“Then he brought forth for them a calf—a body that made a lowing sound—and they said, ‘This is your god and the god of Moses, but he forgot.’ (88) Do they not see that it cannot respond to them, nor does it possess the power to harm or benefit them? (89) And Aaron had already said to them, ‘O my people, you are only being tested by it. Indeed, your Lord is the Most Merciful, so follow me and obey my command.’ (90) They said, ‘We will never cease devoting ourselves to it until Moses returns to us.’ (91)”

“Then he brought forth for them a calf—a body that made a lowing sound—and they said, ‘This is your god and the god of Moses, but he forgot’”: that is, Moses left it here and went away in search of it. It was also said that he lost his way and went astray. (1)

Allah, Most High, says: “Do they not see that it cannot respond to them?” That is, do they not see that the calf neither speaks to them nor answers them when they call upon it, “nor does it possess the power to harm or benefit them?”

It was also said that Aaron passed by the Samiri while he was fashioning the calf and asked him, “What is this?” He replied, “I am making something that benefits and does not harm, so supplicate for me.” Aaron said, “O Allah, grant him what he asks of You, according to what he harbors within himself.” Then he cast the dust into the calf’s mouth and said, “Become a lowing calf.” Thus it became so through Aaron’s supplication. (2)

The fact is that this was a trial by which Allah tested the Children of Israel. “And Aaron had already said to them”: before Moses returned, “O my people, you are only being tested by it”: you have been put to trial by the calf. “Indeed, your Lord is the Most Merciful, so follow me”: in my religion, in worshipping Allah, “and obey my command”: to abandon the worship of the calf. “They said, ‘We will never cease’”: that is, we will never stop, “devoting ourselves to it”: to its worship, “until Moses returns to us.” So Aaron withdrew from them with twelve thousand of those who had not worshipped the calf. Then, when Moses returned