{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/mos21.htm","path":"isl/pro/mos21.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/mos21.htm","text":"Sacred Texts\u00a0\nIslam\u00a0\nIndex\u00a0\nPrevious\u00a0\nNext\u00a0\nWorshipping The Calf\nThey say that when Moses went away from the Israelites to the appointment\nof his Lord to reveal the Torah and he made his brother Aaron a leader\nupon them and he promised them of a book from God, so he went along to\nwhat he promised and he appointed for them thirty days of absence so he\nwent away and did not get back as he promised but he delayed that for forty\ncomplete days, and they said that Moses ran away and lied to us and they\nwanted to kill Aaron and did not accept any excuse from him, and then the\nSatan came to them in a shape of a man and said to them that Moses ran\naway from you and will never be back so gather your gold so that I shall\nmake for you a god to worship, and the Samarian was one of the first people\nto cross the sea with Moses and he saw Gabriel (PUH) riding a creature\nthat was like a horse and it was called Ramakah, and whenever it puts its\nhoof on the ground that spot would move, so the Samarian took a look at\nit and he was one of the best companions for Moses, so he took some of\nthat sand that was under the hoof of Gabriel's riding creature to make\nit as a bless for him and he wrapped it and used to make pride of it over\nall the Israelites and it moving (the sand), so when the Satan came and\nmade the calf for them out of gold he said to the Samarian: give me the\nsand that is with you, so he brought it to him and the Satan threw it inside\nthe calf, and when the sand was thrown inside it turned out to be moving\nand had a sound and had hair on it, so when the Israelites saw him and\nheard its sounds they prostrated before it and they were seventy thousand\nof the Israelites, and then Aaron said to them: O folks it is a lie and\nyour Lord is God so follow me and obey my command, but they said: we will\nkeep on it until Moses is back.\nThen they wanted to kill Aaron but he got out and stayed away from\nthem until the appointment of forty days of Moses was over, and when it\nwas the tenth day of \u00d0ul-Hijjah, God revealed on Moses the tablets\nthat contained what they need of regulations and laws and sermons, then\nGod inspired to Moses (PUH): He said: Lo! We have tried thy folk in thine\nabsence, and As-Samiri hath misled them(TaHa:85), so Moses then said: O\nLord, the calf is made by the Samarian but what about the sounds? He, the\nExalted, said then: from Me O Moses, when I saw them neglecting Me and\nworshipping a calf I decided to increase their ignorance, meaning as a\ntest for them. Then Moses went back unto his folk, angry and sad. He said:\nO my people! Hath not your Lord promised you a fair promise? Did the time\nappointed then appear too long for you, or did ye wish that wrath from\nyour Lord should come upon you, that ye broke tryst with me?(TaHa:86),\nthen he threw the tablets from his hands into the ground and he took the\nbeard of his brother Aaron and took his head pulling him towards himself\nand said to him: O Aaron! What held thee back when thou didst see them\ngone astray, That thou followedst me not? Hast thou then disobeyed my order?(TaHa:92-93),\nand then he (Aaron) answered: O son of my mother! Clutch not my beard nor\nmy head! I feared lest thou shouldst say: Thou hast caused division among\nthe Children of Israel, and hast not waited for my word(TaHa:94).\nThen the Israelites said to him: We broke not tryst with thee of our\nown will(TaHa:87) (meaning not by our choice but the Samarian proposed\nso for us and if we were to be left with our own will we wouldn't do so),\nbut we were laden with burdens of ornaments of the folk(TaHa:87), meaning\ntheir gold, and then we did put inside it the sand that the Samarian brought\nand he did make for them a calf with the sound of cows, so Moses then said\nto him: And what hast thou to say, O Samiri?(TaHa:95), he answered: I perceived\nwhat they perceive not, so I seized a handful from the footsteps of the\nmessenger, and then threw it in. Thus my soul commended to me(TaHa:96),\nthen Moses took the calf out and burned it with fire and threw it into\nthe sea, and he banished the Samarian out of that land and warned him not\nto see him again or to make contact with any of the Israelites, and he\nsaid to him: Then go! and lo! in this life it is for thee to say: Touch\nme not!(TaHa:97), as long as you are alive and the same goes for those\non your way and your descendants as well and it is the mark of difference\nbetween you and others, and they say that Moses wanted to kill the Samarian\nbut God inspired to him not to kill him for he is a generous man, and they\nsay his name was Mus\u00e2-Rak\u00e2n [Mus\u00e2 = Moses] and he was\nborn out of the frame of marriage, and they say also that his descendants\ndid not vanish and still there are some of them in Egypt and the lands\nof Shem and they worship the calf but they keep it as a secret among themselves\nand call themselves muslims, and their describtion in general is the same\nof that of the Samarian for at that time they did not touch anyone and\nno one touches them.