Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:60

(And when Moses prayed for water for his people): This is a reminder of a great blessing which they met with ingratitude. This occurred in the wilderness (al-Tih) when they suffered thirst. It is related in some traditions that they said: "Who will provide for us when the sun is hot?" So, the clouds shaded them. They said: "Who will provide us with food?" So, God Almighty sent down upon them mann and salwa. Then they said: "Who will provide us with water?" So, Moses was commanded to strike the rock. The sequence was altered to present each of the mentioned affairs in the context of an independent command worthy of remembrance; had the historical sequence been observed, it might have been understood that it was all one single event. Istisqa' (praying for water) is the seeking of water when it is absent or scarce.

It is said that the object of istasqa (prayed for) is omitted, meaning: prayed to his Lord or prayed for water. In eloquent speech, this verb sometimes takes the object from whom the water is sought, and other times the water itself, as in His saying: "And when his people asked him for water" (wa idh istasqahu qawmuhu) and the saying: "And a fair-skinned one who seeks water from the clouds through his face, the provider for the orphans, the protection for the widows." However, using it with both—as in saying "Zayd asked his Lord for water"—is not found in the speech of the Arabs. The lam (in li-qawmihi) is related to the verb and is causal, meaning: for the sake of his people.

(So We said, "Strike with your staff the rock"): Meaning, We answered him. The staff (al-‘asa) is feminine, and the alif is a transformation of a waw, proven by the forms ‘aswan and ‘asawtuhu (I struck him with the staff). It is pluralized as a‘s (irregularly) and ‘usul (regularly), so one says a‘‘s and ‘isa. The vowel of the ‘ayn follows the vowel of the sad. The rock (al-hajar) is this well-known physical object, the plural of which is ahjar and hajar; they also say hijarah. They derived from it the verb istahjara al-tin (the clay became stone), though derivation from material nouns is very rare. This staff is the one asked about in His saying: "And what is that in your right hand, O Moses?" It is famously known to have been from the myrtle of Paradise, ten cubits long—the height of Moses (peace be upon him)—with two branches that glowed in the dark. It was inherited by the younger from the elder until it reached Shu’ayb, and from him to Moses (peace be upon them both). It is also said that an angel brought it to him on the road to Madyan.

There is a difference of opinion regarding the rock. Al-Hasan said: It was not a specific rock, but rather any rock he struck would gush forth water; this is more miraculous and clearer in demonstrating power. Wahb said: He would strike the nearest rock for them and it would gush forth. According to this, the al-if-lam (the definite article) is for the category. Others say it is for specification (referencing a known object), being a specific rock he carried with him from Mount Sinai, cubed, with four sides. From each side, three springs would gush—one for each tribe—flowing in a stream toward the tribe intended to be watered. They were six hundred thousand, excluding their livestock, and the camp was twelve miles wide. It is also said it was a rock that had been with Adam, reaching Shu’ayb with the staff and then given to Moses. Others say it was the rock that ran off with his garment (a well-known story). Some say it was a light rock taken from the bottom of the sea, resembling a human head, which he kept in his bag; whenever he needed water, he would strike it. There are many such narrations, most of which are mutually contradictory, and no religious matter rests upon determining the identity of this rock. The safest course is to entrust its knowledge to God Almighty.

(Then there gushed forth from it twelve springs): This is a conjunction to an implied verb, meaning: "So he struck it, and it split open." This omitted verb is evidenced by the existence of the "gushing." Had it gushed without a strike, the command would have no purpose. Some call this the "eloquent fa" and imply a condition, meaning: "If you strike it, it will gush forth." In meaning, this implies that the gushing precedes the striking, unless one says: "We have decreed the occurrence of the gushing upon your striking." Some later scholars said: There is no omission; the fa is for conjunction, and an inna (conditional) is implied after the fa, as is the rule after a command when intent is for causality, similar to "Visit me, so I may honor you" (zurni fa-ukrimka). Meaning: "Strike the rock; if it gushes, then the striking has come from you, then the gushing." The weakness of both positions is evident. The "gushing" (infijar) is the splitting of something out of something else; from this comes "dawn" (fajr) and "wickedness" (fujur). It appeared here as infajarat and in [Surah] al-A'raf as inbajasat. It is said they are identical, or that there is a difference: inbijas is the initial emergence of water, and infijar is its widening and abundance; or inbijas is its emergence from the solid, and infijar is from the soft. The apparent meaning is their usage as synonymous.

"From it": min is for the starting point of the reach, and the pronoun refers back to the struck rock. The ta in ithnata (twelve)—and it is also said thnata—is, according to the al-Bahr, for the purpose of addition, similar to anbat and nabat. Its lam is omitted, and it is a ya because it is from thunayt. Mujahid and a group read it as ‘ashrat (with a kasra on the shin), which is the dialect of Banu Tamim. Al-Fadl al-Ansari read it with a fatha. Ibn Atiyyah said: This is a weak dialect, and some grammarians have labeled it anomalous. From some later scholars, it is understood that these dialects apply to the compound, not just ‘ashrah alone, though the expressions of the predecessors do not support this. The ‘ayn (spring) is the source of water, pluralized irregularly as a‘yun and regularly as ‘uyun. Regarding noble people, they say a‘yan; this rarely appears for the eye of sight, as in the phrase: "springs (a‘yan) and tear ducts." It is in the accusative as a specifier, and its singularization in such a position is necessary, though al-Farra permitted it to be a plural. This number was chosen because they were twelve tribes, and there was mutual envy and rivalry among them. Thus, God Almighty provided each tribe with a spring to which they would return, with no one from another tribe participating, to prevent the incitement of animosity.

