Al-Qur'an Surah Al-A'raf Verse 160

Mufti Taqi Usmani

And We divided them into twelve tribes, as separate communities, and We revealed to Mūsā when his people asked him for water, “Strike the rock with your staff.” Then twelve springs gushed forth from it. Each tribe came to know their drinking place. We shaded them with the shadow of the clouds. And We sent down to them Mann and Salwā (saying), “Eat of the good things we have provided you.” And they did us no harm, rather they have been harming their own selves.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

We divided them into twelve tribes—each as a community. And We revealed to Moses, when his people asked for water, “Strike the rock with your staff.” Then twelve springs gushed out. Each tribe knew its drinking place. We shaded them with clouds and sent down to them manna and quails,[[ Manna (heavenly bread) and quails (chicken-like birds) sustained the children of Israel in the wilderness after they left Egypt.]] ˹saying˺, “Eat from the good things We have provided for you.” They ˹certainly˺ did not wrong Us, but wronged themselves.

Ruwwad Translation Center

We divided them into twelve tribes, each as a community, and We inspired Moses when his people asked him for water, “Strike the rock with your staff.” There gushed forth from it twelve springs; each tribe knew the place of its drinking. We shaded them with clouds and sent down to them manna and quails, “Eat of the good things We have provided for you.” They did not wrong Us, but it was themselves that they wronged.

A. J. Arberry

And We cut them up into twelve tribes, nations. And We revealed to Moses, when his people asked him for water: 'Strike with thy staff the rock'; and there gushed forth from it twelve fountains all the people knew now their drinking-place. And We outspread the cloud to overshadow them, and We sent down manna and quails upon them: 'Eat of the good things wherewith We have supplied you.' And they worked no wrong upon Us, but themselves they wronged.

Abdul Haleem

We divided them into twelve tribes [as distinct] communities, and, when his people asked him for water, inspired Moses to strike the rock with his staff [so that] twelve springs gushed out. Each tribe knew its own drinking place; We gave them the shade of clouds and sent down to them manna and quails [saying], ‘Eat the good things We have provided for you.’ They did not wrong Us; it was themselves they wronged.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

And We cut them up into twelve tribes as communities. And We revealed unto Musa, when his people asked him for drink: Smite the rock with thy rod. Then gushed forth therefrcm twelve springs: every people already knew their drinking-places. And We shaded them with thick clouds, and We sent down upon them the manna and the quails, saying: eat of the clean things wherewith We have provided you. And they wronged not Us, but themselves they were wont to wrong.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We divided them into twelve tribes or nations. We directed Moses by inspiration, when his (thirsty) people asked him for water; "Strike the rock with thy staff"; out of it there gushed forth twelve springs; Each group knew its own place for water. We gave them the shade of clouds, and sent down to them manna and quails, (saying); "Eat of the good things We have provided for you"; (but they rebelled); to Us they did no harm, but they harmed their own souls.

Abul Ala Maududi

And We divided them into twelve tribes, forming them into communities. When his people asked Moses for water We directed him: 'Smite the rock with your rod.' Then twelve springs gushed forth from the rock and every people knew their drinking-places. And We caused thick clouds to provide them shade, and We sent down upon them manna and quails, saying: 'Eat of the clean things that We have provided you.' They wronged not Us, but it was themselves that they wronged.

Ahmed Ali

We divided them into twelve (different) tribes. When his people asked for water, We said to Moses: "Strike the rock with your staff;" and behold, twelve springs of water gushed forth, so that each of the tribes had a place of its own to drink; and We made the clouds spread shade over them and sent for them manna and quails (and said): "Eat of the good things We have provided for you." But (by disobeying) they did not harm Us, they harmed themselves.

Ahmed Raza Khan

And We divided them into twelve tribes, as separate groups; and when his people asked him for water, We revealed to Moosa, “Strike the rock with your staff”; so twelve springs gushed forth from it; each group recognised its drinking-place; and We made the clouds a canopy over them and sent down the Manna and the Salwa (birds) on them; “Eat of the good things we have provided you”; and they did not wrong Us in the least, but they used to wrong themselves.

