Home > Torah - Leviticus to Deuteronomy Stories in the Quran
This is recorded in Exodus 16 and Numbers 11. The quail is sent in response to the Israelites’ lustful grumbling. While the meat is still in their teeth, God strikes them with a "very great plague" at Kibroth Hattaavah (Numbers 11:33–34).
The Quran presents both Manna and Quail purely as a gracious provision, omitting the context of gluttony and the subsequent plague.
Surah 2:57: "And We shaded you with clouds and sent down to you Manna and quails, [saying], 'Eat from the good things with which We have provided you.'"
The Quran sanitizes the history of Israel's rebellion. It misses the lesson of Numbers 11—that God's provision (Manna) is sufficient and craving worldly pleasures (Quail) leads to death.
The Quranic retelling is a disjointed fragment that loses the moral punch of the original historical event.