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qāla fa-ʾinnahā muḥarramatun ʿalayhim ʾarbaʿīna sanatan yatīhūna fī l-ʾarḍi fa-lā taʾsa ʿalā l-qawmi l-fāsiqīna
He said, ‘It shall be forbidden them for forty years: they shall wander about in the earth. So do not grieve for the transgressing lot.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-Ma'idah, Verse 26
The Arabic term /yatihun/ is derived from the word /tayaha/ with the sense of 'wander'. But, in the lapse of time, the word /tiyah/ was applied for the plain of Sinai. It has also been called to the place where that group of people (the Israelites) lived for forty years without having the material and spiritual merits of the ground.
The story of the disobedience of the Children of Israel and the Divine Wrath, and their wandering state in Tiyah is mentioned in the Old Testament, Numbers, Chapter four. According to a tradition stated by Imam Baqir (as), after wandering for forty years and losing Moses and Aaron (as), the Israelites entered the zone by a martial attack, and their seeking comfort had no result for them but retardation and wandering. Imam Baqir (as) has said that there will occur a similar situation for Muslims, like what happened for the Children of Israel.
Explanations
1. The recompense of showing shortcoming and despicableness, and also that of disobedience from the commandment of Alah, and escaping from the Holy Struggle, is such deprivations and vagrancies.
2. Wandering-state is a kind of punishment for the evildoers, while having the merit of light and discrimination is a kind of present for the righteous ones.