Tā-Hā: (85-89) He said, "Then We have indeed...

Verse 85

Exegesis: Allah the Exalted, after asking Moses (peace be upon him), "And what hastened you away from your people?" (Tā-Hā: 83), and Moses' reply, "I hastened to You, my Lord, that You might be pleased" (Tā-Hā: 84), informed him of what had happened among his people after his departure—events unlikely to have occurred had he remained with them.

Herein lie several issues:

Issue 1: The Meaning of "We have tried (فتنا - fatannā)"

The Mu'tazila argue that "We have tried" cannot mean that Allah created disbelief in them for two reasons:

1. Rational proofs indicate it is impossible for Allah to do such a thing.
2. The verse continues, "and the Sāmirī has led them astray" (وأضلهم السامرى). If Allah had created the misguidance in them, the action of the Sāmirī would have no effect, invalidating the latter part of the verse.
3. Furthermore, when Moses asked them for the reason for this trial, he said, "Has the period been long for you, or did you intend that wrath from your Lord should befall you?" (Tā-Hā: 86). If this happened by Allah's creation, they could argue the cause was Allah creating it within them, invalidating Moses' division of possibilities.
4. If they intended the wrath of their Lord (by worshipping the calf), it would be impossible for Allah to be angry with them concerning something He Himself created.

Therefore, the Mu'tazila conclude that fatana must have another meaning. They suggest it means testing/trial (imtiḥān), as in testing gold with fire to distinguish the good from the base. In this context, Allah intensified the religious obligations (التكليف) upon them. When the Sāmirī presented the calf, they became obligated to deduce from the creation of the universe and bodies that there must be a non-corporeal God, thereby realizing the calf was unfit for divinity. This intensification of obligation is the trial (fitna), supported by the verse: "Do people think that they will be left alone upon saying, 'We believe,' and they will not be tried?" (Al-'Ankabūt: 2). This concludes the Mu'tazila's argument.

The Ash'arites (Aṣḥāb) respond: There is no greater ambiguity in the sound emanating from a golden calf than in the Sun and Moon. The proof that negates the divinity of the Sun and Moon is stronger in negating the divinity of the calf. Thus, the calf's creation was not an intensification of obligation, so this interpretation is invalid. It must refer to the creation of misguidance in them.

Regarding their objection that misguidance is attributed to the Sāmirī: All ordinary effects are attributed to their apparent causes, even though Allah is the ultimate Creator. Similarly here. Moreover, there is a variant reading (قُرِئ) of the verse as: "and the Sāmirī intensified their misguidance" (وأشدهم ضلالاً السامري), which removes the Mu'tazila's argument entirely. Finally, the decisive factor, as established repeatedly in this book, is relying on the principle of the Caller/Inducer (Dā'ī).

Issue 2: Who are "the People"?

The people referred to here are those Moses left behind with Aaron (عليه السلام) by the seashore. They numbered 600,000, of whom all but 12,000 were afflicted by the calf.

Issue 3: Who was the Sāmirī?

Ibn 'Abbās, in a narration by Sa'īd ibn Jubayr, said the Sāmirī was a coarse man ('alj) from Karmān who came to Egypt and belonged to a people who worshipped cows. The majority opinion is that he was one of the great men of the Children of Israel from a tribe called the Sāmirah. Al-Zajjāj and 'Aṭā' narrated from Ibn 'Abbās that he was a Coptic man, a neighbor of Moses, who had believed in him.

Issue 4: Reconciling the Timing

It is narrated in the story that they remained for twenty nights after Moses departed, counting them as forty days, saying, "The count is complete." The affair of the calf happened after this. This is reconciled with Moses' statement upon his return, "Then We have indeed tried your people after you," in two ways:

1. Allah informed Moses of the impending trial using the language of an event that had already occurred, as is His custom.
2. The Sāmirī began planning the affair as soon as Moses departed and resolved to mislead them at the moment of Moses' departure, as if the trial was already considered present.

Issue 5: Moses' Return

Moses returned after completing the forty nights of Dhū al-Qa'dah and ten nights of Dhū al-Ḥijjah.

Issue 6: The Meaning of "Asif" (Asfā)

They mentioned several meanings for Moses' intense emotion (أسف):

1. Intense Anger: In this case, there is no repetition, as "angry" (غضبان) indicates the origin of anger, while "asif" indicates its perfection.
2. Grief and Distress: The majority hold this view. It is said, asifa ya'safu asafan if one grieves, thus he is āsif.
3. Wrath/Indignation: Some say āsif means indignant (mughṭāẓ). They differentiate indignation from anger by stating Allah is not described with indignation, as indignation is a change affecting the body (like laughter or crying), which is impossible for Allah. Anger, however, is the will to inflict harm upon the object of anger, which is permissible to attribute to Allah.

