{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pro/mos23.htm","path":"isl/pro/mos23.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/pro/mos23.htm","text":"Sacred Texts\u00a0\nIslam\u00a0\nIndex\u00a0\nPrevious\u00a0\nNext\u00a0\nThe Story of The Cow\nWhat is mentioned about the interpretations of the holy phrases concerning\nthis story as attributed to the Household (PUT) is that the cow was for\na kid of the Israelites and he was good to his father, and it is mentioned\nthat he had a desired commodity so some people came asking for his commodity\nwhile it was in his house which was locked and the key was under the head\nof his father who was sleeping that time so he hated to wake up his father,\nso when his father woke up and knew the story he blamed him and the kid's\nanswer was: I hated to wake you up and disturb your sleeping, so his father\nsaid with happiness for his kid's goodness: I made this cow for you to\ncompensate you for what you lost from not selling your commodity, and then\nhe thanked God for the goodness of his kid towards him and said blessings\nfor his cow, and in that while there was another event taking place which\nwas a great one and that is there was a murdered man of the Israelites\nthat his killer was not known and to know his killer is not something possible\nexcept by a miracle for there were no signs or clues, and to kill someone\nwas something extremely horrible for them, and God's will desired that\nthe dead man should be stroke with a part of the cow that would be slain\nand then God will resurrect him to tell his killer, and God desired that\nthe cow is the one mentioned before.\nThey say about the reason for the murder is that there was a woman\nof the Israelites with extreme beauty, and she was engaged to a good man\nof the Israelites and a scholar and she accepted him, and then his cousin\nwho was an evil-doer knew about it so he went to ask her for engagement\nbut she refused him, and so then he envied his cousin because she had accepted\nhim instead of him, so he watched for his cousin and got ready for him\nand then killed him by chance and carried his body to Moses and said to\nhim: O prophet of God, this is my cousin and he was killed, he (Moses)\nasked him: who killed him? He answered: I do not know, and killing someone\namong the Israelites was something extremely horrible as we mentioned before,\nand so Moses saw it something terrifying to see a killed man, and then\nthe Israelites gathered together with him and asked him: what do you think\nO prophet of God? Then Moses ordered them by a commandment from God to\nslay a cow, and it was supposed that cow in special to show the killer\nof the man, so when they gathered and cried to Moses he said to them: Lo!\nAllah commandeth you that ye sacrifice a cow(Al-Baqarah:67), they said:\nare you mocking at us? we brought to you a dead man and you say that we\nshould slay a cow to take a piece of a dead thing and strike with it a\ndead man so one of the two deads are resurrected, how come? He said to\nthem then: God forbid that I should be among the foolish! How shall I deny\nthe command of God and He commands me and I am His prophet? Then he said:\nis not the water of a man is a dead semen and also that of a woman and\nwhen both meet God creates out of them both a living human? are not your\nseeds that you plant in your lands go rotting and dead and God then make\nthem alive with His will and let out of them these good ears and also these\nbeautiful trees? And after this speech they were convinced and amazed and\naccepted what he desired of them and then they said to him: pray to your\nLord to explain for us what kind is she? He answered: Verily she is a cow\nneither with calf nor immature; (she is) between the two conditions, and\nthen they said to him: pray to your Lord to explain for us her color, he\nanswered: He says verily she is a yellow cow. Bright is her colour, gladdening\nbeholders, they said: Pray for us unto thy Lord that He make clear to us\nwhat (cow) she is. Lo! cows are much alike to us; and Lo! if God wills,\nwe may be led aright, he said then: Verily she is a cow unyoked; she plougheth\nnot the soil nor watereth the tilth; whole and without mark.\nIt is said then that they did not find any cow with such describtion\nexcept of that cow that was owned by the kid so they asked to buy it from\nhim and so he asked for a price that was as much as her skin could behold\nof gold, so they went back to Moses and told him about what happened and\nhe said to them: buy her with that price and you must slay that one in\nspecial, and so they did and they slain her and said to him: what shall\nyou command us with O prophet of God, so then God inspired to him to let\nthem strike some part of her and strike the dead with it and so they took\nher tail and stroke the dead with it and said to the dead: who killed you\nO man? He then said: my cousin killed me who carried me to Moses the prophet\nof God, and thus when the truth showed up and the killer was known by the\nclue that could not be denied because it is a truthful testimony that God\nmade it as He makes the non-living things speak to show the truth by the\nhands of His prophet, and so the man was killed as a punishment and the\npeople got rid of a great anarchy that they never did see before, and that\nis God's saying: And We said: Smite him with some of it. Thus Allah bringeth\nthe dead to life and showeth you His portents so that ye may understand(Al-Baqarah:73).