“When Moses returned to his people, angry and grieving, he said, ‘What an evil thing you have done in my absence! Have you hastened the command of your Lord?’ Then he cast down the Tablets and seized his brother by the head, pulling him toward himself. Aaron said, ‘Son of my mother! The people deemed me weak and nearly killed me. So do not let the enemies rejoice over me, nor count me among the wrongdoing people.’ (150) Moses said, ‘My Lord, forgive me and my brother, and admit us into Your mercy; for You are the Most Merciful of those who show mercy.’ (151)”

Allah, exalted is He, says: “When Moses returned to his people, angry and grieving.” Abu al-Darda’ said: asif means intensely angry. Ibn ‘Abbas and al-Suddi said: asifan means sorrowful. Asaf is the most severe form of grief. “He said, ‘What an evil thing you have done in my absence!’” That is, how evil was what you did after I had departed. One may say that a person succeeded another with good or evil when, after departing from his family, he leaves them in a good or evil condition. “Have you hastened”—that is, preceded—“the command of your Lord?” Al-Hasan said: it means the promise of your Lord, which He had made to you concerning the forty ⦗138⦘ nights. Al-Kalbi said: Have you hastened to worship the calf before the command of your Lord came to you?

“Then he cast down the Tablets,” which contained the Torah and which he had been carrying. Overcome by intense anger, he threw them to the ground.

The narrators said: The Torah consisted of seven parts. When he cast down the Tablets, they broke, and six parts of it were taken up, while one part remained. What contained reports of the unseen was taken up, while what contained admonition, rulings, and the lawful and unlawful remained. “And he seized his brother by the head,” meaning by the locks of his hair and his beard, “pulling him toward himself.” Aaron was three years older than Moses and was dearer to the Children of Israel than Moses, because he was mild-tempered.

At that point Aaron said, “Son of my mother!” The reciters of Kufa and Syria, here and in Ta-Ha, recited the word with an i-vowel on the mim, meaning ya ibn ummi (“O son of my mother”); the possessive ya was omitted, while the i-vowel remained to indicate the possessive construction, as in the expression ya ibadi (“O My servants”). The reciters of the Hijaz and Basra, as well as Hafs, recited it with an a-vowel on the mim, meaning ya ibn ummah (“O son of my mother”).

It was also said that it was treated as a single compound name and built upon the a-vowel, like Hadramawt and fifteen, and similar expressions. Aaron addressed him as “son of my mother,” although he was his brother through both father and mother, in order to soften him and appeal to his affection.

It was also said that he was his brother through his mother but not his father. “The people deemed me weak”—meaning, the worshippers of the calf—“and nearly killed me”: they intended and came close to killing me. “So do not let the enemies rejoice over me, nor count me,” through Your reproaching me, “among the wrongdoing people”—that is, the worshippers of the calf.

When Moses recognized his brother’s excuse, he said: “My Lord, forgive me” for what I did to my brother, “and my brother,” if he had fallen short in condemning the worshippers of the calf, “and admit us all into Your mercy; for You are the Most Merciful of those who show mercy.”