Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 60 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:60

۞ وَإِذِ ٱسْتَسْقَىٰ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِۦ فَقُلْنَا ٱضْرِب بِّعَصَاكَ ٱلْحَجَرَ ۖ فَٱنفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ ٱثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا ۖ قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَّشْرَبَهُمْ ۖ كُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟ مِن رِّزْقِ ٱللَّهِ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ

“And [recall] when Moses prayed for water for his people, so We said, "Strike with your staff the stone." And there gushed forth from it twelve springs, and every people [i.e., tribe] knew its watering place. "Eat and drink from the provision of Allāh, and do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corruption."”

Saheeh International

Essence

From a dry rock came twelve springs, one per tribe so none would quarrel: take Allah's provision freely, and do not wreck His earth.

A reflection

Twelve springs, so no one fights

An open-plan office has one fridge and forty people. Every week there is a row about missing milk and someone's lunch thrown out. A new office manager buys nothing fancy. She simply gives each team its own labelled shelf. The rows stop within a fortnight.

The miracle in this ayah could have been a single fountain. Allah could have split the rock in one great stream. Instead it opened into twelve springs, one for each tribe. And the ayah adds a detail that seems almost administrative: 'each people knew its drinking place'.

Two modern commentaries explain why that detail is there. Each tribe was shown its own spring so that they would not quarrel. Reports in the older commentaries describe the rock with four faces and three springs on each. Another report says a man from each tribe stood by the rock. When Mūsā struck it, a spring splashed towards each man, and he called his tribe to it.

This is leadership in the smallest key. A people who had just been rescued from thirst could still have fought over the water. Providing for people is not enough; the provision has to be organised so it does not become a new source of conflict. Clear allocation is a mercy. Ambiguity, even about good things, breeds resentment.

Anyone who manages a family, a team, an inheritance or a community budget can take this seriously. The miracle was real, and so was the management. Each tribe had its spring, knew which it was, and had no reason to eye its neighbour's. Much of the peace in any group comes down to that sentence: everyone knew their drinking place.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.