worship Allah therein. They kept watch over their staffs until morning. Then Aaron’s staff had sprouted fresh green leaves; it was of almond wood. Moses said, “O Qarun, do you see this?” Qarun replied, “By Allah, this is no more astonishing than the magic you practice.”
Qarun then withdrew with his followers, while Moses continued to treat him gently because of the kinship between them. Yet Qarun constantly harmed him and only increased in insolence, tyranny, and hostility toward Moses. He built a house whose door was made of gold, and overlaid its walls with sheets of gold. The chiefs among the Children of Israel would come to him morning and evening; he would feed them, converse with them, and amuse them.
Ibn Abbas said: When zakah was prescribed for Moses, Qarun came to him and agreed to pay one dinar for every thousand dinars, one dirham for every thousand dirhams, one sheep for every thousand sheep, and one item for every thousand of any other commodity. Then he returned home, calculated it, and found it to be a great deal; his soul was not willing to part with it. So he gathered the Children of Israel and said to them, “O Children of Israel, Moses has commanded you in every matter, and you have obeyed him. Now he wants to take your wealth.” They said, “You are our elder, so command us as you wish.”
He said, “I command you to bring such-and-such a prostitute, and we shall offer her a payment to accuse Moses of fornication with her. When she does so, the Children of Israel will turn against him and reject him.” They summoned her, and Qarun offered her one thousand dirhams; it is also said, one thousand dinars; and it is also said, a basin of gold. Another report states that he said to her, “I will provide for you and admit you among my women, on condition that tomorrow, when the Children of Israel are present, you accuse Moses of fornication with you.”
The following day, Qarun gathered the Children of Israel. Then he came to Moses and said, “The Children of Israel are waiting for you to come out and command and forbid them.” So Moses went out to them while they were in an open expanse of land. He stood and said, “O Children of Israel, whoever steals, we cut off his hand. Whoever makes a false accusation, we flog him with eighty lashes. Whoever commits fornication and is unmarried, we flog him with one hundred lashes. And whoever commits fornication while married, we stone him until he dies.”
Qarun said to him, “Even if it were you?” He replied, “Even if it were I.” Qarun said, “The Children of Israel claim that you committed fornication with such-and-such a woman.” Moses said, “Call her. If she says so, then it is as she says.” When she came, Moses asked her, “O such-and-such, did I do to you what these people claim?” He pressed her earnestly and adjured her by Him who parted the sea for the Children of Israel and sent down the Torah, to tell the truth.
Allah Most High granted her success, and she said to herself, “Today I shall repent; that is better than harming the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.” She then said, “No, they have lied. Rather, Qarun offered me a payment to accuse you of fornication with me.” Moses fell prostrate, weeping and saying, “O Allah, if I am Your messenger, then take vengeance for me.” Allah Most High then revealed to him, “I have commanded the earth to obey you, so command it as you wish.”
Moses said, “O Children of Israel, Allah has sent me against Qarun just as He sent me against Pharaoh. Whoever is with him should remain in his place, and whoever is with me should withdraw.” So they withdrew, and only two men remained with Qarun. Then Moses said, “O earth, seize them!” Whereupon the earth seized them by their feet.
In another narration, he was upon his couch and bedding, and it swallowed him until it concealed his couch. Then he said, “O earth, seize them!” and it seized them