that none should be worshipped but Him, and whatever Allah decrees comes to pass. Thus Moses reproached his brother Aaron for condemning what had happened and for his limited understanding. For the true knower sees the Real in everything—indeed, sees Him as identical with everything. Moses was therefore instructing Aaron in knowledge, although he was younger than him. Hence, when Aaron said what he said to him, he turned back to al-Sāmirī and said to him:

‘What, then, was your purpose, O Sāmirī?’ (95) [Tā Hā 95]

meaning: in what you did by turning specifically to the form of the calf.”

Further on, he said:

“Thus Aaron’s inability to exercise effective restraint over the calf-worshippers by being given power over the calf, as Moses, peace be upon him, was, was divine wisdom manifest in existence, so that He might be worshipped in every form. Even if that form subsequently disappeared, it disappeared only after it had been invested, in the eyes of