The listing of Allaah�s favours on them and their
un-appreciative response to those favours continues in the next
section.
57 And We shaded you with clouds and sent to you Manna and Salwa,
saying: "Eat of the good things We have provided for you." But by being
unappreciative, they did not do Us any harm, but it was themselves whom
they harmed. 58 And
remember when We said: Enter this city, then eat bountifully with pleasure
from wherever you wish, and enter the gate bowing humbly, and say,
�forgiveness�; We will forgive you your wrongs and give more to those who
excel. 59 But the
wrong-doers changed it for a saying other than that they were told, so We
sent upon those who were unjust a punishment from heaven because they
transgressed. 60 And when
Moosa prayed for water for his people, We said: Strike the rock with your
staff. So twelve springs gushed from it. Each tribe knew its drinking
place: Eat and drink from Allaah�s provisions and do not act corruptly in
the land, making mischief. 61 And remember when you said: O
Moosa! we cannot endure anymore the same food, therefore, call upon your
Lord for us to produce for us of what the earth grows -- of its leafy
vegetables, its cucumbers, its garlic, its lentils and its onions. He
said: Are you seeking to exchange that which is better for that which is
worse? Settle in a city, then indeed you will have what you ask for. And
humiliation and wretchedness were inflicted upon them, and they ended up
incurring Allaah's wrath. This was because they disbelieved in the signs
of Allaah and killed the prophets unjustly; this was because they
habitually disobeyed and transgressed the limits.
When they came out of Egypt, they were stuck in the desert
without any place of shade to hide from the burning sun, or any food and
water. And it was not a matter of arranging food, water and shelter for a
few people but hundreds of thousands of them. Allaah SWT miraculously took
care of all of their needs. For food, they were provided Manna, which
literally means special favour. It was called a special favour because it
was extraordinarily provided as food. It would come down like dew but
dried to become like grain. Salwa was a quail-like bird which came to
their encampment in the thousands and was easily caught. Between these two
items, all their nutritional needs were met. The water problem was solved
by creating 12 springs of water, one for each tribe. The shelter problem
was solved by bringing clouds for shade.
All these arrangements were made so they could dedicate their
attention and focus on meeting the Islamic objectives: attaining personal
excellence and establishing the complete Islamic system in their own
community and on the cities they conquer. In the circumstances where one
does not have to worry about economic needs and survival issues, decent
people will avail this opportunity to concentrate on attaining their
prescribed goals of personal and societal excellence. Unfortunately, they
could not rise above their mundane desires and carnal view of life.
Although their needs were met, they could not pass beyond what they were
used to in favour of something better provided to them so graciously. All their attention was focussed
on the mundane things they were missing, not appreciating what they were
given. Instead of working for their objectives, they kept complaining for
this or that. They even claimed that their life of misery under slavery of
Egyptians was better than the freedom that required some minor sacrifice
of variety of tastes. They were told to fight and conquer the lands of
idolaters to establish the peace and justice of Islam in those societies,
but they wanted an easy life even if they had to give up their
freedom.
To find a place where they can live with freedom and establish
full Islamic systems, they were told to fight and conquer some area. After
conquering a city, they should enter it with humility, granting
forgiveness to the residents and seeking their own forgiveness from
Allaah. .At first they were not even willing to fight; but when grudgingly
they ventured, and Allaah granted them success, they would enter with
arrogance being unjust and cruel to the residents. In short, in every
respect, instead of attaining excellence and striving for peace and
justice that were given to them as their goals, they preferred disobeying
Allaah, transgressing limits, exploiting others and usurping other�s
rights.
This kind of behaviour � complaining
for everything, disobeying, arguing against and disrespecting every
command, witnessing the miracles and still being unappreciative, lack of
will to take a stand, lack of commitment to Islamic goals, and love of
small benefits of the world led to their obduracy so much so that in
additions to disregarding the Islamic goals and major commandments of
Allaah, they would kill prophets sent to call them to reform themselves.
Consequently, they lost their status of being Allaah�s favourite and were
dishonoured, humiliated and subjugated in the world. Worst of all, they
incurred the wrath of Allaah. Although they continue to cling to the
notion that they are God�s chosen, the last verse in this section clearly
dispels that notion and brings them to the reality that rather than being
chosen, they are the cursed ones.
The Muslim ummah presently is caught in the same kind of
situation. Worldly comforts and enjoyments have taken precedence in the
life of Muslims and the Islamic goals have been mostly forgotten. The
critical lesson that the Muslims should learn from this episode is that
they must concentrate on achieving the personal and community objectives
Islam has set for them, dedicate their lives to those goals and willingly
pay any price for those goals in terms of worldly sufferings. For the sake
of some worldly expediencies, they must never opt for compromise in their
objectives, never accept to live under dominance of un-Islamic systems or
never be content with incomplete implementation of Islamic systems. If
they do not change their attitude, they will continue to face the same
consequences in terms of Allaah�s anger and their own humiliation and
wretchedness in this
world.
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