Session Four, Part One: And We Shaded You with Clouds

Session Four

Part One: “And We Shaded You with Clouds…” – Application of Part One to the Guardianship of the Household of the Prophet (Ahl al-Bayt) – Part Two: “Eat of the Good Things We Have Provided for You”

October 8, 2024

Application of the First Part of the Verse to the Guardianship of the Household of the Prophet (Ahl al-Bayt)

We noted that verse 57 comprises three parts; we explained the first part in the previous session. There remains only a supplementary point, and it is not without benefit to address it here as well. We had taken the matter of the shading by clouds and the sending down of manna and quails, on the basis of the apparent sense of these terms, to bear the conventional and lexical meaning immediately understood from them—clouds meaning clouds, and manna and quails being two particular kinds of material blessing.

In certain narrations, however, this verse has been applied to the guardianship of the Household of the Prophet (Ahl al-Bayt), peace be upon them; this narration has been transmitted in some of the narration-based exegetical works. It appears in Tafsir al-Burhan: Imam al-‘Askari, peace be upon him, relates that God, Mighty and Exalted, said: “Remember, O Children of Israel, when We shaded you with clouds while you were in the wilderness, the heat of the sun and the cold of the moon afflicting you.” That is, it has been transmitted from Imam al-‘Askari, peace be upon him, that God, Blessed and Exalted, addressed the Children of Israel, saying: remember the time when We made shade for you by means of clouds—We created shade for you by means of clouds—when you were in that wilderness, amid the heat of the sun and the cold of the moon (an allusion to the heat of day and the cold of night). He then quotes the continuation of the verse and goes on to say: “and be grateful for My blessing, and exalt the one whom I have exalted, and revere the one whom I have made worthy of reverence—those from whom I took from you covenants and pledges on their behalf, namely Muhammad and his pure progeny.” That is: render thanks for My blessings; hold in high esteem the one whom I have held in high esteem; the one whom I have honored and to whom I have granted a special station and rank—you too should do likewise.

He then explains who it is that has been held in high esteem—the one for whom God says gratitude must be rendered for this blessing. He says: it is the very one for whom I took from you a covenant and a pledge. Who are they? Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his pure and immaculate progeny, peace be upon them. Here, the clouds, the provision of shade, and the good sustenance that the verse commands be eaten have been applied to the Household of the Prophet, peace be upon them; he says: those for whom I took from you a covenant and pledge, and whom I have held in high esteem—you too should hold them in high esteem. These are God’s blessings, of which He says: render thanks for them. According to this narration, then, the clouds and the manna and quails have been applied to the noble persons of the Household of the Prophet, peace be upon them, who preserve mankind from the cold spells and heat spells of life, from misguidance and error, and from bewilderment and wandering in the valley of existence.

He then continues: the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, said: “O servants of God, hold fast to belief in our guardianship—We, the Household of the Prophet—and do not separate yourselves from among us; and observe how God has granted you latitude, in that He made the proof clear for you so as to make knowledge of the truth easy for you; He then granted you latitude in dissimulation (taqiyyah) so that you might be safe from the evils of created beings; then, should you change and alter your course, repentance was offered to you and accepted from you—so be grateful for God’s blessings.” Imam al-‘Askari, peace be upon him, states that the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, spoke in this manner: O servants of God, hold fast to belief in the guardianship of the Household of the Prophet, peace be upon them, and do not bring about separation and division among us—among all the Household of the Prophet and the Prophet himself, peace be upon him, that is, that which he referred to as his progeny: “Indeed, I am leaving among you the two weighty things: the Book of God and my progeny”—do not bring about division and separation among us, meaning that you should hold belief in the Qur’an, in myself, and in the Household of the Prophet, peace be upon them, alike. And observe how He has granted you latitude.

He then goes on to describe the latitude that God has provided for His servants. First, He made the proof clear and manifest for you; for what purpose? In order to make knowledge of the truth easy for you. This is among the very resources that God Almighty has placed at the disposal of human beings. Then, at the same time, He established dissimulation (taqiyyah) for you as a course of action, so that you might be preserved from wicked persons. There are several stages here: thereafter, should you change course and take a different path and err, He established for you—provided, of course, that you yourselves wish to change and reform—the path of repentance; and, further, the path of the acceptance of repentance.

Imam al-‘Askari, peace be upon him, states these matters in connection with this verse, citing them from the Messenger of God, peace be upon him. If this is not to be called latitude, then what is it? God Himself established the Household of the Prophet, peace be upon them, and their guardianship, as a proof for us—a proof so that we might know the truth and not go astray. Yet, alongside this, He granted us the opportunity and the means, such that should we ever fall among wicked persons, we might resort to dissimulation, in order to be safe from harassment and harm; and further, should we still go astray and take the wrong path, He established for us the path of repentance, and then established the path of the acceptance of repentance. With all these blessings, should one not be grateful? Hence he says: “So be grateful for God’s blessings”—render thanks to God.

This narration, in effect, applies these two blessings to the Household of the Prophet, peace be upon them. As we have noted, this constitutes an application of the verse to a particular instance, rather than its exegesis; the exegesis is that which we set forth previously.

Part Two: “Eat of the Good Things We Have Provided for You”

After referring to those two material blessings of food, or of food and drink, the verse states that you should eat of the good things from among those blessings and that which We have provided as sustenance. The particle “min” (“of”) here does not in fact intend to say that, for instance, certain good things should not be eaten while others should; the good things that were granted to the servants here as a blessing, in response to the request of the Children of Israel, were no more than these two. There, He said: eat of these. Both of these were, moreover, good things—it is not the case that God had given them certain things that were not good.

Here, some have suggested the possibility that “Eat of the good things We have provided for you” alludes to eating and drinking only a small and limited portion of the good things that We give you—that is, as though it were issuing an instruction toward eating little. A general application has then been drawn from this, namely, that eating little is enjoined by the Qur’an and carries many benefits for bodily health, since, by contrast, overeating brings about illness, difficulty, and indigestion.

However, even granting that “min” here carries the sense of partitive “some,” this does not mean that it is instructing one to eat only a small amount, or that it intends to issue an instruction toward eating little. “Eat of the good things We have provided for you” means: eat to the extent that you have need. What God had granted—whether in the form of manna or in the form of quails—exceeded the extent of their need. The possibility of storing and stockpiling it existed; here, God, Blessed and Exalted, says that you should eat to the extent that you have need. That is, do not eat beyond your need, and do not engage in extravagance. It is true that it intends to say: do not eat more than necessary, but not in the sense of suggesting that one eat little; rather, it says: do not consume more than your need and do not engage in extravagance. This command is, in effect, an instruction to make measured use of these two blessings, and amounts, in substance, to a prohibition against hoarding. It intends to say: eat, and do not take it home and store it away. Eat the amount you wish to eat, and as for the rest, neither store it nor make use of it beyond your need.

This, too, although phrased as a command, is—as I noted—a command that functions as an allusion to a prohibition. There remains only one further matter, namely, what relationship and connection “Eat of the good things We have provided for you” bears to the part that follows, namely, “And they did not wrong Us; rather, it was themselves that they were wronging.” Does “they did not wrong Us” refer solely to this, or not?

Topic of the Next Session

God willing, we shall address this matter in the third part. The second part holds no further point of discussion, and we shall, God willing, present the third part in the coming session.