2:60

Wa izis tasqaa Moosaa liqawmihee faqulnad rib bi'asaakal hajara fanfajarat

minhusnataaa 'ashrata 'aynan qad 'alima kullu unaasim mash rabahum kuloo washraboo
mir rizqil laahi wa laa ta'saw fil ardi mufsideen

And recall when Moses prayed for water for his people. We said, "Strike the rock
with your staff." Thereupon twelve springs gushed out from it, and each tribe
recognized its drinking-place. "Eat and drink from God's provision, and do not
corrupt the earth with disobedience."

And (remember) when Musa asked for water for his people, We said: "Strike the stone
with
your stick. Then gushed forth therefrom twelve springs. Each (group of) people knew
its own
place for water. Eat and drink of that which Allah has provided and do not act
corruptly,
making mischief on the earth.

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ASBAB AL NUZUL

--------------------

- "Twelve Springs gush forth"

Allah said, "Remember My favor on you when I answered the supplication of your
Prophet ,
Musa, when he asked Me to provide you with water. I made the water available for
you, making
it gush out through a stone. Twelve springs burst out of that stone, a designated
spring for each
of your tribes. You eat from the manna and the quails and drink from the water that
I provided
for you, without any effort or hardship for you. So worship the One Who did this
for you.

"And do not act corruptly, making mischief on the earth" meaning,

"Do not return the favor by committing acts of disobedience that cause favors to
disappear.

- Ibn Abbas said that the Children of Israel, "Had a square stone that Musa was
commanded to
strike with his staff and, as a result , twelve springs burst out of that stone,
three on each side.
Each tribe was, therefore, designated a certain spring, and they used to drink from
their
springs. They never had to travel from their area, they would find the same bounty
in the same
manner they had in the first area." This narration is part of the long Hadith that
An-Nasai, Ibn
Jarir and Ibn Abi Hatim recorded about the trials.

- This story is similar to the story in Surat Al-Araf (Chapter 7) although the
latter was revealed
in Makkah. In Surat Al-Araf , Allah used the third person when He mentioned the
Children of
Israel to the Prophet and narrated what He favored them with. In this Surat Al-
Baqarah, which
was revealed in Al-Madinah, Allah directed His Speech at the Children of Israel.
Further, Allah
said in Surat Al-Araf

"And there gushed forth out of it twelve springs (7:160), describing what first
occurred when
the water begins to gush out . In the Ayah in Surat Al-Baqarah, Allah described
what happened
later on, meaning when the water burst out in full force. Allah knows best

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TAFSIR AL TUSTARI

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Decoding the Quran

And recall when Moses prayed for water for his people, and We said, “Strike the
stone with your staff (with the forces of the Names in your essence).” And (when he
struck) there gushed forth from it twelve springs. Every group of people knew their
way (their source of water). We said: “Eat and drink from the provision of Allah,
and do not go to extreme causing corruption on the earth.”

...
[2:60] And, mention, when Moses sought water for his people, for they suffered
thirst in the wilderness, We said, ‘Strike with your staff the rock, (the one that
ran off with his robe, a light cube-like [rock] about the size of a man’s head,
made of marble) and he struck it, and there exploded, there burst and gushed forth,
from it twelve fountains, equal to the number of tribes, each people, [each] tribe
among them, came to know their drinking-place, which they did not share with any of
the others. And We said to them, ‘Eat and drink of that which God has provided, and
do not be degenerate in the earth, seeking corruption’ (mufsidīn is a
circumstantial qualifier emphasising its operator, the subject of the verb [lā
taʿthaw, ‘do not be degenerate’] derived from ʿathiya, meaning afsada, ‘to
corrupt’).