the salt water rather than fresh water. Others said: They ate one together with the other, so that they were like a single food. Abd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam said: They would knead the manna with the quails, and thus the two became one.
“Call upon for us”: that is, ask on our behalf, “that your Lord may bring forth for us some of what the earth produces: its herbs, cucumbers, and fūm.” Ibn Abbas said that fūm means bread. Ata said: wheat. Al-Qutaybi, may Allah Most High have mercy on him, said: all edible grains. Al-Kalbi said: “and its lentils and onions.” Moses said to them, “Would you exchange what is inferior”—that is, baser and poorer—“for what is better”—that is, nobler and more excellent? He described wheat as inferior in value, even though it is better than manna and quails; or he meant that it is more readily available in the ordinary course of things. It is also possible that what is better refers to Allah’s choosing it for them, while what is inferior refers to their choosing it for themselves.
“Go down to a town”: that is, if you insist on nothing but that, then go down to any town. Al-Dahhak said: It was the Egypt of Moses and Pharaoh. The first view is sounder, for had He meant that, He would not have made the word declinable. “Then you will have what you asked for”: namely, the vegetation of the earth.
“Humiliation was imposed upon them”: that is, it was placed upon them and made binding on them. Humiliation means abasement and disgrace. It was said: through the jizyah poll tax. Ata ibn al-Saib said: it is the kustīj, the zunnār belt, and Jewish dress. “And poverty”: that is, indigence. A poor person is called a miskīn because poverty has rendered him still and prevented him from moving. Thus, even when Jews are wealthy, you see them as though they were poor. It was also said: humiliation is poverty of the heart; thus, among the religious communities, you find none more abased or more avid for wealth than the Jews.
“And they incurred wrath from Allah”: that is, they returned bearing it. The expression “they incurred” is used only in connection with something evil. Abu Ubaydah said: they bore it and acknowledged it. Hence the supplication: “I acknowledge before You (1) Your favor upon me, and I acknowledge my sin”—that is, I admit it. “That”: namely, the wrath, “was because they disbelieved in Allah’s signs”: in the description of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and in the verse concerning stoning in the Torah; and they disbelieved in the Gospel and the Quran.
“And they killed the prophets”: Nafi alone recited the word for “prophet” and related forms with a glottal stop, in which case it means one who conveys reports, deriving from the verb meaning “to inform.” The well-known recitation omits the glottal stop, and this has two possible explanations. The first is that it likewise derives from “informing,” but the glottal stop was omitted to make pronunciation easier because of frequent usage. The second is that it means “elevated,” derived from nabwah, meaning an elevated place. According to this latter explanation, the word for “prophets” remains in its original form.
“Without right”: that is, without any offense deserving it. If it is asked, “Why does He say, ‘without right,’ when killing prophets can only be without right?” the answer is that He mentioned it as a qualification of the killing. Killing is sometimes qualified as being without right, just as in His saying, “My Lord, judge with truth” (al-Anbiya, 112), truth is mentioned as a qualification of judgment—not because His judgment can be divided into unjust and just. It is related that the Jews killed seventy prophets at the beginning of a day, and by the end of that day held a market after killing them.
“That was because they disobeyed and transgressed”: they exceeded My command and committed what I had forbidden them.