Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:60

"And when Moses prayed for water for his people..." They were thirsty in the wilderness, so Moses prayed for them to be given water. It was said to him:

"Strike with your staff the stone." The al (the definite article) is either for ‘ahd (covenant/reference), pointing to a specific, known stone. It is narrated that it was a stone from Mount Sinai which he carried with him. It was a square stone with four faces, from each of which three springs would gush forth—one for each tribe—flowing into a channel toward the tribe it was meant to water. They were six hundred thousand, and the camp was twelve miles wide. It is also said that Adam brought it down from Paradise, and it was inherited until it reached Jethro, who gave it to Moses along with the staff.

It is also said that it was the stone upon which he placed his garment when he bathed—at the time they accused him of having a scrotal hernia—and it ran away with his clothes. Gabriel said to him: "God says to you: 'Pick up this stone, for I have power in it, and you have a miracle in it.'" So he carried it in his saddlebag.

Alternatively, the al is for the jins (generic category), meaning: "Strike that which is called a stone." Al-Hasan said: "He did not command him to strike a specific stone." This is more evident as a proof and clearer in demonstrating power.

It is narrated that they said: "What will become of us if we reach a land that has no stones?" So he carried a stone in his saddlebag, and wherever they camped, he would cast it down.

It is said that he would strike it with his staff and it would gush forth, and he would strike it again and it would dry up. They said: "If Moses loses his staff, we will die of thirst." So it was revealed to him: "Do not strike the stones; speak to them, and they will obey you, so that they may take heed." It is also said it was made of marble and was a cubit by a cubit.

Others say it was the size of a human head, or that it was from the myrtle of Paradise, ten cubits long—the height of Moses—with two branches that glowed in the darkness, and it was carried on a donkey.

"Then there gushed forth..." The fa (then) is linked to an omitted verb, meaning: "So he struck, and it gushed forth." Or, "If you strike, it will gush forth," as we mentioned regarding the verse: "Then He accepted your repentance." In this case, it is a fa of eloquence (fasiha), which only occurs in eloquent speech. "Twelve" (ithnata ‘ashrata) is read with both a kasra and a fatha on the shin, which are two dialects.

"Every people..." Every tribe.

"Their drinking place..." The spring from which they drink.

"Eat..." Implied is the command: "It was said to them: Eat."

"Of the provision of God..." From what He has provided you of food—which is the manna and quails—and from the water of the springs. It is said that water causes crops and fruits to grow, so it is a provision from which one eats and drinks. "And do not commit abuse" (wa la ta‘thaw)—meaning, do not persist in corruption while you are already in a state of corruption, for they were persisting in it.

"And when you said, 'O Moses, we can never endure one [kind of] food. So call upon your Lord to bring forth for us from the earth its green herbs, its cucumbers, its garlic, its lentils, and its onions.' [Moses] said, 'Would you exchange what is better for what is less? Go into [any] city and you will have what you have asked.' And they were covered with humiliation and poverty and returned with anger from God. That was because they disbelieved in the signs of God and killed the prophets without right. That was because they disobeyed and were transgressors."