Al-Qur'an Surah Al-Baqarah Verse 60

Mufti Taqi Usmani

When Mūsā sought water for his people, We said, “Strike the rock with your staff,” And twelve springs gushed forth from it. Each group of people came to know their drinking place. “Eat and drink of what Allah has provided, and do not go about the earth spreading disorder.”

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

And ˹remember˺ when Moses prayed for water for his people, We said, “Strike the rock with your staff.” Then twelve springs gushed out, ˹and˺ each tribe knew its drinking place. ˹We then said,˺ “Eat and drink of Allah’s provisions, and do not go about spreading corruption in the land.”

Ruwwad Translation Center

And [remember] when Moses asked for water for his people, and We said, “Strike the rock with your staff,” Then twelve springs gushed forth from it; each tribe knew its drinking place. “Eat and drink from Allah’s provision, and do not spread corruption in the land.”

A. J. Arberry

And when Moses sought water for his people, so We said, 'Strike with thy staff the rock'; and there gushed forth from it twelve fountains; all the people knew now their drinking-place. 'Eat and drink of God's providing, and mischief not in the earth, doing corruption.'

Abdul Haleem

Remember when Moses prayed for water for his people and We said to him, ‘Strike the rock with your staff.’ Twelve springs gushed out, and each group knew its drinking place. ‘Eat and drink the sustenance God has provided and do not cause corruption in the land.’

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And recall what time Musa prayed for drink for his people. We said: smite With thy staff the stone. Then there gushed forth thereout twelve springs; every people already knew their drinking-place; eat and drink of the provision of Allah, and commit not evil on the earth as corrupters.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And remember Moses prayed for water for his people; We said; "Strike the rock with thy staff." Then gushed forth therefrom twelve springs. Each group knew its own place for water. So eat and drink of the sustenance provided by Allah, and do no evil nor mischief on the (face of the) earth.

Abul Ala Maududi

Remember that when Moses prayed for water for his people, We answered, "Strike the rock with your staff": whereupon twelve springs gushed forth from it; the people of every clan came to know their drinking place. (Then they were enjoined:) "Eat and drink of what Allah has provided and do not spread disorder on the earth."

Ahmed Ali

And remember, when Moses asked for water for his people, We told him to strike the rock with his staff, and behold, twelve springs of gushing water gushed forth so that each of the tribes came to know its place of drinking. Eat and drink, (enjoy) God's gifts, and spread no discord in the land.

Ahmed Raza Khan

And when Moosa asked for water for his people, We said, “Strike this rock with your staff”; thereupon twelve springs gushed forth from it; each group recognised its drinking-place; “Eat and drink from what Allah has provided, and do not roam about the earth making turmoil in it.”

Ali Quli Qarai

And when Moses prayed for water for his people, We said, ‘Strike the rock with your staff.’ Thereat twelve fountains gushed forth from it; every tribe came to know its drinking-place. ‘Eat and drink of Allah’s provision, and do not act wickedly on the earth, causing corruption.’

Ali Ünal

Again (remember) when Moses (on an occasion when his people were without water in the desert) beseeched water for his people, so We told him: "Strike the rock with your staff!" (As soon as he struck) there gushed forth from it twelve springs. Each tribe knew their drinking place. Eat and drink of that which God has provided, and do not go about acting wickedly on earth, causing disorder and corruption.

Amatul Rahman Omar

And (recall the time) when Moses prayed for water for his people and We said (to him), `Go with your people and smite that particular rock with your staff.´ So (when he did so) there gushed forth from it twelve springs so that every tribe came to know of its drinking place. (We said,) `Eat and drink of sustenance provided by Allâh and commit not transgression in the land like peace-breakers.´

English Literal

And when Moses asked for drink for his nation, so We said: "Hit/move/palpitate with your stick/cane the stone, so twelve water springs/wells burst/flowed from it, each people had known their drinking place. Eat and drink from God`s provision and do not corrupt in the Earth/land corrupting/disordering ."

Faridul Haque

And when Moosa asked for water for his people, We said, "Strike this rock with your staff"; thereupon twelve springs gushed forth from it; each group recognised its drinking-place; "Eat and drink from what Allah has provided, and do not roam about the earth making turmoil in it."

Hamid S. Aziz

When Moses, too, asked drink for his people and We said, "Strike with your staff the rock," and from it burst forth twelve springs; each tribe among them knew his drinking place. "Eat and drink of what Allah has provided, and transgress not on the earth as evildoers."

Hilali & Khan

And (remember) when Musa (Moses) asked for water for his people, We said: "Strike the stone with your stick." Then gushed forth therefrom twelve springs. Each (group of) people knew its own place for water. "Eat and drink of that which Allah has provided and do not act corruptly, making mischief on the earth."

