• The ninth tribe was Asher, numbering forty-one thousand five hundred fighting men, and their prince was Pagiel son of Ocran.
• The tenth tribe was Dan, numbering sixty-two thousand seven hundred, whose prince was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.
• The eleventh tribe was Naphtali, numbering twenty-three thousand four hundred, and their prince was Ahira son of Enan.
• The twelfth tribe was Zebulun, numbering fifty-seven thousand four hundred; their prince was Eliab son of Helon. Such is the exact wording of the book that is in their possession, and Allah knows best.
The tribe of Levi was not included in this census. Allah commanded Moses not to number them with the others, for they were entrusted with carrying the Tabernacle of the Testimony—dismantling it, setting it up, and bearing it whenever the camp moved on. This was the tribe of Moses and Aaron, peace be upon them, and it comprised twenty-two thousand males from the age of one month and upward. Within the tribe there were separate clans, each charged with a specific section of the Tent of Meeting to guard, maintain, and transport. They encamped all around it, and when they journeyed they marched before it, to its right, to its left, and behind it.
The total number of fighting men apart from the Levites came to five hundred and seventy-one thousand six hundred and fifty. Yet they also state: “The number of the Israelites who were twenty years old and above, all who could bear arms, was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty, not counting the Levites.” This calls for scrutiny, for if all the individual figures cited above are correct as we found them in their book, they do not tally with the grand total they give. Allah knows best.
Thus the Levites assigned to guard the Tent of Meeting marched in the center of the Israelites—forming the heart of the formation—while the right flank was led by the tribe of Reuben, the left by the tribe of Dan, and the tribe of Naphtali served as the rear guard. Moses, peace be upon him, arranged all of this by Allah’s command.