a blessing and prosperity for us.” Yet they did not believe. They remained in well-being for a month, then Allah sent locusts against them. They consumed most of their crops, fruits, and the leaves of the trees, until they were eating doors, the roofs of houses, wood, clothing, furnishings, and even the iron nails of doors, so that their houses collapsed. The locusts were afflicted with hunger and could not be satisfied. Nothing of this afflicted the Children of Israel. So they raised cries and clamor, saying, “O Moses, call upon your Lord for us. If you remove this punishment from us, we will surely believe you.” They gave him Allah’s solemn pledge and covenant. Moses, peace be upon him, then supplicated, and Allah removed the locusts from them after they had remained upon them for seven days, from one Saturday to the next.
It is related: “Written upon the breast of every locust is: ‘The greatest army of Allah.’” (1)
It is said that Moses went out into the open and pointed with his staff towards the east and the west, whereupon the locusts returned whence they had come. Some of their crops and produce had remained, so they said, “What remains for us is sufficient; we will not abandon our religion.” Thus, they did not fulfill what they had pledged, but returned to their evil deeds. They then remained in well-being for a month, after which Allah sent lice against them.
(2) The scholars differed regarding the lice. Sa‘id ibn Jubayr narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas that they were weevils that emerge from wheat. Mujahid, al-Suddi, Qatadah, and al-Kalbi said: They were dabbā—young locusts without wings—as well as flying, winged locusts. ‘Ikrimah said: They were (3) the offspring of locusts. Abu ‘Ubaydah said: They were hamnan, a type of tick. ‘Ata’ al-Khurasani said: They were lice. Abu al-Hasan likewise recited it as al-qaml, with the qaf vowelled a and the mim vowelless.
They said: Allah commanded Moses to proceed to a pale sand dune in an Egyptian village called Ayn Shams. Moses went to that dune, which was of loose sand, and struck it with his staff. Thereupon lice poured forth upon them. They devoured whatever remained of their crops, trees, and daughters, and licked bare the entire land. They would get beneath a person’s clothing and bite his skin, and a man would eat food only to become filled with lice.
Sa‘id ibn al-Musayyib said: The lice were weevils that emerge from grain. A man would take ten large measures to the mill, yet would not get back even three qafiz from them. No affliction was more severe upon them than the lice, and they consumed their hair