Maulana Mohammad Ali

And when Moses prayed for water for his people, We said: March on to the rock with they staff. So there flowed from it twelve springs. Each tribe knew their drinking-place. Eat and drink of the provisions of Allah, and act not corruptly, making mischief in the land.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And when Musa prayed for drink for his people, We said: Strike the rock with your staff. So there gushed from it twelve springs; each tribe knew its drinking place: Eat and drink of the provisions of Allah and do not act corruptly in the land, making mischief.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

And when Moses asked for water for his people, We said: Smite with thy staff the rock. And there gushed out therefrom twelve springs (so that) each tribe knew their drinking-place. Eat and drink of that which Allah hath provided, and do not act corruptly, making mischief in the earth.

Muhammad Sarwar

When Moses prayed for rain, We told him to strike the rock with his staff. Thereupon twelve fountains gushed out of the rock and each tribe knew their drinking place. The Lord told them, "Eat and drink from God's bounties and do not abuse the earth with corruption."

Qaribullah & Darwish

(Remember) when Moses prayed for water for his nation, We said to him: 'Strike the Rock with your staff' Thereupon twelve springs gushed from it, and each tribe knew their drinking place. 'Eat and drink of that which Allah has provided and do not act evilly in the land, corrupting'

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And (remember) when Musa asked for water for his people, We said: "Strike the stone with your stick." Then gushed forth therefrom twelve springs. Each (group of) people knew its own place for water. "Eat and drink of that which Allah has provided and do not act corruptly, making mischief on the earth."

Wahiduddin Khan

When Moses prayed for water for his people, We said to him, "Strike the rock with your staff!" And there gushed out from it twelve springs. Each tribe knew its drinking-place. [We said], "Eat and drink what God has provided and do not act wrongfully in the land, spreading corruption."

Talal Itani

And recall when Moses prayed for water for his people. We said, “Strike the rock with your staff.” Thereupon twelve springs gushed out from it, and each tribe recognized its drinking-place. “Eat and drink from God’s provision, and do not corrupt the earth with disobedience.”

Tafsir jalalayn

And, mention, when Moses sought water for his people, for they suffered thirst in the wilderness, We said, `Strike with your staff the rock, (the one that ran off with his robe, a light cube-like [rock] about the size of a man's head, made of marble) and he struck it, and there exploded, there burst and gushed forth, from it twelve fountains, equal to the number of tribes, each people, [each] tribe among them, came to know their drinking-place, which they did not share with any of the others. And We said to them, `Eat and drink of that which God has provided, and do not be degenerate in the earth, seeking corruption' (mufsidn is a circumstantial qualifier emphasising its operator, the subject of the verb [l ta`thaw, `do not be degenerate'] derived from `athiya, meaning afsada, `to corrupt').

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

Twelve Springs gush forth

Allah tells;

وَإِذِ اسْتَسْقَى مُوسَى لِقَوْمِهِ فَقُلْنَا اضْرِب بِّعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْناً قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَّشْرَبَهُمْ كُلُواْ وَاشْرَبُواْ مِن رِّزْقِ اللَّهِ

And (remember) when Musa asked for water for his people, We said;"Strike the stone with your stick." Then gushed forth therefrom twelve springs. Each (group of) people knew its own place for water. "Eat and drink of that which Allah has provided,

Allah said, "Remember My favor on you when I answered the supplication of your Prophet, Musa, when he asked Me to provide you with water. I made the water available for you, making it gush out through a stone.

Twelve springs burst out of that stone, a designated spring for each of your tribes. You eat from the manna and the quails and drink from the water that I provided for you, without any effort or hardship for you. So worship the One Who did this for you.

...
وَلَا تَعْثَوْاْ فِي الَارْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ

And do not act corruptly, making mischief on the earth,

meaning, "Do not return the favor by committing acts of disobedience that cause favors to disappear."

Ibn Abbas said that;

the Children of Israel, "Had a square stone that Musa was commanded to strike with his staff and, as a result, twelve springs burst out of that stone, three on each side. Each tribe was, therefore, designated a certain spring, and they used to drink from their springs. They never had to travel from their area, they would find the same bounty in the same manner they had in the first area."

This narration is part of the long Hadith that An-Nasa'i, Ibn Jarir and Ibn Abi Hatim recorded about the trials.

This story is similar to the story in Surah Al-A`raf although the latter was revealed in Makkah.

In Surah Al-A`raf, Allah used the third person when He mentioned the Children of Israel to the Prophet and narrated what He favored them with.

In this Surah Al-Baqarah, which was revealed in Al-Madinah, Allah directed His Speech at the Children of Israel.

Further, Allah said in Surah Al-A`raf,

فَانبَجَسَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا

And there gushed forth out of it twelve springs. (7;160),

describing what first occurred when the water begins to gush out.

In the Ayah in Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah described what happened later on, meaning when the water burst out in full force.

Allah knows best.