His saying: "Every people knew their drinking place" points to the wisdom of this division. It is a new, independent sentence, indicating that every tribe had become acquainted with its own drinking place so as not to encroach upon another’s. Unas (people) is a plural with no singular from its own root. What was mentioned about the anomaly of its hamza being established is only when it is joined with the alif-lam; without them, it is common and correct. ‘Alima (knew) here is transitive to one object, treated like ‘arafa (recognized) and wajada (found) due to frequency. Mashrab (drinking place) is either a noun of place or a gerund meaning "the act of drinking." Some interpreted it as the drink itself (water), but interpreting it as a place is more appropriate according to Abu Hayyan. The attachment of mashrab to them is because once each place was specialized for a specific group, it became as if it were their property. The pronoun in mashrabuhum returns to the meaning of kull (all); it is not permitted to return to the word itself because whenever kull is added to an indefinite noun, one must observe the meaning, as in His saying: "The day We will call every people with their leader."

Mentioning the mashrab serves to alert [the reader] to the great benefit which is the cause of life, even though the flow of speech might have required: "Every people knew their spring." There is an omission here, meaning: "from it," because "every people knew" is an adjective for "twelve springs." He described them as such because it is another miracle: with the emergence of the water, streams were formed by which the drinking place of each tribe was distinguished from the other. It is also possible that the sentence is a circumstantial clause rather than an adjective, to avoid the need for an implied referent and to signify that the knowledge of the drinking places coincided with the gushing. The mashrab at that time is the spring.

(Eat and drink from the provision of God): This implies an added "saying" (i.e., He said: "Eat..."). He began with eating because the sustenance of the body depends on it, and the need for drinking follows from it. Min is for the starting point of the reach. Mentioning "the provision of God" as a possessive construct is an exaltation of the grace and an indication that it was obtained without toil or effort. This contains a shift in address (iltifat), for earlier it was "So We said, strike." If it had followed the same pattern, it would have said "from Our provision." If the omission before "Eat" were assigned to Moses—meaning, "And Moses said: Eat and drink"—that nuance would not exist. "Provision" here means that which is provided: the food previously mentioned, the mann and salwa, and the drink from the springs.

(And do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corruption): When they were commanded to eat and drink from God’s provision without restriction of time, place, or amount, this was an immense blessing and favor. This invited them to be excessive in their consumption, so He forbade them from what might arise from that: corruption. This was so they would not meet these blessings with ingratitude. ‘Athw (abuse/excess), according to some researchers, is overstepping boundaries absolutely, whether corruptive or not, and then it became predominantly used for corruption. Mufsidun (spreading corruption) in this case is a state (hal) that is not intended for emphasis, which is the standard, as indicated by its being an indefinite noun. Abu al-Baqa mentioned that ‘athy is corruption and the hal is emphatic, but the appearance of an emphatic hal after a verbal sentence is contrary to the position of the majority. Al-Zamakhshari maintained that it means "intense corruption," and the meaning is: "Do not continue in corruption while you are spreading corruption." The intent is to forbid their tendency toward persistent corruption; otherwise, corruption itself is reprehensible and forbidden.

The intended earth (al-ard), according to the majority, is the land of the wilderness (al-Tih). It is permissible that it means that and other lands they intended to reach, where their corruption would follow them. It is also permissible that it means all lands, with the alif-lam being for the totality of the category. Their corruption therein—through excessive disobedience, persistence in violating commands, and arrogance—brings about the cessation of rain, famine, and the removal of blessings, which is a retribution that affects all lands.

Finally, the apparent meaning of the Quran does not indicate the repetition of this asking for water, striking, and gushing. It is possible it was repeated, and possible it was a single event; the latter is what is confirmed. There are many tales about this, most of which have no validity. Some naturalists have denied this event, asking how it is conceivable for great amounts of water to issue from a small stone. Such a denier, in addition to imagining the power of God to change natures and states, has abandoned the observation of their own methods. It is established among them that a magnet attracts iron, the "barber stone" removes hair, and the stone that dislikes vinegar causes it to repel—all of which are mysteries of nature. If such things are not denied by them, it is not impossible that He created in another stone the power to draw water from beneath the earth, and that this power was created at the time of the striking of the staff or at the command of Moses (peace be upon him), as it is reported that thereafter He would command it and it would gush. It does not contradict its separation from the earth, as some falsely imagine. It is also possible that God Almighty, through a power He deposited in the stone, turned the air into water by removing dryness from its parts and creating moisture in them. God Almighty is capable of all things.

The portion of the mystic (‘arif) from this verse is to know the human soul and its qualities in the world of the heart, which is like Moses and his people. He is the one asking his Lord to irrigate it with the water of wisdom and knowledge, and he is commanded to strike the "staff of there is no god but God" (la ilaha illa Allah), which has two branches of negation and affirmation. They glow with light when the darkness of the self (nafs) prevails. It has been carried from the Presence of Majesty to the "rock of the heart," which is like stones or harder in hardness. "Then there gushed forth from it twelve springs" of the waters of wisdom, because the word "there is no god but God" has twelve letters; so, from each letter, a spring gushed. Each tribe of the qualities of man—the twelve tribes of the external and internal senses, and two from the heart and the soul—knew its drinking place from a spring that flowed from a letter of the words. He knew his drinking place and the drinking place of each, where his guide led him and his leader directed him. Some drank of sweet, pleasant water, and some of bitter, salty water. Souls come to the watering holes of piety and obedience; spirits drink from the pure water of unveilings and visions; and secrets are irrigated from the springs of realities with a cup of the manifestation of the qualities from the cupbearer. "And their Lord will give them a pure drink" for annihilation into the reality of the Essence. "Eat and drink from the provision of God" by His command and His pleasure. "And do not abuse" in this frame, "spreading corruption" by abandoning the command, choosing sin, selling the religion for the world, and preferring the transient over the eternal, and the former over the Lord.