The Story of Their Worship of the Calf during the Absence of the One to Whom Allah Spoke (1)

Allah, exalted is He, says:

“And the people of Moses, after he left, made from their ornaments a calf—an image that lowed. Did they not see that it could neither speak to them nor guide them to any way? They took it for worship, and they were wrongdoers.

And when regret seized them and they realized that they had gone astray, they said, ‘If our Lord does not have mercy upon us and forgive us, we will surely be among the losers.’

And when Moses returned to his people, angry and grieved, he said, ‘How wretched is that by which you replaced me after I left! Were you impatient over the command of your Lord?’ He cast down the Tablets and seized his brother by the head, pulling him toward himself. Aaron said, ‘O son of my mother, the people deemed me weak and were about to kill me, so let not the enemies rejoice over me and do not place me among the wrongdoing people.’

He said, ‘My Lord, forgive me and my brother and admit us into Your mercy, for You are the most merciful of the merciful.’

Indeed, those who took the calf [for worship] will be overtaken by wrath from their Lord and humiliation in the life of this world; thus do We recompense the fabricators.

But those who committed misdeeds and then repented thereafter and believed—indeed, your Lord, after that, is Forgiving, Merciful.

And when Moses’ anger subsided, he took up the Tablets, and in their inscription was guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord.” [al-Aʿrāf 7:148–154]

Allah, exalted is He, also says:

“[Allah] said, ‘And what made you hasten from your people, O Moses?’

He said, ‘They are close upon my tracks, and I hastened to You, my Lord, so that You might be pleased.’

He said, ‘Yet We have tried your people after you, and the Samiri has led them astray.’

So Moses returned to his people, angry and grieved. He said, ‘O my people, did your Lord not promise you a good promise? Was the time of the covenant [too] long for you, or did you wish that wrath from your Lord descend upon you, so you broke your promise to me?’

They said, ‘We did not break our promise to you of our own accord, but we were made to carry burdens from the ornaments of the people, so we cast them, and thus did the Samiri cast as well.’

Then he produced for them a calf—an image that lowed—and they said, ‘This is your god and the god of Moses, but he forgot.’

Did they not see that it could not return to them a word, nor could it bring them harm or benefit?

And Aaron had already said to them before, ‘O my people, you are only being tested by it, and indeed your Lord is the Most Merciful; so follow me and obey my command.’

They said, ‘We will never cease to devote ourselves to it until Moses returns to us.’

[Moses] said, ‘O Aaron, what prevented you, when you saw them going astray,

from following me? Then have you disobeyed my order?’

He said, ‘Son of my mother, do not seize me by my beard or by my head. Indeed, I feared that you would say, “You have caused division among the Children of Israel and did not observe my word.”’

[Moses] said, ‘And what is your case, O Samiri?’

He said, ‘I saw what they did not see, so I took a handful from the track of the messenger and threw it, and thus did my soul entice me.’

[Moses] said, ‘Then go. Indeed, it is decreed for you in this life to say, “No contact,” and indeed you have an appointment you will never fail to keep. And look at your god to which you remained devoted: we will surely burn it, then scatter its ashes into the sea.

Your deity is only Allah—there is no god except Him. He has encompassed all things in knowledge.’” [Ṭā Hā 20:83–98]

Allah Most High recounts what befell the Children of Israel when Moses—peace be upon him—went to the appointed meeting with his Lord. He remained upon the mountain, conversing privately with his Lord and asking Him about many matters, and Allah, exalted is He, answered him.

In the meantime, a man among them, known as Hārūn al-Sāmirī (2), gathered the ornaments they had borrowed, melted them into the shape of a calf, and threw into it a handful of earth he had taken from the track of Gabriel’s horse when he saw him on the day Allah drowned Pharaoh. When he cast it into the calf, it began to low just as