Taa-Haa (Taa-Haa)

80. “O Children of Israel! We delivered you from your enemy, and We made a covenant with you on the right side of Tur (the Mount Sinai), and We sent down unto you Manna and quails.”

The subject of the deliverance of the Children of Israel from the cruelty of Pharaoh, and the descent of Manna and the quails for them when they were wandering in the desert, have been mentioned in the Qur’an several times.

The Arabic term /manna/ apparently means: ‘honey and hedysarum’, while /salwa/ means ‘quails’, a kind of bird the meat of which is delicious and lawful for eating.

The phrase:

“and We made a covenant with you on the right side of Tur”,

mentioned in the verse, is an indication to the event of the tryst of Tur, the Mount Sinai, where Moses, accompanied with a group of the Children of Israel, went. There, Allah sent down the Tablets of Turah to Moses (as). Law is usually the most important necessity of a community after dismissing the tyrannical ruler and formation of a government.

This holy verse addresses the Children of Israel and, in general, all human being in any time, and reminds them the great bounties that Allah has bestowed on them and leads them to the path of salvation.

At first it says:

“O Children of Israel! We delivered you from your enemy…”

Then, the verse points to one of the spiritual bounties, when it says:

“…and We made a covenant with you on the right side of Tur (the Mount Sinai)…”

As it was said in the above, this part of the verse points to the tryst when Moses and some of the Children of Israel went to the Tur Mount. It was in this very tryst that Allah sent down the Tablets of Moses and spoke with him and all of them saw the special manifestation of Allah.

And, finally, the verse points to an important material bounty which originated from the peculiar graces of Allah unto the Children of Israel.

It says:

“…and We sent down unto you Manna and quails.”

They were wandering in a desert where they had no suitable food. Then the grace of Allah helped them and He gave them some delightful and delicious food to use, as much as they needed.

However, the spiritual bounty is prior to the material bounty.

At first He said:

“We made a covenant with you on the right side of Tur”,

which refers to the descent of the Turah. Next to that He said:

“and We sent down unto you Manna and quails”,

which refers to the food of the body.