Former Prophets

The Twelve Springs

Water from the rock for the twelve tribes (Q 2:60, 7:160)

Time of Musa (peace be upon him)

Imagined 360° reconstruction of The Twelve Springs

Educational historical reconstruction

Where

The wilderness of Sinai, the wandering of the Children of Israel

28.5000, 33.9000 · View on OpenStreetMap

Background

Among the mercies the Qur'an recalls to the Children of Israel during the years of the wandering in the wilderness is the bringing of water from the rock. In Surat al-Baqara, when Musa (peace be upon him) prayed for water for his people, he was told: strike the rock with your staff; and there gushed forth from it twelve springs, so that every tribe knew its own drinking place (Q 2:60). The same is recalled in Surat al-A'raf, where Allah relates that He divided them into twelve tribes as distinct communities (asbat), and revealed to Musa, when his people asked him for water, to strike the rock, and there burst from it twelve springs, every people knowing its drinking place; and He shaded them with clouds and sent down upon them the manna and the quails, the good things they were given to eat (Q 7:160). The twelve springs answer to the twelve tribes descended from the sons of Ya'qub (peace be upon him), and the account is at once a sign of God's provision in a barren land and a sign of order among a great people, each tribe with its appointed place. The Qur'an fixes no precise site; the qisas al-anbiya' tradition sets these provisions in the Sinai wilderness of the wandering, the same country in which the existing library places the valley of Tuwa and the episode of the golden calf. This scene depicts the camp in the granite wilderness of Sinai: the rock with water issuing from it and divided into channels that run to the tents of the tribes, troughs and waterskins where the people draw their water. No figure of Musa or any person is shown.

What you see

A wandering camp in the rocky wilderness of Sinai, bare granite mountains rising around a dry valley floor; the encampment of a great people on the move, not a settled town.

Water issues from a large rock and is led away in cut channels that divide and run off in separate streams; troughs and waterskins stand where the camp draws its water.

When Musa (peace be upon him) sought water for his people, he was told to strike the rock with his staff, and there gushed forth from it twelve springs, and every tribe knew its own drinking place (Q 2:60, 7:160, qad 'alima kullu unasin mashrabahum).

The provision of Allah for the Children of Israel in the wilderness, beside the shade of the clouds and the manna and the quails (al-mann wa al-salwa, Q 7:160). Twelve springs for the twelve tribes (asbat), a sign of mercy and of order among the people.

Goat-hair tents of the tribes spread across the valley, each by its own runnel of water; no figure is shown, the rock and the twelve streams carry the event.

The narrative is Q 2:57-60 (Surat al-Baqara) and Q 7:160 (Surat al-A'raf). The Qur'an does not fix the exact place; the qisas tradition sets these provisions in the Sinai wilderness of the wandering.

Primary sources

The Qur'an, Surat al-Baqara (2:57-60) and Surat al-A'raf (7:160): The twelve springs from the rock, the twelve tribes, and the manna and the quails of the wilderness. The primary source.

Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim and Qisas al-Anbiya' (14th c.): Standard Sunni exegesis and narrative of the wilderness provisions of the Children of Israel.

al-Tabari, Jami' al-Bayan: Standard Sunni tafsir for the verses of the springs, the manna and the quails.

al-Qurtubi, al-Jami' li-Ahkam al-Qur'an: Sunni exegesis for the twelve tribes and the dividing of the springs.

Guess places like this in GeoSiyer

Drop into a 360° scene from Islamic history and pin where — and when — it happened.

Play GeoSiyer