The Two Tablets (Surah 7:145)

 

بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

اللهم صل وسلم وبارك على سيدنا ومولانا محمد وعلى آل سيدنا محمد

Allah Most High says:

وَکَتَبۡنَا لَہٗ فِی الۡاَلۡوَاحِ مِنۡ کُلِّ شَیۡءٍ مَّوۡعِظَۃً وَّتَفۡصِیۡلًا لِّکُلِّ شَیۡءٍ ۚ فَخُذۡہَا بِقُوَّۃٍ وَّاۡمُرۡ قَوۡمَکَ یَاۡخُذُوۡا بِاَحۡسَنِہَا ؕ سَاُورِیۡکُمۡ دَارَ الۡفٰسِقِیۡنَ

And We wrote for him upon the Tablets about everything — an admonition and an explanation of all things. ‘So hold them fast and bid thy people follow the best thereof. Soon shall I show you the abode of the transgressors.’

(Surah 7:145)

The Tablets of Moses are also mentioned in the Book of Exodus:

And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God (ch.31, v.18). Repeatedly, in the Bible, it is mentioned that two Tablets were given to Moses by God, a first set that Moses broke after he was enraged by what he saw of his people worshipping the Golden Calf, and a second set that he was commanded to make to substitute the first set.

Now the Quran confirms that Allah Himself wrote upon these Tablets. It also confirms that Moses “cast down” the Tablets:

وَاَلۡقَی الۡاَلۡوَاحَ

(Surah 7:150)

It is best to interpret this, in accordance with the Torah, that they fell from his hands, either deliberately or accidentally while he was in a state of anger, and therefore were shattered. And there is an indication in the holy Quran that Moses did remake the Tablets after the first set were cast from his hands:

وَلَمَّا سَکَتَ عَنۡ مُّوۡسَی الۡغَضَبُ اَخَذَ الۡاَلۡوَاحَ

And when the anger of Moses was appeased, he took the Tablets

(Surah 7:154)

However, there is an apparent inconsistency between the Quranic and Biblical narratives concerning the number of the Tablets. While in the Bible there is repeated and emphatic mention of two Tablets given to Moses at Mount Sinai, the Quran uses the word الالواح which is in the plural form and not dual form, suggesting at least three or more Tablets. Hence, some commentators have gone with the apparent meaning and claimed that Moses was given several Tablets, even speculating as to whether he was given seven or ten (Tafsir al-Jalalayn). But I argue that it is best to strive for harmonization between the texts of the Bible and the Quran unless harmonization is impossible or extremely far-fetched. That the Bible repeatedly and emphatically states that two Tablets were given to Moses cannot be so casually dismissed by us Muslims as a mere fabrication or interpolation. Two master grammarians and linguists of the Arabic language, namely, Abu Zakariyya Yahya bin Ziyad al-Farra (d.207H) and Abu Ishaq az-Zajjaj (d.310H) state that it is permitted in the Arabic language to sometimes use the plural form for two things rather than the dual form. In both instances they have mentioned this in connection with the number of Tablets Allah wrote for Moses. Al-Farra says:

وَأَلْقَى الْأَلْواحَ ذكر أنَّهما كانا لوحين. ‌وجازَ ‌أن ‌يُقال ‌الألواح ‌للاثنين كما قَالَ فَإِنْ كانَ لَهُ إِخْوَةٌ وهما أخوان وكما قَالَ إِنْ تَتُوبا إِلَى اللَّهِ فَقَدْ صَغَتْ قُلُوبُكُما وهما قلبانِ

(Ma'ani al-Quran lil-Farra; v.1, p.394):

Al-Farra gives the example of Surah 66:4 where the two hearts of sayyidatuna A'ishah and sayyidatuna Hafsah رضى الله عهنما are called قلوب rather than قلبان

Az-Zajjaj says:

إنَّهُمَا كَانَا لَوْحَينِ وَيجوز فِي اللُّغَة أَن يُقَال ‌للَّوحَينِ ‌ألْوَاح

(Ma'ani al-Quran liz-Zajjaj; v.2, p.375; see also Lisan al-Arab, v.2, p.584 and Taj al-Urus, v.7, p.106):

Ibn Jarir at-Tabari says in his Tafsir:

وزعم بعضهم ‌أن ‌الألواح ‌كانت ‌لوحين

"Some of them [Mufassirin/commentators on the Quran] said that the Tablets were two Tablets" (Tafsir at-Tabari; v.10, p.457):

Another scholar, Makki bin Abi Talib al-Qaysi (d.437H), confirms this and gives other examples from both the Quran and Arabic idioms (al-Hidayah ila Bulugh an-Nihayah; v.2, pp.1243, 1244):