Furthermore, Allah recounts Moses rebuking them upon his return. The Mu'tazila argue this proves Allah did not create the disbelief in them; otherwise, He would not rebuke them; rather, Allah should be rebuked. The Ash'arites respond that Allah did rebuke them through His statement: "It was not but your trial" (Al-A'rāf: 155).

The collection of these rebukes includes:

First Rebuke: "He said, 'O my people, did your Lord not promise you a fair promise?'"

Question 1: This address is only appropriate if they acknowledged another god besides the calf. But Allah reports they said, "This is your god and the god of Moses." How is this address valid? Answer: They acknowledged a God, but they worshipped the calf based on the interpretation adopted by idolaters.

Question 2: What is meant by the "fair promise" (وعداً حسنا)? Answer: Several views:

1. The promise to send down the Torah, containing laws and rulings, which would grant them distinction among people. This aligns with the preceding verse: "And We appointed for you the side of the Mount to the right" (Tā-Hā: 80).
2. The true promise of reward for obedience.
3. The promise is a covenant (عهد), as stated by Mujāhid. This covenant is His saying: "And do not transgress therein, lest My wrath should befall you" (Tā-Hā: 81) up to "then be guided" (Tā-Hā: 82). The evidence is the subsequent verse: "Has the period been long for you, or did you intend that wrath from your Lord should befall you?" (Tā-Hā: 86). It is as if he asked, "Did you forget what Allah told you: 'Do not transgress therein'?"
4. The fair promise covers both religious and worldly benefits.
   • Religious benefits: The promise of the noble Book guiding them to laws, and the promise of great reward in the Hereafter.
   • Worldly benefits: Before Pharaoh's destruction, Allah promised them their land and dwellings, which He fulfilled. Then Moses asked, "Has the period been long for you, or did you intend that wrath from your Lord should befall you?" meaning, "Did you forget that covenant, or did you deliberately disobey?"

The phrase "Has the period been long for you" (أفطال عليكم العهد) can imply:

1. Has the period of Allah's favors been long for you—His saving them from Pharaoh and other blessings mentioned at the beginning of Sūrat al-Baqarah? This is like: "Then their time became long, and their hearts hardened" (Al-Ḥadīd: 16).
2. It is narrated that they knew the term was forty nights and reduced each day to a night, making it twenty. Al-Qāḍī finds this weak, as such a calculation is unlikely to confuse anyone.
3. Moses promised them thirty nights, and when Allah added ten more, this became the "long period."

As for "or did you intend that wrath from your Lord should befall you?" (أم أردتم أن يحل عليكم غضب من ربكم), this cannot be taken literally, as no one intends wrath. However, since disobedience necessitates wrath, and intending the cause implies intending the effect incidentally, the statement is valid. Scholars use this to argue that wrath is an attribute of action (صفات الأفعال), not an attribute of Essence (صفات الذات), because an attribute of Allah's Essence does not descend upon physical bodies.

Then, "So you broke my promise" (فأخلفتم موعدى) indicates a promise Moses made to the people. There are two interpretations:

1. They broke their promise to follow him and come after him.
2. They broke their promise to remain steadfast in his religion until his return from the Mount.

At this, they replied: "We did not break our promise by our will/ownership" (ما أخلفنا موعدك بملكنا). Regarding who said this, there are two views:

1. It was said by those who did not worship the calf. They meant: We did not break our promise by something we owned or controlled (بملكنا). A person may attribute the action of a relative to himself, as in "And when We parted the sea for you" (Al-Baqarah: 50) or "And when you killed a soul" (Al-Baqarah: 72), even if their fathers were the actors. They meant: The doubt became strong over the calf-worshippers, and we could neither stop them nor leave them, fearing that separation would cause further division and greater trial.
2. This was said by the calf-worshippers. They meant: Others caused the doubt in our hearts, and the one who caused the apparent reason is the one who caused the effect, and the promise-breaker is the one who caused the doubt, as he was like our master/owner (مالكنا).

If one asks: How is it conceivable that nearly 600,000 rational, accountable people would suddenly abandon the true religion for calf-worship, which they necessarily know to be corrupt? And how could such a large group abandon the religion and manifest disbelief, only to return to it suddenly because Moses returned alone? Answer: This is not impossible for simple-minded people.

