ﲄ ﲅ ﲆ ﲇ ﲈ ﲉ ﲊ ﲋ ﲌ ﲍ ﲎ ﲏ ﲐ ﲑ ﲒ ﲓ ﲔ ﲕ ﲖ ﲗ ﲘ ﲙ
And [mention, O Muhammad], when Moses said to his people, "O my people, remember the favor of Allah upon you when He appointed among you prophets and made you possessors and gave you that which He had not given anyone among the worlds.
Tafsir
Verse range: 5:20
"He placed among you prophets" Because He did not send to any nation what He sent to the Children of Israel in terms of prophets.
"And made you kings" Because He gave them sovereignty after Pharaoh, and after the tyrants. Furthermore, kings multiplied among them just as prophets did. It is also said that they were enslaved under the Copts, so God saved them, and that salvation was termed "kingship." Others say a king is one who possesses a spacious dwelling with running water, or one who has a house and servants, or one who possesses wealth that frees him from the need to perform laborious tasks or endure hardships.
"That which He had not given to anyone among the worlds" Such as the parting of the sea, the drowning of the enemy, the shading by clouds, the sending down of manna and quails, and other momentous matters. It is also said that it refers to the "worlds" of their own time.
"The Holy Land" Meaning the land of Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis). It is also said to be Mount Tur and its surroundings, or the Levant (al-Sham), or Palestine, Damascus, and parts of Jordan. It is said that God designated it as an inheritance for Abraham’s offspring when he was raised upon the mountain and told, "Look, for you have what your sight encompasses." Jerusalem was the abode of the prophets and the dwelling of the believers.
"Which God has ordained for you" Meaning He has apportioned it for you, named it for you, or inscribed in the Preserved Tablet that it is yours.
"And do not turn back on your tracks" Do not retreat on your heels, turning away out of fear of the tyrants, cowardice, and panic. It is said that when the scouts informed them of the state of the tyrants, they raised their voices in weeping and said, "Would that we had died in Egypt," and "Come, let us appoint a leader to take us back to Egypt." It is also possible that it means: do not turn back in your religion by disobeying your Lord’s command and rebelling against your prophet, thus returning as losers of the rewards of this world and the Hereafter.
"The tyrant (al-jabbar)" Derived from jabr (compulsion), meaning one who forces others to do what he wants; the arrogant one who compels people.
"Two men said" They were Caleb and Joshua.
"From among those who fear" From among those who fear God and revere Him. It is as if it were said: "two men from the righteous." It is also possible that the "who" refers to the Children of Israel, and the pronoun referring back to the relative clause is omitted, meaning: "from those whom the Children of Israel fear," namely the tyrants.
"Whom God has blessed" With faith, so they believed. They said to them, "The giants are bodies without hearts, so do not fear them. Advance against them, for you will be victorious over them," encouraging them to fight. The reading of yakhāfūn (in the passive voice) supports this, as if it were said: "from among those who are feared." It is also said to mean those who fear God through remembrance and admonition, or those who remind others of God’s threat of punishment.
If you ask: "What is the grammatical position of 'Whom God has blessed'?" I would say: If it is linked with "from among those who fear" as a description of the "two men," it is in the nominative case. If it is considered a parenthetical clause, it has no grammatical position.
If you ask: "How did they know they would be victorious?" I would say: From the perspective of Moses’ report of that, and God’s saying, "Which God has ordained for you." It is also said: from the strength of their conviction, what they had witnessed of God’s habit in supporting His messengers, what they had known of God’s dealings with Moses in defeating his enemies, and what they knew of the state of the tyrants.
"The gate of their city" "We will never enter it" A negation of their entry in the future, expressed with emphasis that conveys despair.
"Ever" A suspension of the emphasized negation for a long duration.
"As long as they are within it" An explanation of "ever."
"So go, you and your Lord" It is possible they did not intend the literal act of "going," but rather used it as one says, "I spoke to him and he went to answer me," intending the meaning of will and intent to answer—as if they said, "I intend to fight them." However, the apparent meaning is that they said this out of contempt for God and His Messenger, lack of concern for them, and mockery. They intended the literal "going" due to their ignorance, harshness, and the hardness of their hearts—the same hearts with which they worshipped the calf and asked to see God Almighty openly. The evidence for this is the contrast between their "going" and their own "sitting." It is narrated that Moses and Aaron (peace be upon them) fell on their faces before them due to the severity of what was said to them, and they (the people) intended to stone them.
For a reason, God coupled the Jews with the polytheists and placed them before them in His saying: "You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers [to be] the Jews and those who associate others with Allah" (Al-Ma'idah: 82).
