgiveness.' It is said that they were commanded to say it in the raised form of this word.

Ikrimah and others said: They were commanded to say: 'There is no deity but Allah' so that it may remove their sins. Ibn Abbas said: They were told: 'Seek forgiveness,' and say what removes your sins. Others said: They were told to say this matter is true, as we have been informed. These three statements imply the accusative case, and Ibrahim ibn Abi Abla read: 'Hittah' in the accusative.

It has been reported from Ibn Mas'ud and others that they were commanded to prostrate and to say 'Hittah.' They entered crawling on their behinds, saying: 'Hinta is a red grain in a hair.' Other words have been narrated. Nafi' read: 'will be forgiven' with a ya from below, pronounced with a dammah. Ibn Amer read: 'will be forgiven' with a ta from above, pronounced with a dammah. Abu Bakr read from Asim: 'and He will forgive' with a fathah on the ya, meaning Allah forgives. The others read 'we will forgive' with a nun, and a group read 'will forgive' as if 'Hittah' is the cause of forgiveness.

The seven reciters read "your sins," except that Al-Kisai would incline it. Al-Jahdari read: "Your sin will be forgiven" with a damma on the ta from above and with the noun "sin" in the nominative case. Al-Amash read "will forgive" with a ya from below, in the open form "your sin" in the accusative case. Qatadah read similarly to Al-Jahdari, and it was narrated from him that he read with a ya from below in the closed form "your sin" in the nominative case. Al-Hasan Al-Basri read: "will forgive your sins," meaning Allah will forgive. Abu Haywah read: "forgives" with a ta from above in the nominative case, "will forgive your sins" in the plural and with the ta in the nominative case. Al-Ahwazi reported that it was read "your mistakes" with a hamza on the first alif and a sukoon on the last, and it was also reported that it was read with a sukoon on the first and a hamza on the last. Al-Farra said: "sins" is the plural of "sin," without a hamza, like "gift" and "gifts," and "a well" and "wells." Al-Khalil said: It is the plural of "sin" with a hamza. Its origin is "khata'ee"; the hamza precedes the ya, so it became "khata'i." The ya was replaced with an alif as a necessary substitution, and the hamza before it opened, resulting in "khata'a," a hamza between two alifs. It is of the same kind, so it is as if there are three alifs, and the hamza was turned into a ya, resulting in "khataiya." Sibawayh said: Its origin is "khata'ee"; the ya was hamzated as it was done in "Mada'in" and "Kata'ib," so two hamzas met, and the second was turned into a ya, then it was treated according to what preceded. And His saying, the Exalted, "And We will increase the good-doers" means that if the sins are forgiven by your entry and your saying, "There is no deity but Allah," it is said: They are the ones intended by "the good-doers" here.