20 Sura Taha
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
يَا بَنِي
إِسْرَائِيلَ
قَدْ أَنجَيْنَاكُم
مِّنْ عَدُوِّكُمْ...
20: 80. O ye Children of Israel!
We delivered you from your enemy,
...وَوَاعَدْنَاكُمْ جَانِبَ الطُّورِ الْأَيْمَنَ...
and We made a Covenant with you on the right side of Mount (Sinai),
C2601. Right side: Cf. 19:52, and n. 2504, towards the end.
The Arabian side of Sinai (Jabal Musa) was the place where Moses first received his commission before going to Egypt, and also where he received the Torah after the Exodus from Egypt.
...وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَى ﴿٨٠﴾
and We sent down to you Manna and quails:
كُلُوا
مِن طَيِّبَاتِ
مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ...
20: 81. (Saying):
"Eat of the good things We have provided for your sustenance,
C2602. Cf. 2:57 and n. 71; and 7:160.
1 should like to construe this not only literally but also metaphorically.
'Allah has looked after you and saved you. He has given you ethical and spiritual guidance. Enjoy the fruits of all this, but do not become puffed up and rebellious (another meaning in the root Taga); otherwise the Wrath of Allah is sure to descend on you.'
...وَلَا تَطْغَوْا فِيهِ فَيَحِلَّ عَلَيْكُمْ غَضَبِي...
but commit no excess therein, lest My Wrath should justly descend on you:
...وَمَن يَحْلِلْ عَلَيْهِ غَضَبِي فَقَدْ هَوَى ﴿٨١﴾
and those on whom descends My Wrath do perish indeed!
C2603. This gives the key-note to Moses' constant tussle with his own people, and introduces immediately afterwards the incident of the golden calf.
وَإِنِّي
لَغَفَّارٌ
لِّمَن تَابَ
وَآمَنَ وَعَمِلَ
صَالِحًا ثُمَّ
اهْتَدَى ﴿٨٢﴾
20: 82. "But, without doubt, I am (also) He that forgives again and again, to those who repent, believe, and do right -- who, in fine are ready to receive true guidance."
Asad’s Version:
20:80
O children of Israel! [Thus] We saved you from your enemy, and [then] We made a covenant
with you on the right-hand slope of Mount Sinai, 63 and repeatedly sent down manna and quails unto you, [saying,]
(20:81) "Partake of the good things which We have provided for you as sustenance," but do not transgress therein the bounds of equity 65 lest My condemnation fall upon you: for, he upon whom My condemnation falls has indeed thrown himself into utter
20:82
Yet withal, behold, I forgive all sins unto any who repents and attains to faith and does
righteous deeds, and thereafter keeps to the right path.
[[ Asad’s notes - 63 See note 38 on 19:52. As regards God's "covenant" with the children of Israel, see 2:63 and 83. ]]
[[19: 52
Yusuf Ali And We called him from the right side of Mount (Sinai) and made him draw near to Us for mystic (converse).
Pickthall We called him from the right slope of the Mount, and brought him nigh in communion.
Transliteration Wa na_daina_hu min ja_nibit thu_ril aimani wa qar rabna_hu najiy ya_
[Asad’s note 38: …….it is much more probable that the term “right-side” has here, as elsewhere in the Quran, the abstract connotation of “blessedness”…..]
[Ali’s note: 2504 The incident here I think refers to the incidents described more fully in xx. 9-36; a reference may also be made to Exod. iii. 1-18 and iv. 1-17. The time is when Moses (with his family) was travelling and grazing the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro, just before he got his commission from Allah. The place is somewhere near Mount Sinai (Jabal Musa). Moses sees a Fire in the distance, but when he goes there, he hears a voice that tells him it is sacred ground. Allah asked him to put off his shoes and to draw near, and when he went near, great mysteries were revealed to him. He was given his commission, and his brother Aaron was given to him to go with him and aid him. It is after that, that he and Aaron went and faced Pharaoh in Egypt, as narrated in vii. 103-144, etc. The right side of the mountain may mean that Moses heard the voice from the right side of the mountain as he faced it; or it may have the figurative meaning of "right" in Arabic, i.e., the side which was blessed or sacred ground. (19.52) ]