\nIn another narration it is that there was an old man among the Israelites\nwho had riches and fortune, and he did not have anyone to inherit him except\nof one son, so then the kid's cousins killed him for they were greedy for\nthe money of his father, and after killing him they threw his body at the\ngate of the town far away from their place to make the charge far away\nfrom themselves, and then they came asking for revenge for his blood, so\nGod then ordered them to slay a cow and strike him with some of her so\nhe will be resurrected and tell them who is the killer, and in a speech\nit is said that if they just took any cow then it would be enough for them\nbut they made it long by asking so much questions so God then made it harder\nfor them by telling more charactersitics for this cow. They say that the\nkid said to Moses: O prophet of God, how shall I keep these riches and\nhow shall I be aware against an enemy that would take them and an envier\nthat would envy me for it? He answered him: say upon them what you used\nto say before you have them for the One who gave it to you with your true\nbelief before shall keep them for you then after, and his (the kid's) deed\nwas that he used to say the pray for the prophet Muhammad and his Household\n(PUT), and he kept on saying it so that any envier would try to envy the\nkid God would keep him away from the kid's money.\nIn the interpretation of the prince of believers (PUH) that he said:\nthe dead man who was resurrected asked God then after by Muhammad and his\nHousehold (PUT) to stay in this life and enjoy life with his cousin (he\nwanted to marry) and defeat his enemies and be given fortunes in abundance,\nso God gave him that life with his full senses, so he enjoyed the life\nwith his cousin and never departed from one another and they died together\nand had been in paradise together as gifted couples..etc, and in a copy\nfor the interpretation of Al-`Askari (PUH): the folks of the cow who bought\nit and asked for revenge and lost lot of money to buy her went to Moses\ncrying and said: we are sent poor again and the rest of the tribe and we\nmade astray for our doubts, so Moses then guided them to ask God by the\nprophet (PUH) and his Household (PUT), so when they did that with pure\nhearts and true faith, God then inspired to Moses: let their chiefs go\nto ruined house of that man (a man among them) and let them dig in that\nspecific location and get out whatever money is there and they will find\nthere ten thousand dinars (coins), so they will gain again whatever they\nlost after buying the cow so that their conditions would get back to what\nit was before buying the cow, and then they shall divide the surplus of\nthe money among them and it was five thousand dinars according to the amount\nof money that each one of them had paid.\nAs a result their riches increased and been rich because they asked\nGod by the prophet and his Household and they thought that they are better\nthan all the nations, and God said: Then, even after that, your hearts\nwere hardened and became as rocks, or worse than rocks, for hardness. For\nindeed there are rocks from out which rivers gush, and indeed there are\nrocks which split asunder so that water floweth from them. And indeed there\nare rocks which fall down for the fear of Allah. Allah is not unaware of\nwhat ye do(Al-Baqarah:74). So, their hearts were hardened and were out\nof mercy and goodness after they were full of passion and faith and that\nwas when they saw the miracles by the bless of the existance of Moses and\nthe light of prophecy and the virtue of mentioning the name of Muhammad\nand his Household (PUT) and believing in them and in their secret that\nis within every prophet and messanger, so peace of God upon them all.\nSome people of philosophy said some good opinions about this matter\nand that is the case of the cow and telling the story in Quran was to show\nhow much the Israelites were stubborn and harsh and slow to obey the commandments\nof God, and the purpose was not to show the conditions of the story and\nthe regulations involved and not to show the wisdom of ordering them to\nslay a cow, but the purpose was to show us some of their harshness and\ntheir bad conditions and habits and it had no connection to any other stories\nbefore or after it, and the one after it is: And (remember) when ye slew\na man and disagreed concerning it and Allah brought forth that which ye\nwere hiding(Al-Baqarah:72), and this is mentioned to show a special way\nin treating a problem that the Israelites never thought of or anyone else\nwould think of and that is giving a law to know the murderer, then he (the\nnarrator) explained what he claimed by saying: what I understood from the\nfirst story is that the Israelites had an incident that they were buffled\nabout it and that is there was a killed a man and his killer is now known\nand lot of people were under the charge, and they went to Moses and he\nanswered them that God orders you to slay a cow, so they were amazed for\nhis request and said: do you mock at us? Then he explained the event in\ndetails and he (Moses) wanted to apply the law over whoever is the doner\nby admitting or by clues, and since he had nothing of that for they were\nso stubborn he ordered them to buy the cow and they slain her and stroke\nhis body (the dead) with some of her flesh, so God resurrected him and\nhe told who is the killer and he was punished (the killer), then he (the\nnarrator) said: and the second story which is about God's saying: And (remember)\nwhen ye slew a man and disagreed concerning it and Allah brought forth\nthat which ye were hiding(Al-Baqarah:72), it was about a man who was found\ndead in his home or his place or died in a battle between two groups of\npeople and his killer was not known and no one admitted his crime and the\nkiller could not be found and everyone is charging the other for killing\nhim, so then he (Moses) started to do what was mentioned before to give\na way to know by reason the killer and that God wants to give the judges\nand rulers a way to know the killer among the charged persons, and this\nopinion is supported according to him by God's saying: And (remember) when\nye slew a man and disagreed concerning it..etc(Al-Baqarah:72), as if God\nwants to let out of their hearts and souls what they kept a secret by signs\nof changes in the person himself like getting yellow or nervous or by his\nmovements and the change of his looks or by his happiness and sadness and\ncrying.