Ali Quli Qarai

We split them up into twelve tribal communities, and We revealed to Moses, when his people asked him for water, [saying], ‘Strike the rock with your staff,’ whereat twelve fountains gushed forth from it. Every tribe came to know its drinking-place. And We shaded them with clouds, and We sent down to them manna and quails: ‘Eat of the good things We have provided you.’ And they did not wrong Us, but they used to wrong [only] themselves.

Ali Ünal

We divided Moses’ people into twelve tribes, forming them into communities. We revealed to Moses when his people asked him for water (on the occasion that they were left without water in the desert), saying: "Strike the rock with your staff!" And (as soon as he struck) there gushed forth from it twelve springs. Each tribe knew their drinking place. And We caused the cloud to shade them, and sent down upon them manna and quails: "Eat of the pure, wholesome things that We have provided for you." And (by disobeying Our commandments) they wronged not Us, but themselves they used to wrong.

Amatul Rahman Omar

We divided them (- the people of Moses) into twelve tribes according to the ancestral lineage (to which they belonged). And We sent Our revelation to Moses when his people asked of him (something) to drink (saying), `Strike that rock with your staff.´ Then (as he did), there gushed out from it twelve springs, so that all the people now knew their (respective) drinking place. And We outspread the rain clouds to be a shade over them and We sent down for them Manna and quails (saying), `Eat of the pure things wherewith We have provided you.´ And they did Us no harm (when they went wrong) but it was to themselves that they had been doing harm.

English Literal

And We separated/divided them (into) twelve (F) branches/Jewish tribes nations, and We inspired/transmitted to Moses, when his nation asked him for drink, that strike/move the stone with your stick/cane, so twelve (F) water springs/water wells flowed/gushed/spouted from it, every/each people had known their drinking place, and We shadowed/overshadowed on them the clouds, and We descended on them the manna/sap , and the quail/amusement, eat from goodnesses what We provided for you, and they did not cause injustice to Us/oppress Us, and but they were causing injustice/oppression (to) themselves .

Faridul Haque

And We divided them into twelve tribes, as separate groups; and when his people asked him for water, We revealed to Moosa, "Strike the rock with your staff"; so twelve springs gushed forth from it; each group recognised its drinking-place; and We made the clouds a canopy over them and sent down the Manna and the Salwa (birds) on them; "Eat of the good things we have provided you"; and they did not wrong Us in the least, but they used to wrong themselves.

Hamid S. Aziz

And We divided them into twelve tribes, nation; and We inspired Moses, when his people asked him for water, saying, "Strike the rock with your staff!" and there gushed forth from it twelve springs, so that each tribe knew their drinking place. And We overshadowed them with the cloud; and sent down upon them the manna and the quails, saying, "Eat of the good things We have provided you with!"- They did not wrong Us but it was themselves they were wont to wrong.

Hilali & Khan

And We divided them into twelve tribes (as distinct) nations. We directed Musa (Moses) by inspiration, when his people asked him for water, (saying): "Strike the stone with your stick", and there gushed forth out of it twelve springs: each group knew its own place for water. We shaded them with the clouds and sent down upon them Al-Manna and the quails (saying): "Eat of the good things with which We have provided you." They harmed Us not but they used to harm themselves.

Maulana Mohammad Ali

And of Moses’ people is a party who guide with truth, and therewith they do justice.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

And We divided them into twelve tribes, as nations; and We revealed to Musa when his people asked him for water: Strike the rock with your staff, so outnowed from it twelve springs; each tribe knew its drinking place; and We made the clouds to give shade over them and We sent to them manna and quails: Eat of the good things We have given you. And they did not do Us any harm, but they did injustice to their own souls.

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

We divided them into twelve tribes, nations; and We inspired Moses, when his people asked him for water, saying: Smite with thy staff the rock! And there gushed forth therefrom twelve springs, so that each tribe knew their drinking-place. And we caused the white cloud to overshadow them and sent down for them the manna and the quails (saying): Eat of the good things wherewith we have provided you. They wronged Us not, but they were wont to wrong themselves.

