the places where the horse had set its hoof turning green at once, he said, “There is something extraordinary about this.” So he took a handful of dust from the hoofprint of Gabriel’s horse. Ikrimah said: It was suggested to him that, if it were cast into anything, it would transform it.
The Children of Israel had borrowed much jewelry from Pharaoh’s people when they intended to leave Egypt, on the pretext of attending a wedding. Allah destroyed Pharaoh, while that jewelry remained in the hands of the Children of Israel. When Moses departed, the Samiri said to the Children of Israel, “The jewelry that you borrowed from Pharaoh’s people is spoils that are not lawful for you. Dig a pit and bury it there until Moses returns and decides what should be done with it.”
Al-Suddi said: Aaron commanded them to throw it into a small pit until Moses returned, and they did so. ⦗11/b⦘ When the jewelry had been gathered together, the Samiri fashioned it into a calf in three days. He then cast into it the handful he had taken from the dust of Gabriel’s horse, and there emerged a golden calf, inlaid with jewels and as beautiful as could be; and it gave a low. Al-Suddi said: It would low and walk. Then the Samiri said, “This is your god and the god of Moses, but he has forgotten” (Ta-Ha 20:88)—that is, he left it here and went out searching for it.
The Children of Israel had miscalculated the appointed time, counting the day and the night as two days. Thus, when twenty days had passed and Moses had not returned, they fell into temptation.
It was also said that Moses had promised them thirty nights, after which ten more were added; their trial thus took place during those ten. When the thirty had passed and Moses had not returned, they supposed that he had died. Upon seeing the calf and hearing the Samiri’s words, eight thousand of them devoted themselves to worshipping the calf. It was also said that they all worshipped it except Aaron and twelve thousand men; and this is the sounder view. Al-Hasan said: They all worshipped it except Aaron alone. This is the meaning of His saying, exalted is He: “Then you took the calf”—that is, as a god—“after him.” Ibn Kathir and Hafs pronounced the dhāl distinctly in the two verbs “you took” and “you took for yourselves,” whereas the others assimilated it. “While you were wrongdoers”: that is, harming yourselves through sin and directing worship to other than its proper object.
“Then We pardoned you after that”: We erased your sins after your worship of the calf, “so that you might give thanks”—that you might be thankful for My pardoning you and My goodness toward you. It was said: Gratitude is obedience with all one’s faculties, both in private and in public. Al-Hasan said: Gratitude for a blessing is to mention it. Allah, exalted is He, says: “And proclaim the blessing of your Lord” (Al-Duha 93:11). Al-Fudayl said: Gratitude for every blessing is not to disobey Allah after receiving that blessing. It was also said: The true nature of gratitude is recognizing one’s inability to give sufficient thanks.
It is related that Moses said, “My God, You have bestowed abundant blessings upon me and commanded me to give thanks, yet my giving thanks to You is itself a blessing from You.” Allah, exalted is He, said, “O Moses, you have learned a knowledge than which no knowledge is greater. It is enough from My servant that he knows that whatever blessing he possesses is from Me.” David said: “Glory be to Him who made the servant’s acknowledgement of his inability to thank Him into gratitude, just as He made his acknowledgement of his inability to know Him into knowledge.”
His saying, exalted is He: “And when We gave Moses the Book”—meaning, the Torah—“and the Criterion.” Mujahid said: It too is the Torah.