and the Jordan, Palestine, and Palmyra. Muqatil said: It was Iliya. Ibn Kaysan said: It was Syria.

“Eat freely from it wherever you wish”: that is, with ample provision made available to you. “Enter the gate”—meaning one of the gates of the town, which had seven gates—“prostrating,” that is, bowing humbly and bending low. Wahb said: When you enter it, prostrate in gratitude to Allah Most High. “And say, ‘Hittah’”—meaning remission. Qatadah said: “Remove our sins from us.” They were commanded to seek forgiveness. Ibn Abbas said: “There is no deity but Allah,” because it removes sins. He read it in the nominative, on the understanding: “Say, ‘Our petition is remission.’”

“We shall forgive you your sins.” The root ghafr means to cover; thus forgiveness covers sins. The people of Medina and Nafi (1) read it with the letter ya in the passive voice, with a dammah on it and a fathah on the letter fa. Ibn Amir read it with the letter ta in the passive voice, with a dammah on it and a fathah on the letter fa. In Surat al-Araf, all of them, as well as Yaqub, read it with the letter ta and a dammah on it. The others read both instances with the letter nun carrying a fathah and the letter fa carrying a kasrah. “And We shall increase those who do good”—with reward from Our bounty.

“But those who wronged” themselves “substituted” and altered “a word other than that which had been said to them.” They replaced the word hittah (remission) with hintah (wheat), saying in their language: “Hitanā simqāthā”—that is, red wheat—making light of Allah Most High’s command. Mujahid said: The gate was lowered for them so that they would lower their heads, but they refused to enter it prostrating. Instead, they entered crawling on their buttocks, opposing the command in deed just as they had altered the word and spoken something other than what they had been told.

Abd al-Wahid al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Nuaymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Ismail informed us; Ishaq ibn Nasr informed us; Abd al-Razzaq informed us, from Mamar, from Hammam ibn Munabbih, that he heard Abu Hurayrah say: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The Children of Israel were told, ‘Enter the gate prostrating and say, “Hittah.”’ But they substituted it: they entered crawling on their buttocks and said, ‘A grain in a hair.’” (2)

“So We sent down upon those who wronged a punishment from heaven.” It is said that Allah sent upon them a plague, from which seventy thousand of them perished in a single hour. “Because they had been defiantly disobedient”: that is, they disobeyed and departed from Allah Most High’s command.

“And when Moses prayed for water for his people, We said, ‘Strike the rock with your staff.’ Then twelve springs gushed forth from it, and each people knew their drinking-place. ‘Eat and drink of Allah’s provision, and do not spread corruption throughout the earth.’” (60)

“And when Moses prayed for water” means that he sought water “for his people.” This was because they became thirsty in the wilderness, so they asked Moses to seek water for them. He did so, and Allah revealed to him as He states: “So We said, ‘Strike with your staff.’” It was made from myrtle of Paradise, ten cubits long, according to Moses’s height, peace be upon him. It had two prongs that shone with light in the darkness. Its name was Alliq; Adam carried it, upon whom be