\nThen Moses spoke to him and said: Now look upon thy god of which thou\nhast remained a votary. Verily we will burn it and will scatter its dust\nover the sea, Your Lord is only Allah, than Whom there is no other lord(TaHa:97-98),\nand it is mentioned also that God ordered Moses to order the people not\nto stay with him or sit with him or eat with him to leave him alone, and\nit is said to him (the Samarian): do not touch us and we shall not touch\nyou as long as you live, and they say that he went wandering in the wilderness\nwith beasts and lions and never touch anyone and no one touched him and\nthat was God's punishment for him in this life, and when he used to meet\nsomeone he would say: no touching! meaning do not touch me or be closer\nto me and that went along in his descendants as well, and it is said that\ntheir remains are still saying this upto this very day, and if someone\nelse other than them would touch one of them then both would be sick with\nfever at the same time as it is said.\nAnd As-Samiri (the Samarian) is named after S\u00e2mir or Sh\u00e2mir\nand it is the guradian as it was used at their time in both languages Hebrew\nand Arabic as it had been said and investigated about it, and Abdul-Wah\u00e2b\nAl-Najj\u00e2r said: if someone said that the man tricked the Israelites\nand took their gold and bought a calf as one of those worshipped in Egypt\nand brought it to them and then said to them whatever he had said and they\ndid accept that from him and they thought that the calf is their god and\nthe god of Moses and kept on worshipping it, all of that would not be far\naway from the meaning of Quran, then he said which is something I do believe\nin, the Samarian might had tricked them by taking their gold and throwing\nit into the fire to make them think that their gold was made into a calf\nand then he took all the gold for himself as any impostor would do, and\nhe said also that I see that the story of the Samarian with Gabriel is\nnot true and there were no Gabriel came down riding a horse-like creature\nnor the Samarian took some of the sands from under the hoof of that creature..etc,\nand all of that as you can see are just some imaginations and the truth\nis what was brought by the narrations of the Household of the path of truth,\nand it is testified by the Quran and its symbols with its interpretations\nthat was brought by the Household (PUT): and the people of the house knows\nbetter what is inside, read with me may the mercy of God be upon you and\ncomplete whatever I left for you, God did say telling the story:\u00a0\nso I seized a handful from the footsteps of the messenger, and then threw\nit in. Thus my soul commended to me(TaHa:96), and it is mentioned before\nwhat was the meaning of this phrase, and they say that the punishment of\nthe Samarian in this life was a physical punishment and that is he feels\nthe pain whenever someone touches him and whenever he meets someone and\nhe was afraid that he would be touches he would say: no touch! And in the\nafter-life God will take care of him, and as for the ones who worshipped\nthe calf from the Israelites their punishment was that God would not accept\ntheir repentance unless they kill each other.\nAs mentioned by `Ilm Al-Hud\u00e2 Al-Sayid Al-Murtadh\u00e2 about\nGod's saying: and he seized his brother by the head, dragging him toward\nhim..etc(Al-A`r\u00e2f:50), he said: Aaron did not do something that deserves\nto do such a thing with him like seizing his head or his beard, and the\napology of Moses then after is not a deed of silly people and not a deed\nof wisemen full of wisdom, and in general what brought such a conflict\ninto the being is that in what God did say of Moses' deeds with his brother\nanything that points out to a sin done any of them, for Moses came with\nanger to his people for what they did after him and horrified by their\ndeed although he did not stay away from them except of some days not a\nyear nor some months but they did do the worst of things and the most silliest\ndeed and the most shameful work, and they changed worshipping the Exalted\nOne, with the worshipping of a created animal, so he took the head of his\nbrother and pulled it towards him as when someone does when he is amazed\nfor something horrible and might bite on his lips or on his finger or even\npulls his own beard, and because Aaron is his partner in this matter and\nevery good or bad would strike one of them would strike the other as well,\nfor this he did with him what a man would do with himself and he (Aaron)\nis himself (Moses) and that is not an insult for Aaron and does not point\nout to a sin of Aaron and does not put down his dignity and does not affect\nthe place of prophercy, and also traditions do change by time and by nations,\nand we might see something as a bad thing but for some people it is a pretty\nthing, so then Aaron said: Thou hast caused division among the Children\nof Israel..etc(TaHa:94) and in another location: Son of my mother! Lo!