Ayaats of the Glorious Qur'an | Chapter 2 || Verse 54-59 |

Ayaats of the Glorious Qur'an | Chapter 2 || Verse 54-59 |

| Translation |
54 - And remember Moses said to his people: "O my people! You have indeed wronged yourselves by your worship of the calf: So turn (in repentance) to your Maker, and slay yourselves (the wrong-doers);* that will be better for you in the sight of your Maker." Then He turned towards you (in forgiveness): For He is Oft- Returning, Most Merciful.
55 - And remember you said:** "O Moses! We shall never believe in you until we see Allah manifestly," but you were dazed with thunder and lightning even as you looked on.
56 - Then We raised you up after your death: You had the chance to be grateful.
57 - And We gave you the shade of clouds and sent down to you Manna*** and quails, saying: "Eat of the good things We have provided for you:" (but they rebelled); to Us they did no harm, but they harmed their own souls.
58 - And remember We said: "Enter this town,**** and eat of the plenty therein as you wish; but enter the gate with humility, in posture and in words, and We shall forgive you your faults and increase (the portion of) those who do good."
59 - But the transgressors changed the word from that which had been given them; so We sent on the transgressors a plague from heaven, for that they infringed (Our command) repeatedly.

| Commentary |
* Moses's speech may be construed literally, as translated, in which case it reproduces Exod. 32:27-28 but in a much softened form, for the Old Testament says: "Go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour... and there fell of the people that day 3,000 men."
The word here translated Maker (bari' ) has also in it a touch of the root-meaning of "liberator"- an apt word as referring to the Israelites, who had just been liberated from bondage in Egypt.

** We have hitherto had instances from the Jewish traditional Tawrah (or Pentateuch). Now we have some instances from Jewish tradition in the Talmud, or body of exposition in the Jewish theological schools. They are based on the Jewish scriptures, but add many marvellous details and homilies. As to seeing Allah, we have in Exod. 33:20: "And He said, 'Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see Me and live'." The punishment for insisting on seeing Allah was therefore death: but those who rejected faith were forgiven, and yet they were ungrateful.

***Manna= Hebrew, Man-hu: Arabic ‘Ma-huwa’? = What is it? In Exod. 16:14 it is described as "a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground". It usually rotted if left over till next day; it melted in the hot sun; the amount necessary for each man was about an Omer, a Hebrew measure of capacity equal to about 2½ quarts. This is the Hebrew account, probably distorted by traditional exaggeration. The actual Manna found to this day in the Sinai region is a gummy saccharine secretion found on a species of Tamarisk. It is produced by the puncture of a species of insect like the cochineal, just as lac is produced by the puncture of the lac insect on certain trees in India. As to quails, large flights of them are driven by winds in the Eastern Mediterranean in certain seasons of the year, as was witnessed during the Great War of 1914-1918.

**** This probably refers to Shittim. It was the "town of acacias," just east of the Jordan, where the Israelites were guilty of debauchery and the worship of and sacrifices to false gods (Num. 25:1-2, also 8-9): a terrible punishment ensued, including the plague, of which 24,000 died. The word which the transgressors changed may have been a pass-word. In the Arabic text it is ‘hittatun’ which implies humility and a prayer of forgiveness, a fitting emblem to distinguish them from their enemies. From this particular incident a more general lesson may be drawn: in the hour of triumph we are to behave humbly as in Allah's sight, and our conduct should be exemplary according to Allah's word: otherwise our arrogance will draw its own punishment.
These verses 58-59, may be compared with Qur’an 7:161-162. There are two verbal differences. Here (Qur’an 2:58) we have "enter the town" and in Qur’an 7:161 we have "dwell in this town." Again in Qur’an 2:59 here we have "infringed (Our command)." and in Qur’an 7:162, we have "transgressed." The verbal differences make no difference to the sense.