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wa-wāʿadnā mūsā thalāthīna laylatan wa-ʾatmamnāhā bi-ʿashrin fa-tamma mīqātu rabbihī ʾarbaʿīna laylatan wa-qāla mūsā li-ʾakhīhi hārūna khlufnī fī qawmī wa-ʾaṣliḥ wa-lā tattabiʿ sabīla l-mufsidīna
We made an appointment with Moses for thirty nights, and completed them with ten [more]; thus the tryst of his Lord was completed in forty nights. And Moses said to Aaron, his brother, ‘Be my successor among my people, and set things right and do not follow the way of the agents of corruption.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-‘Araf – Verse 142
142 . “And We made an appointment with Moses for thirty nights, and completed them with ten (more),so the appointed time of his Lord was completed forty nights. And (before going there) Moses said to his brother Aaron: ‘Be my successor among people, and set the (people’s) affairs right and do not follow the way of mischief-makers’.”
In Surah Al-Baqarah, No. 2, verse 50, the statement denotes that Allah (s.w.t.) appointed forty nights for Moses (as): “And (remember) when We appointed forty nights for Moses…”, but here, in this verse, the appointment is thirty nights added with ten more nights. As Imam Bāqir (as) said:
“The philosophy of that manner was to try the Children of Israel”. 1
The length of this time has been forty nights and days, yet the reason that the verse says ‘forty nights’, maybe, is that supplications are often performed at night. Or, perhaps, its reason is that in old times the formation of calendar was based on the appearance of the moon at night. The number of nights has also been used in counting days. The verse says:
There are some secrets hidden in this figure, i.e. ‘forty’. This figure has a special position in the cultures of different religions. The Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (S), was appointed to prophethood when he was forty years old. He kept aloof from Khadijah for forty nights in order that the heavenly food to be sent down and the preparation of the birth of Hazrat Zahrā (as) to be supplied. The descent of Divine revelation unto the Holy Prophet (S) was ceased for forty days.
The people of Moses (as) were wandering bewildered in the deserts for forty years. At the time of Noah, it rained for forty days. To learn forty Islamic traditions by heart causes this person to be raised among the experts of Muslim law in Hereafter. The preparation of spiritual perfection of man develops until the person becomes forty years old. After that the affairs are more difficult and the accounts are more delicate. The recitation of Surah Al-Hamd done for forty times unto a sick person can be effective in his healing.
Whoever drinks wine, his prayers will not be accepted for forty days, though the one must establish those prayers. Allah may forgive a person upon whose dead body forty believers testify that he has been a good person.2 However, the explanation of forty nights of the appointed tryst of Moses is referred to in the Turah, Exedus. Some Islamic literature denotes that thirty nights out of this forty nights were the whole nights of Zilqa‘dah, and the added ten nights happened at the beginning nights of Zil-Hajjah.3
In any case, the event of the tryst of Moses (as) was as follows:
The Tradition of Rank
A large number of commentators from both great Islamic sects have referred to the known ‘Tradition of Rank’ when explaining the verse under discussion. There is a difference, of course, that Shi‘ite commentators have taken it as one of the reputable proofs for the immediate vicegerency of Ali (as). The text of the tradition denotes that many of the companions of the Prophet (S) have detailed the process of the Battle of Tabūk as follows: The Prophet (S) set out towards Tabūk when he appointed Ali-ibn-Abitālib (as) in his place. Ali (as) said to the Porphet (S) whether he left him among children and women (and did not let him go with him (S) to the battle-field to struggle).
The Messenger of Allah (S) answered him whether he was not content to be in the same rank to him (S) as Aaron was to Moses except that there would be no prophet after him. It was not only in the Battle of Tabūk that the Prophet (S) expressed this meaning, but also in several occasions, other than that, this statement was heard from him, (S) including the followings: 1- One day, the Prophet (S) told ’Umm-us-Salamah:
“O’ ’Umm-us-Salamah! Ali’s tissue is the same as my tissue and, his blood is the same as my blood. The example of him unto me is like the example of Aaron unto Moses.”
2- Ibn-‘Abbas says that one day ‘Umar-ibn-Khattāb said that once he was in the presence of the Prophet (S) accompanied with Abū-Bakr and some of the companions of the Prophet (S). The Prophet (S) was leaning on Ali (as) when he touched Ali’s shoulder and said:
“O” Ali! you are the first man who believed (in Allah) and you are the first person who accepted Islam.”
Then he (S) said:
“The example of you unto me is like the example of Aaron unto Moses ”.
However, if we impartially examine the above-mentioned tradition, it can be understood from it that Ali (as) had been given all the positions that Aaron had unto Moses (as) and among the Children of Israel, except prophethood. This meaning mentioned about the Tradition of Rank has been cited in the Sunnite sources such as: Sahih-i-Bukhāri, vol. 6, p. 3; Sahih-i-Muslim, vol. 4, p. 187; Sunan-i-Ibn-i-Mājid, vol. 1, p. 42; Musnad-i-Ahmad-ibn-Hanbal, vol. 1, pp. 173, 175, 177, 179, 182.
But the very tradition, ‘the Tradition of Rank’, is widely transmitted with Shi‘ites and it is available in the authentic books of traditions, including:
1) ‘Abaqāt, in book of Muhammad and Ali’.
2) The tradition of Thaqalayn, by Najmiddin ‘Askary, pp. 105-127;
3) Safinat-ul-Bihār, vol. 21, p. 209;
4) Bihār-ul-’Anwār, vol. 37, p. 254;
5) Kanz-ul-Kirāchi, pp. 282,283;
6) An-Nihāyah, vol. 2, p. 172;
7) Kashf-ul-Qummah, p. 44;
8) Manāqib, Ibn-Abi-Tālib;
9) Al-Yaghin;
10) Al-Kharā’ij-wal-Jarāyih;
11) Kāmil-ut-Tawārikh, by Ibn-’Athir;
12) At-Tarā’if.
Footnotes