7. Al-A'raaf

And remember when We delivered you anjaynākum a variant reading has anjākum ‘He delivered you’ from Pharaoh’s folk who were inflicting upon you who were burdening you and making you taste terrible chastisement the worst kind of chastisement namely slaying your sons and sparing retaining your women; and therein in that deliverance or chastisement was a tremendous trial either a grace or a tribulation from your Lord so will you not heed the admonition and desist from what you are saying?

And We appointed read wa-wā‘adnā or wa-wa‘adnā for Moses thirty nights at the end of which We would speak to him after he has fasted during that period; that was the month of Dhū’l-Qa‘da. He completed the fast. But when it came to an end he disliked the bad odour of his mouth and so cleaned his teeth. God then commanded him to fast for another ten nights so that He may speak to him despite the odour in his mouth as God says and completed them with ten nights of Dhū’l-Hijja. Thus was the time appointed by his Lord concluded the time at which God had promised him to speak to him as forty arba‘īna is a circumstantial qualifier nights laylatan is for specification; and Moses said to his brother Aaron when he was departing to the Mount for the communion with his Lord ‘Succeed me be my deputy over my people and be righteous among them with regard to their affair and do not follow the way of the agents of corruption’ by consenting with them to acts of disobedience.

And when Moses came at Our appointed time that is the time at which We had promised to speak to him and his Lord spoke with him without any intermediary with speech which he heard from all directions he said ‘My Lord! Show me Yourself that I may behold You!’ Said He ‘You shall not see Me that is to say you do not have the power to see me the use of this expression lan tarānī ‘you shall not see Me’ instead of lan urā ‘I shall not be seen’ implies that it is possible to see God exalted be He; but behold the mountain which is stronger than you are and if it remains stays fixed in its place then you shall see Me’ that is then you shall remain fixed able to see Me otherwise you will not have the capacity for it. And when his Lord revealed Himself that is when He manifested of His Light the equivalent of half a nail of a little finger as stated in one hadīth verified by al-Hākim to the mountain He levelled it to the ground read dakkan or dakkā’a meaning madkūkan and Moses fell down senseless having lost consciousness at the awesomeness of what he had seen. And when he recovered his senses he said ‘Glory be to You! in Your transcendence. I repent to You for having asked You what I was not commanded to ask and I am the first of the believers’ of my time.

He God said to him ‘O Moses I have elected you chosen you from among mankind the people of your time for My Messages read plural bi-risālātī or singular bi-risālatī ‘for My Message’ and My Speech that is for My having spoken to you. So take what I have given you of bounty and be of the thankful’ of My favours.

And We inscribed for him in the Tablets that is the Tablets of the Torah — these were made from the Lote-tree of Paradise or of chrysolite or emerald and they were either seven or ten — about all things one needs in religion as an admonition and a detailing an explanation of all things li-kulli shay’in substitutes for the previous genitive construction min kulli shay’ ‘about all things’. ‘Take it then there is an implicit qulnā ‘We said’ before this fa-kudhhā ‘take it then’ firmly seriously and earnestly and enjoin your people to adhere to the fairest precepts in it. I shall show you the abode of the wicked of Pharaoh and his followers and that is Egypt that you may take an example from them.

I shall turn away from My signs the proofs of My power in the way of creations and otherwise those who behave arrogantly in the earth without right by humiliating them so that they do not magnify themselves; and if they see every sign do not believe in it and if they see the way the path of rectitude the guidance that has come from God do not adopt it as a way to follow and if they see the way of error misguidance adopt it as a way. That turning of them away is because they have denied Our signs and were heedless of them. A similar statement has been made above.

And the people of Moses after him that is after he had departed for the communion with God made of their ornaments which they had borrowed from Pharaoh’s folk on the pretext of a wedding celebration and which remained in their possession a calf which the Samaritan had fashioned for them therefrom; a mere living body jasadan is a substitution for ‘ijlan ‘a calf’ of flesh and blood which lowed that is which made audible sounds like a cow it the calf was transformed in this way when the dust which he the Samaritan had collected from where the hoof of Gabriel’s steed had trodden was placed in its mouth for it has the effect of giving life to that in which it is placed the second direct object of the verb ittakhadha ‘they made’ has been omitted but it would be ilāhan ‘as a god’. Did they not see that it spoke not to them nor guided them to any way? so how can it be taken as a god? Yet they took it as such a god and were evildoers for taking it so.

And when they became at a loss that is when they became remorseful for having worshipped it and saw and realised that they had gone astray thereby and this was after Moses’s return from the communion they said ‘Unless our Lord is merciful to us and forgives us read both verbs either in the third person singular or in the second person singular verily we shall be among the losers’.

And when Moses returned to his people angry because of them and bitterly grieved he said to them ‘Evil is that that is evil is the manner of succession which you have followed in my place after I had gone this idolatry of yours. Would you hasten on the judgement of your Lord?’ And he cast down the Tablets the Tablets of the Torah angry for the sake of his Lord and they were broken into pieces and he seized his brother by the head that is by the hair with his right hand and seized him by the beard with his left hand dragging him toward him in anger. He said ‘O son of my mother! read either ibna ummi or ibna umma by which he meant the standard form of saying ‘my mother’ ummī the mention of her is more affectionate in appealing to his heart Truly the people judged me weak and they were close to killing me. Do not make my enemies gloat over my misfortune to rejoice thereat by your humiliating me and do not count me among the folk who have done evil’ by worshipping the calf in your reproach of them.