Tablets of Moses (a)

Tablets of Moses or Alwāḥ Mūsā (Arabic: ألواح موسی) are two tablets sent down to the prophet Moses on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. Upon witnessing the Israelites worshiping a calf, Moses was infuriated and threw the Tablets on the ground. According to Islamic sources, the broken pieces of Tablets survived among the Israelites and were kept in the Ark of the Covenant. However, according to the Torah, Moses (a) went to Mount Sinai again, where second Tablets were sent down to him.

Divine Revelation

The Divine Revelation was inscribed on stone tablets and was then sent down to Moses. The Torah narrates the story as follows: “Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.* The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets”.

Although the Qur'an is not explicit on the Tablets being sent down in the “place of appointment” (or “miqat”), it does say that when Moses returned from the “miqat” and witnessed people worshiping a calf, he threw down the Tablets, and when he calmed down, he grabbed the broken pieces of the Tablets again.

Some Exegetes of the Qur'an such as 'Allama Tabataba'i believe that the Tablets are the same as the Torah. Others maintain that they were sent down before the revelation of the Torah. Rashid Rida, the author of al-Minar, says about the relationship between the Tablets and the Torah: “the Tablets were the first part of the judicial law. Indeed, they were a concise version of the Torah, and then detailed rulings regarding worships, transactions, and the like were gradually revealed on different occasions. The same type of revelation is true of the Qur'an as well”.

The Tablets were kept in the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of Solomon. Eventually, after Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion on Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, the Ark of the Covenant and Tablets inside it were lost.

According to some hadiths, after his Reappearance, Imam al-Zaman (a) will bring out the Ark of the Covenant and Tablets inside it from a cave in Antioch.

Number of the Tablets

The Torah is explicit that there were two Tablets: “the two Tablets of the Ten Commandments”. The Qur'an talks about “tablets” (“alwah” in the plural, rather than the dual, form) without referring to the number. Thus, there are different views among exegetes of the Qur'an with respect to the number of the Tablets. Some of them allow “alwah” to be used to refer to two tablets, even though it is not in the dual (or muthanna) form.

Contents of the Tablets

The Qur'an characterizes the contents of the Tablets as follows without going into the details:

“And We wrote for him on the tablets [something] of all things - instruction and explanation for all things”.

“and in their [i.e. the tablets] inscription was guidance and mercy for those who are fearful of their Lord”.

The Torah cites the whole content of the two Tablets which is known as the Ten Commandments.

The Breakage of the Tablets and their Renewed Descent

The Breakage of the Tablets

The prophet Moses spent 40 days in Mount Sinai. When he returned, he brought with him the Tablets on which the revelation was engraved. But when he witnessed the Children of Israel worshiping a calf, he was infuriated and threw down the Tablets, and they broke. Some exegetes of the Qur'an believe that the reason why Moses broke the Tablets was his anger of calf-worshiping by the Israelites.

Here is how the Torah narrates the story: “When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain”.

The Renewed Descent of the Tablets

The Torah narrates the story of the second Tablets as follows: “Then the Lord told Moses, ‘Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the same words that were on the tablets you smashed. * Be ready in the morning to climb up Mount Sinai and present yourself to me on the top of the mountain. * No one else may come with you. In fact, no one is to appear anywhere on the mountain. Do not even let the flocks or herds graze near the mountain.’ * So Moses chiseled out two tablets of stone like the first ones. Early in the morning he climbed Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands”.

However, the Qur'an and other Islamic sources are explicit about the second Tablets. Many exegetes of the Qur'an believe that the broken pieces of the first tablets survived among the Israelites and were kept in the Ark of the Covenant.