61And when you said, 'Moses, we will not endure one sort of food, that is to say, manna and quails; pray to your Rabb for us, that He may bring forth for us, something, of (min here is explicative) what the earth produces- green herbs, cucumbers, garlic, lentils, onions.' He, Moses, said, to them, 'Would you exchange what is better, more noble, that is, do you substitute this, with what is lowlier?' (the hamza of a-tastabdilūna is for rebuke); they thus refused to change their mind and he [Moses] supplicated to Allahu ta’ālā, and He, exalted be He, said, 'Go down to a city, whichever city it may be; you shall have, there, what you demanded' of vegetable produce; And abasement, submissiveness, and wretchedness, that is, the signs of poverty on account of their submissiveness and debasement that always accompany them, even if they be rich, in the same way that a coin never changes its mint; were cast upon them, and they incurred, ended up with Allah’s wrath; that, that is, that affliction and wrath, was because they used to disbelieve āyāt/ the verses of Allahu ta’ālā and slay prophets, such as Zachariah and John, without right, that is, unjustly; that was because they disobeyed, and they were transgressors, overstepping the bounds in disobedience (here the repetition [dhālik bi-mā 'asaw wa-kānū ya'tadūn] is for emphasis). |
﴾ 61 ﴿