\nthe folk did judge me weak and almost killed me(Al-A`r\u00e2f:150), and\nthat was an answer from him to deny this deed, meaning do not be angry\nor mad or sorry, and maybe all of that was said and done by an agreement\nbetween the two of them as to show the nation how great is their deed and\nmake them scared.\nAnyhow, it must be taken as it is although it sounds that it is not\nan approperiate thing to do as for what mentioned before and assured before\nthat prophets are infallible, and it is said that when Moses got back to\nhis people and they had worshipped the calf he said to them: O folks, you\ndid a wrong deed to yourselves by worshipping the calf so repent towards\nyour Lord and kill yourselves, so they said to him: how shall we kill ourselves?\nThen Moses said to them: go to Jerusalem and everyone of you holding a\nknife or an iron bar or a sword and when I come upon the rostrum of the\nIsraelites then you shall be cautious and no one of you shall know the\nother and kill each other, and then they gathered and they were seventy\nthousand men of those who worshipped the calf and they went to Jerusalem\nand when Moses prayed with them and he went upon the rostrum, they started\nto kill each other until ten thousand men of them were killed and more\nwere injured, and then Gabriel came down by God's commandment and said:\nO Moses stop the killing for God did forgive them, and so did Moses order\nthem and told them that God did forgive them and God did say then: That\nwill be best for you with your Creator and He will relent toward you. Lo!\nHe is the Relenting, the Merciful(Al-Baqarah:54) [this previous story might\nnot be accurate since it should have happened in Sinai during the Exodus\nafter that God avoided the Israelites to get into the holy lands for forty\nyears, this is what I, the translator, believe].\nwe've pointed out before that God lifted up the mountain beside them\nand made it like upon their heads and they thought that it will fall down\non them and that was when Moses brought them the Torah and most of them\ndenied accepting it for they had harsh hearts and so far away from being\nbounded by religious regulations, and because as it was said before that\nthe Israelites had quite small souls for they got used to the humiliation\nunder the Egyptians' rule, so they do not accept a law except by force,\nand for this their hearts were melted down into their chests and fear filled\ntheir souls when they were ordered to fight the giants and they are not\ngood for wars or to be used, and when they were ordered to go to the holy\nlands they said to Moses: So go thou and thy Lord and fight! We will sit\nhere(Al-M\u00e2'idah:24), and then Moses said complaining to God about\nthe Israelites: My Lord! I have control of none but myself and my brother,\nso distinguish between us and the wrong-doing folk(Al-M\u00e2'idah:25)...so\nthe mountain was raised upon the Israelites as we pointed out so that they\nthought it is falling on them, and Moses then ordered them to take the\nregulations that he brought to them with strength and stop complaining\nabout it and to keep it with all their strength and to bear what they are\ngiven and to remember whatever was in these regulations of sayings and\nworkings. If they did what is required of them then they will face the\ngoodness and avoid the evil and the bad deeds, but they went away from\nthe covenant after they had made it and so God did say in the chapter of\nAl-A`r\u00e2f: And when We shook the Mount above them as it were a covering,\nand they supposed that it was going to fall upon them (and We said): Hold\nfast that which We have given you, and remember that which is therein,\nthat ye may ward off (evil)(Al-A`r\u00e2f:171) and then He said: Then,\neven after that, ye turned away, and if it had not been for the grace of\nAllah and His mercy ye had been among the losers(Al-Baqarah:64). [then\ncomes some phrases explaining the meaning of the Arabic word mentioned\nabout the action of the mount, but contributes nothing to the story]. Everyone\nknew that when they accepted what Moses brought and believed in it the\nmount was raised away from them, because looking at miracles makes the\nfaith much stronger and moves the feelings inside oneself and for this\nhe (Moses) talked to them when they saw such miracles and said: Hold fast\nthat which We have given you..etc(Al-A`r\u00e2f:171).\nNext: Q\u00e2run (Korah) and What He Was Given and His End","title":"The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Moses: Worshipping The Calf","type":"page"}