وَمِن قَوْمِ مُوسَىٰٓ أُمَّةٌ يَهْدُونَ بِٱلْحَقِّ وَبِهِۦ يَعْدِلُونَ
Wa min qawmi Mūsā ummatun yahdūna bi'l-ḥaqqi wa bihī yaʿdilūn · Wa qaṭṭaʿnāhumu'thnatay ʿashrata asbāṭan umamā, wa awḥaynā ilā Mūsā idhi'stasqāhu qawmuhū ani'ḍrib bi-ʿaṣāka'l-ḥajar, fa'nbajasat minhu'thnatā ʿashrata ʿaynā, qad ʿalima kullu unāsin mashrabahum, wa ẓallalnā ʿalayhimu'l-ghamāma wa anzalnā ʿalayhimu'l-manna wa's-salwā, kulū min ṭayyibāti mā razaqnākum, wa mā ẓalamūnā wa lākin kānū anfusahum yaẓlimūn
"And among the people of Moses there is a community who guide by the truth and by it do justice. · We divided them into twelve tribes, as communities. When his people asked him for water We revealed to Moses: 'Strike the rock with your staff.' Twelve springs gushed out from it. Each group knew its own drinking place. We shaded them with the cloud and sent down upon them the manna and the quails: 'Eat of the good things We have provided you.' They did not wrong Us; they were wronging themselves."
This sentence occurs twice in the sūra, in word-for-word identical form, and it was counted in the section on the structure. Here it is treated:
| Verse | Of whom |
|---|---|
| 159 | Wa min qawmi Mūsā ummatun yahdūna bi'l-ḥaqqi wa bihī yaʿdilūn |
| 181 | Wa mimman khalaqnā ummatun yahdūna bi'l-ḥaqqi wa bihī yaʿdilūn |
The only difference is in the set to which the sentence is attached: one a particular people, the other all created beings.
I record this as an observation, and its ground is the two verses themselves: the sūra builds the same sentence first for a narrow set and then for the widest.
And the particle min must be recorded: wa min qawmi Mūsā — "some of his people". The sentence does not take in the whole; it separates out a part.
And this is the support that comes from within the text for the principle of Method that "no blanket judgement is issued". The sūra will do the same thing once more in the hundred and sixty-eighth verse: minhumu'ṣ-ṣāliḥūna wa minhum dūna dhālik.
A point of word order must be recorded: the same number occurs twice in one verse, and it belongs to two different things.
| What | Expression |
|---|---|
| The tribes | Qaṭṭaʿnāhumu'thnatay ʿashrata asbāṭan umamā |
| The springs | Fa'nbajasat minhu'thnatā ʿashrata ʿaynā |
And the link of the sentence must be recorded: qad ʿalima kullu unāsin mashrabahum — "each group knew its own drinking place". That is, the equality of the two numbers has a consequence: there is no confusion.
The same event was treated at 2/60 in al-Baqara (fa'nfajarat minhu'thnatā ʿashrata ʿaynā), and there al-Baqara's word was infajarat. In al-Aʿrāf it is inbajasat.
| Sūra | Verb | Root | The sense the lexicographers give |
|---|---|---|---|
| al-Baqara 2/60 | Infajarat | ف-ج-ر | To burst open and flow abundantly — a wide issue |
| al-Aʿrāf 7/160 | Inbajasat | ب-ج-س | To split and seep, to begin to come out — the first issue |
The lexicographers record that these two verbs can be read in sequence: first the seeping, then the abundant flow. I convey this explanation as transmitted and claim no certainty. The difference of root, however, is a datum that can be verified from the text.
قَطَّعْنَا — the root ق-ط-ع, Form II: it states multiplicity — to divide piece by piece. And the same verb will occur once more in the same sūra, at the hundred and sixty-eighth verse: wa qaṭṭaʿnāhum fi'l-arḍi umamā.
| Verse | Into what it is divided | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 160 | Ithnatay ʿashrata asbāṭan umamā — twelve tribes | (no place stated) |
| 168 | Umamā — communities | Fi'l-arḍ — on the earth |
The same verb, two different divisions. I record this as an observation, and its ground is the verb of the two verses.
Wa idh qīla lahumu'skunū hādhihi'l-qaryata wa kulū minhā ḥaythu shiʾtum wa qūlū ḥiṭṭatun wa'dkhulu'l-bāba sujjadā naghfir lakum khaṭīʾātikum, sa-nazīdu'l-muḥsinīn · Fa-baddala'lladhīna ẓalamū minhum qawlan ghayra'lladhī qīla lahum fa-arsalnā ʿalayhim rijzan mina's-samāʾi bimā kānū yaẓlimūn
These two verses were treated at 2/58-59 in al-Baqara, and I rely on that treatment. A summary of what was recorded there: another word was put in the place of the word that had been given; the form is preserved, the function emptied out. I do not repeat it.
What belongs here is the difference of word order between the two sūras, and it can be verified from the two texts:
| al-Baqara 2/58-59 | al-Aʿrāf 7/161-162 | |
|---|---|---|
| The order of the commands | Udkhulū … wa'dkhulu'l-bāba sujjadā wa qūlū ḥiṭṭatun | Uskunū … wa qūlū ḥiṭṭatun wa'dkhulu'l-bāba sujjadā |
| The verb of forgiveness | Naghfir lakum khaṭāyākum | Naghfir lakum khaṭīʾātikum |
| To whom it belongs | (unqualified) | Alladhīna ẓalamū minhum — "those of them who did wrong" |
The third row must particularly be recorded: al-Aʿrāf separates out those who changed the word with the qualification minhum ("of them"). In the sentence in al-Baqara this qualification is absent.
I record this as an observation, and its ground is the words of the two verses: al-Aʿrāf, in telling the same event, enters a note of division — and this lies on the same line as the notes of division in the hundred and fifty-ninth and hundred and sixty-eighth verses.
رِجْز — the root ر-ج-ز: to tremble, to be shaken; and from this, punishment, filth. The word had occurred twice earlier in the sūra (134, 135: wa lammā waqaʿa ʿalayhimu'r-rijz). There of the people of Pharaoh, here of this community. The same word, two different addressees. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra.