Tafsir of Ta-Ha 20:85

(Said): This is a resumption based on a question arising from the narration of his excuse, peace be upon him. The secret of it being in the third-person singular lies in this, not in a shift from the speaker to the third person, because what precedes it is in the first person. It is as if it were said from the perspective of the listeners: "What then did his Lord, the Exalted, say?" And it was said: He, the Glorified, said: (Indeed, We have tested your people), meaning: We tried them through what the Samiri did, or We caused them to fall into a tribulation, which is to incline toward desires and fall into disagreement (after you), meaning: after your departure from among them and your absence from their midst.

(And the Samiri led them astray), as he brought out for them a calf, a physical body that made a lowing sound, and invited them to worship it. It is said: He told them after Moses, peace be upon him, had been absent from them for twenty nights: "The forty nights are complete—counting the twenty with their days as forty nights—and Moses is neither seen nor found. His delay in keeping the appointment is only because of the people’s ornaments you possess, which are forbidden to you." So they gathered them, and the affair of the calf transpired as it did.

The intended meaning of "your people" here is those whom he left behind with Aaron, peace be upon him. They were, according to some reports, six hundred thousand; of them, only twelve thousand were saved from the worship of the calf. Therefore, the intended meaning here differs from the intended meaning of "your people" mentioned earlier, which is why the pronoun [referencing the first group] was not used. It is said: The "people" in both instances are the same, but they are defined here, and the defined noun [when repeated] with the definite article is the same as the first. The meaning of "They are there, following in my footsteps; they are close to me, waiting for me" — [Al-Kashshaf] countered this by saying it is not suitable for the word "footsteps" (athar), nor does it match the justification for haste. Furthermore, where would the proponent of this interpretation derive the report that they were close to Mount Tur? The doctrine of the "repeated definite noun" applies only when no evidence of differentiation exists, yet such evidence does exist. We may say: They are identical because the term "people" refers to the genus in both instances, but it is meant first as the leaders, and second as the stragglers; such usage is frequent in the Quran. This is the end [of the quote]. His dismissal of the report regarding their proximity is debatable, and reports will come, God willing, soon that suggest their proximity, though we have not verified their authenticity or weakness.

Regarding what was mentioned in the interpretation of "They are there, following in my footsteps" as referring to the stragglers in the first instance as well, it was narrated by Al-Tabrisi from Al-Hasan. He also narrated from him an interpretation that they were upon his religion and method, and the matter is easier in that case. The fa (the 'so' in the implied "so do not hasten") is for the causality of what the previous speech implies, as if it were said: "You should not have hastened from your people, preceded them, and neglected their affairs for any reason, for because of their recent conversion to following you and their extreme naivety and foolishness, they are in a state where Satan’s deception can easily encompass them and succeed in leading them astray. Since the people you left with your brother have been tested and the Samiri has led them astray by your departure from among them, how can you be secure regarding these [new followers] whom you have neglected and whose affairs you have ignored?"

In Irshad al-'Aql al-Salim, it is stated that the [letter fa] is for the ordering of reports regarding the aforementioned trial in relation to Moses' information about his haste, but not because the information about the haste is the cause necessitating the report [of the trial]. Rather, it is because of the relationship between them that validates the transition from one to the other, in that the trial mentioned is the "haste" of the people. This is not entirely sound. As for the statement of Al-Khafaji that it is for sequence without causality—meaning "I say to you, following what was mentioned, 'Indeed, We have tested...'"—there is an obvious oversight in this, as this meaning would only be possible if the fa were attached to the verb "said," whereas it is attached to what follows it. The literal meaning of the verse indicates that the trial and the Samiri’s leading them astray had already occurred and taken place before being reported, as the past tense is clear in that regard. It is also apparent, according to our analysis, that the report came when he, peace be upon him, arrived at the Mount, and nothing preceded it but the blame and the excuse. There are reports indicating that the event took place after twenty nights of his departure to the side of the Mount, and it is said after thirty-six days. In that case, expressing it in the past tense is for the sake of its realization in the knowledge and will of God, or because it was imminent and expected, or because the Samiri had resolved to carry out the trial upon Moses' departure and had set about arranging its foundations and preparing its premises, so the initiating of the causes was treated as the occurrence itself.

The Samiri, according to most, as Al-Zajjaj said, was a great man among the great men of the Children of Israel from a tribe known as the Samira, who are known to this day in the Levant as the Samaritans. It is said: He was the son of Moses' maternal aunt, or his cousin, or he was a slave from Kirman, or from Bajarma (a village near Egypt or near the villages of Mosul). It is said: He was a Copt who left with Moses, peace be upon him, manifesting faith while being his neighbor. It is said: He was a cow-worshipper who had been in Egypt, so he entered among the Children of Israel ostensibly, while in his heart was the worship of the cow. His name, it is said, was Musa ibn Zafar, or Manja, the former being more famous. Ibn Jarir narrated from Ibn Abbas that when his mother feared he would be slaughtered, she left him in a cave and sealed it. Gabriel, peace be upon him, would come to him and nourish him with his fingers—one with milk, another with honey, and another with fat—and he continued to nourish him until he grew up. Based on this is the saying of the one who said: "If a person is not created happy, the minds of those who raise him are bewildered, and the one who hopes for his goodness is disappointed." Thus, the Moses whom Gabriel raised is a disbeliever, and the Moses whom Pharaoh raised is a messenger. In short, according to the majority, he was a hypocrite who showed faith and hid disbelief. Mu'adh recited it as adalluhum (as an elative noun), meaning "the most astray among them," because he was astray and led others astray.