\nThe direct is to strike the charged man with the leg of the dead man\nor with his hand as to make a contact with the body so might be there some\nchanges that would make him admit his crime or at least to be of strong\ndoubt about him so that he would be put in prison until he admits his crime\nand to tell about his companions in the crime, or he might show a sign\nlike shaking and by this he shall be known as he is the killer indeed and\nno one else. The he (the narrator) said: this thing is because of the nature\nof the psychological habits and the inner mind of the human being, then\nhe (the narrator) began to give examples from tales and stories that were\nso long and there are many analyses and philosophies and practical means\nthat are done by men of investigations and rulers..etc, and the benefit\ndiffers by the person and his intellegence.\nIf killing was for revenge for honor then the reaction would be a combination\nof happiness and fear and otherwise it would be something opposite to this\nand so on. He (the narrator) brought the clue about the independence of\nthe two stories (the cow and the dead man) in the two holy phrases by saying:\nif we looked into the previous stories that God did mention in this chapter\n(Al-Baqarah), and all of them are related to the Israelites, we would find\nthat each one of them is independent to the one before and to the one after\nand starting with \"and when\" so God did say: And (remember) when We did\ndeliver you from Pharaoh's folk(Al-A`r\u00e2f:141), And when We brought\nyou through the sea and rescued you(Al-Baqarah:50), And when We did appoint\nfor Moses forty nights(Al-Baqarah:51), And when We gave unto Moses the\nScripture(Al-Baqarah:53), And when Moses said unto his people: O my people!\nYe have wronged yourselves(Al-Baqarah:54), And when ye said: O Moses! We\nwill not believe in thee till we see Allah plainly(Al-Baqarah:55), And\nwhen We said: Go into this township(Al-Baqarah:58), And when Moses asked\nfor water for his people(Al-Baqarah:60), And when ye said: O Moses! We\nare weary of one kind of food(Al-Baqarah:61), And (remember, O Children\nof Israel) when We made a covenant with you and caused the mount to tower\nabove you(Al-Baqarah:63), And when Moses said unto his people: Lo! Allah\ncommandeth you that ye sacrifice a cow(Al-Baqarah:67), And (remember) when\nye slew a man and disagreed concerning it(Al-Baqarah:72), then he (the\nnarrator) said: this continuous style that did not change makes the matter\nof the killing and the disagreement about it is something independent of\nthe other stories before..etc. This is the end of what Abdul-Wah\u00e2b\nAl-Najj\u00e2r did say in his tales.\nSo we say you did fine and good with what you learned about the last\nholy phrase: And (remember) when ye slew a man and disagreed concerning\nit(Al-Baqarah:72), and it is an acceptable manipulation and conclusion\nthat people of art see as the right thing, and we do not see any prohibition\nin looking for benefits from the holy phrases of the Quran and most of\nthe knowledgement is taken from Quran, and all the groups of muslims take\nwhat they see as a creed for themselves from Quran, and it is mentioned\nthat Quran has boundries and there boundries over the boundries, and it\nhas seventy seven layers of secrets and it has the strangest and the weirdest,\nand there are phrases that has no similar in it and others are similar\nto each other, and the interpretations for both types is not known except\nby God and those who are into the deepest of knowledge.\nBut it is apparent that those who are into the deepest of knowledge\nare those who Quran was revealed upon and in their houses and they are\nthe prophet (PUH) who was sent with it to all the creations of thought,\nand also his viceroys and the leaders after him and God appointed them\nto save the religion and he is the prince of believers, `Ali ben Abi T\u00e2lib\n(PUH) and he is the one that had the place of the prince of believers and\nit is only called for him, but it is used to denote others because of the\nsutbborness, and also whoever came after him of his infallibe children,\nand the first of them is Al-Hasan, and the last of them is the awaited\nviceroy and the son of Al-`Askari (PUH) may peace be upon them all. God\ndid say: And whatsoever the messenger giveth you, take it. And whatsoever\nhe forbiddeth, abstain (from it)(Al-Hashr:7), so the dependence after the\nprophet (PUH) must be upon them (the viceroys) to save the regulations\nof the islamic religion and to solve its problems, and they are the people\nof Quran and the people of the prophecy, and the people of the house knows\nbetter what is inside, and peace for him who follows the path of guidance\nand feared the punishments of God, and God is the One that shall take care\nof us.\nNext: Moses Choosing Seventy Men For God's Appointed Tryst","title":"The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Moses: The Story of The Cow","type":"page"}