Muhammad Sarwar

We divided the descendants of Israel into twelve tribes and told Moses to strike the rock with his staff to let twelve fountains gush out therefrom; his people had asked him to supply them with water. The twelve flowing springs were divided among them (a spring for each tribe) and each tribe knew its drinking place well. We provided them with shade from the clouds, sent down manna and quails to them for food, and told them to eat the pure things which We had given them. They did not do injustice to Us but they wronged themselves.

Qaribullah & Darwish

We divided them into twelve tribes, each a nation. And when his people demanded drink, We revealed to Moses: 'Strike the rock with your staff' Thereupon twelve springs gushed from the rock and each tribe knew its drinkingplace. We caused the clouds to cast their shadow over them, and sent down for them manna and quails, saying: 'Eat of the good things We have provided for you' Indeed, they did Us no wrong, but they wronged themselves.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

And We divided them into twelve tribes (as distinct) nations. We revealed to Musa when his people asked him for water (saying): "Strike the stone with your stick," and there gushed forth out of it twelve springs, each group knew its own place for water. We shaded them with the clouds and sent down upon them the manna and the quail (saying): "Eat of the good things with which We have provided you." They harmed Us not but they used to harm themselves.

Wahiduddin Khan

We divided them up into twelve tribes, each a whole community, and We revealed Our will to Moses, when his people asked for water, saying, "Strike the rock with your staff." Twelve springs gushed from it and each tribe knew its drinking place. We caused the clouds to draw their shadow over them and sent down for them manna and quails, saying, "Eat the good things We have given you." They did not wrong Us; rather it was themselves they wronged.

Talal Itani

We divided them into twelve tribal communities. And We inspired Moses, when his people asked him for something to drink: “Strike the rock with your staff.” Whereupon twelve springs gushed from it. Each group recognized its drinking-place. And We shaded them with clouds, and We sent down upon them manna and quails: “Eat of the good things We have provided for you.” They did not wrong Us, but they used to wrong their own selves.

Tafsir jalalayn

And We divided them, We separated the Children of Israel, into twelve (ithnatay `asharata is a circumstantial qualifier) tribes (asbtan substitutes for this [previous circumstantial qualifier]) communities (umaman substitutes for the preceding [asbtan, `tribes'). And We revealed to Moses, when his people asked him for water, in the wilderness, [saying]; `Strike the rock with your staff', and he struck it, and there gushed forth, burst forth, from it twelve fountains, equal to the number of tribes, each people, [each] tribe among them, now knew their drinking-place. And We made the cloud overshadow them, in the wilderness, from the heat of the sun, and We sent down to them manna and quails -- which are [respectively, a type of citrus] turunjabn, and the quail and We said to them; `Eat of the good things We have provided for you.' And they did not wrong Us, but they wronged themselves.

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

Allah says;

وَقَطَّعْنَاهُمُ اثْنَتَيْ عَشْرَةَ أَسْبَاطًا أُمَمًا وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى إِذِ اسْتَسْقَاهُ قَوْمُهُ أَنِ اضْرِب بِّعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانبَجَسَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَّشْرَبَهُمْ وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْغَمَامَ وَأَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَى كُلُواْ مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ

وَمَا ظَلَمُونَا وَلَـكِن كَانُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ



And We divided them into twelve tribes (as distinct) nations. We revealed to Musa when his people asked him for water (saying);"Strike the stone with your stick," and there gushed forth out of it twelve springs, each group knew its own place for water. We shaded them with the clouds and sent down upon them the manna and the quail (saying);"Eat of the good things with which We have provided you." They harmed Us not but they used to harm themselves.

وَإِذْ قِيلَ لَهُمُ اسْكُنُواْ هَـذِهِ الْقَرْيَةَ وَكُلُواْ مِنْهَا حَيْثُ شِيْتُمْ وَقُولُواْ حِطَّةٌ وَادْخُلُواْ الْبَابَ سُجَّدًا نَّغْفِرْ لَكُمْ خَطِييَاتِكُمْ

سَنَزِيدُ الْمُحْسِنِينَ