Session Thirty, Verse 60, The Five Parts of the Verse, Point Three Regarding Part One, Part Three

Session Thirty

Verse 60 – The Five Parts of the Verse – Point Three Regarding Part One – Part Three: “And There Gushed Forth from It Twelve Springs”

April 14, 2025

Point Three Regarding Part One

Time is short today, and so we must keep this discussion brief; regarding the various parts of this verse, we have thus far set forth, in summary, what we have been able to address concerning two parts of verse 60, within the scope of this session. Only one point remains from the first part, which I shall now mention as well — that is, this is, in fact, a third point relating to the first part. Within the first part, we have set forth two points, and a third point may be cited here as well. The first part was this: “And [recall] when Moses prayed for water for his people” («وَإِذِ اسْتَسْقَى مُوسَى لِقَوْمِهِ»); the two points necessary concerning this part have already been covered.

The third point is this: according to this verse, the prayer for water and the request for the people to be given drink was presented by the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, to God. That is, the Children of Israel first requested water from the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, and the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, then presented this to God. In Surat al-A’raf, however, verse 160 states: “And We divided them into twelve tribes, as communities. And We revealed to Moses, when his people asked him for water: Strike the stone with your staff; and there gushed forth from it twelve springs, each group of people knowing its own drinking place. And We shaded them with clouds and sent down upon them manna and quails: Eat of the good things We have provided for you. And they did not wrong Us; rather, it was themselves that they were wronging” («وَقَطَّعْنَاهُمُ اثْنَتَيْ عَشْرَةَ أَسْبَاطًا أُمَمًا وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى إِذِ اسْتَسْقَاهُ قَوْمُهُ أَنِ اضْرِبْ بِعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانْبَجَسَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَشْرَبَهُمْ وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْغَمَامَ وَأَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَى كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَمَا ظَلَمُونَا وَلَكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ»); the verse states: We revealed to Moses, at the time when his people requested water from him, saying: strike with your staff upon the stone.

What is the difference between these two verses? According to this verse [in Surat al-Baqarah], the Jews asked Moses to convey their request to God. But in Surat al-A’raf, the apparent sense is that it was the people of the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, who requested water — not the Prophet himself; the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, did not himself pray for water. This difference exists between these two surahs in the manner in which this episode is presented.

Question:

Professor: I have previously noted certain differences of detail — that the verses of Surat al-Baqarah and the verses of Surat al-A’raf, with regard to the episodes of the Children of Israel, are at times different in terms of sequence; one such instance is precisely this one, and we have already noted another instance previously. It is a single episode; however, at that time too, I noted that, when narratives are repeated in the Qur’an, this is on account of the lessons that need to be drawn from these narratives on different occasions; hence, at times, the essence of the narrative itself is more important than its sequence. As to from which quarter the initial request originated, and how Moses made his request, one could construct a particular form and sequence for this: the people fell into thirst, just as, prior to this, they had requested food, and God sent down manna and quails for them; here too, they had become thirsty, and naturally their expectation was that the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, would do something for them. This could be addressed to the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him — that is, that they said to him: ask God to respond to our need for water — or they themselves may have directly asked God: O God, bring us water, for we are perishing from thirst. Both are possible. In the verse under our discussion, the prayer for water was carried out by the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, after the people had requested of him that they be given drink. But according to the apparent sense of the verse in Surat al-A’raf, it is as though the prayer for water was carried out by the people themselves, directly addressed to God. Before the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, gave voice to this and raised it directly — “And We revealed to Moses… saying: Strike the stone with your staff” («وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى … أَنِ اضْرِبْ بِعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ»).

There is, of course, a difference between saying that the prayer for water was carried out by Moses on behalf of his people, and saying that it was carried out by the people themselves; that is, this ultimately reflects the hierarchy and standing of the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, and the fact that God, Blessed and Exalted, held such value, respect, and honor for the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, that He would certainly respond to his request. It may well be that the people of the Children of Israel had accepted and understood that, if they wished their requests to be granted, they had to convey them to Moses and make Moses an intermediary. There is, of course, a further possibility one might envisage here as well, similar to what we noted previously — namely, that the people of Moses said to Moses, “Go, then, you and your Lord” («إذهبا أنت و ربک») — you and your Lord go and fight; we will remain here, and whenever you have triumphed, we will come. This stems from the fact that the people were demanding, ungrateful, and unappreciative; the people’s request to the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, may, from this same angle, have proceeded from this kind of impudence and excessive demand — that is, that they themselves did not even possess a state of supplication, humility, and entreaty. This aspect is not of great importance, but this was the point that remained from the first part of the verse.

Question:

Professor: This was not the case; rather, it proceeded from that posture of demand — that we have come with you and have all these difficulties; ask God to resolve these difficulties — not from a posture of supplication and prayer. When I say “demand,” it is like someone who says: come, let us go to such-and-such a place and come back; and then says: you have brought us all this way, and we are thirsty and hungry, and you give us nothing. At times a matter is raised in a demanding manner, and at times it is a request for grace and favor. The Jews, who demanded that they be given drink from the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him — this was not a state of prayer, supplication, and humble request, in which they sought a favor from God; rather, it was raised from the position that this was their due, and they were demanding their own right. But if we say that the prayer for water was made by Moses to God, this is quite different; the prayer for water made by Moses must certainly have been mixed with entreaty, supplication, request, prayer, and humble petition. Such a difference exists between these two instances of seeking water. Now, whether we should take the apparent sense of the verse under our present discussion as the criterion, or the apparent sense of that other verse, perhaps, in terms of the mention of details and the manner of presentation, what is recorded in this verse is more complete: the people’s request for water from Moses, and the manner in which the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, in a state of supplication, sought it from God, and God, once again, displayed a miracle before the eyes of the Children of Israel.

Part Three: “And There Gushed Forth from It Twelve Springs”

The third part of the verse is: “and there gushed forth from it twelve springs” («فَانْفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا») — that is, “and there gushed forth from the stone” twelve springs; twelve springs gushed forth from this stone. “Fa-infajarat” is, in fact, dependent upon an omitted verb; it is as though the implied form were: “fadaraba fa-infajarat” — God said to Moses, peace be upon him, “strike the stone with your staff”; Moses then struck it, and there gushed forth [water]. The “fa” relates to that omitted verb, “struck.” There are several points to be made here, which, God willing, we shall set forth in the coming session.