Likewise, Allah said to the Children of Israel, “Whoever among you disbelieves after this has truly strayed from the straight path” (Q 5:12). He then reproached them for their misconduct and for breaking their covenants, just as He later rebuked the Christians for the divisions they introduced into their faith. We have discussed this in full, praise be to Allah, in our Tafsīr.

The point here is that Allah, exalted is He, commanded Moses, peace be upon him, to record the names of all the Israelites who were able to bear arms—every man twenty years of age or older—and to place over each tribe a prince (naqīb).

• The first tribe was Reuben, Jacob’s first-born. Their fighting men numbered forty-six thousand five hundred, and their prince was Alīsūr son of Shaddayūr.

• The second tribe was Simeon, numbering fifty-nine thousand, whose prince was Shalūmīʾīl son of Ṣūrī-Shadday.

• The third tribe was Judah, with seventy-four thousand six hundred fighting men; their prince was Nahshūn son of ʿAmmīnadāb.

• The fourth tribe was Issachar, numbering fifty-four thousand four hundred, and their prince was Nethanāʾīl son of Ṣūghar.

• The fifth tribe was Joseph—meaning Ephraim—numbering forty-thousand five hundred; their prince was Yūshaʿ (Joshua) son of Nūn.

• The sixth tribe was Manasseh, numbering thirty-one thousand two hundred; their prince was Gamlīʾīl son of Faddāḥṣūr.

• The seventh tribe was Benjamin, numbering thirty-five thousand four hundred; their prince was Abīdān son of Gidʿūn.

• The eighth tribe was Gad, numbering forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty fighting men, and their prince was Elyāsāf son of Deʿūʾīl.