There are three readings for بملكنا (by our will/ownership):

• Bi-mulki-nā (with a ḍammah on the mīm): Meaning authority/sovereignty (read by Ḥamzah, Al-Kisā'ī).
• Bi-malaki-nā (with a fatḥah on the mīm): (Read by Nāfi', 'Āṣim).
• Bi-milki-nā (with a kasrah on the mīm): (Read by Abū 'Amr, Ibn 'Āmir, Ibn Kathīr). The kasrah and fatḥah readings are essentially the same, being two linguistic variants, like riṭl and raṭl. The ḍammah reading means sovereignty.

The people then explained this general excuse: "But we were burdened with ornaments of the people" (ولكنا حملنا أوزارا من زينة القوم).

• Those who read حُمِّلنا (with tashdīd on the mīm) as a passive verb (from ḥamala):
  • Meaning 1: We carried with us what we had borrowed from the people.
  • Meaning 2: We became guarantors for them until we could deliver them where Allah commanded.
  • Meaning 3: Allah burdened them with it, meaning He assigned them the ruling of spoils of war (مغنم).
• Those who read حَمَلنا (with takhfīf on the mīm): Meaning we carried them ourselves, as in the first meaning above.

الأوزار (burdens/weights): This means heavy loads. A sin is called a wizr because it is a weight. Interpretations:

1. They were so numerous they became weights.
2. Spoils of war were forbidden to them, so they had to guard them without benefit, making them burdens.
3. الأوزار means sins (الآثام), so the meaning is "we carried sins." It is narrated that Aaron said they were impure, so they should purify themselves. The Sāmirī suggested Moses detained the ornaments as a punishment, so perhaps they meant this. A person might call something obligatory to return "all sin and guilt."
4. These ornaments were used by the Copts for gatherings involving disbelief, so they were described as burdens, similar to calling instruments of sin by such a name.

As for "so we cast them in" (فقذفناها), where did they cast them?

1. They cast them into a pit that Aaron had ordered them to gather the ornaments in, awaiting Moses' return.
2. They cast them where the Sāmirī directed them.
3. They cast them into a place where fire was gathered, and then they said: "So the Sāmirī cast in" (فألقى السامري), meaning the Sāmirī did what we did.

As for "So He brought forth for them a calf, a body that had a lowing sound" (فأخرج لهم عجلاً جسداً له خوار), there is disagreement on whether the body was alive:

1. No, it was not alive. It is not permissible for a deviant person to display a miracle. The Sāmirī fashioned a shape like a calf, creating vents and holes through which air entered, producing a sound resembling a calf's lowing.
2. Yes, it became alive and lowed. Evidence:
   • "Then I seized a handful of dust from the footprint of the Messenger" (Tā-Hā: 96). If it hadn't become alive, this statement would be meaningless.
   • Allah called it a calf (عجل), which is literally an animal, and a body (جسد), which refers to living things.
   • He affirmed the lowing sound (خوار).
   • They counter the first argument by stating that the appearance of extraordinary phenomena at the hands of one claiming divinity is permissible if it does not cause confusion. Here, it was not confusing, so it should not be impossible.
   • It is narrated from Ibn 'Abbās by 'Ikrimah that Aaron passed by the Sāmirī making the calf and asked what he was doing. The Sāmirī replied he was making something beneficial, not harmful, and asked Aaron to pray for him. Aaron prayed, "O Allah, grant him what he asked." After Aaron left, the Sāmirī asked Allah to make it low, and it did. Under this interpretation, it would be a miracle for the Prophet (Moses).

As for "They said, 'This is your god and the god of Moses'" (فقالوا هذا إلهكم وإلاه موسى), there is a problem: If the people were so ignorant as to believe the calf made at that moment was the Creator of the heavens and earth, they were insane and not accountable. Such mass insanity is impossible. If they did not believe that, how could they say, "This is your god and the god of Moses"? Answer: Perhaps they adhered to the doctrine of Incarnation (الحلولية), allowing the Divinity or one of its attributes to reside in that body. Even this is highly improbable, as the lowing sound does not suit divinity. However, perhaps the people were extremely dull and coarse.

As for "So he forgot" (فنسي), there are views:

1. This is Allah's speech, informing that the Sāmirī forgot the necessity of deducing from the creation of bodies that God does not dwell in anything, nor does anything dwell in Him. Allah then clarifies the necessary deduction: "Do they not see that We do not return a word to them, nor do We have power to harm or benefit them?" (Tā-Hā: 87). It did not cross their minds that one who neither speaks nor harms nor benefits cannot be God, nor can God be connected to it in dwelling or presence.
2. This is the Sāmirī's speech attributed to Moses (peace be upon him). The meaning is: "This is your god and the god of Moses, so Moses forgot that this is the God and went seeking Him elsewhere." This is the view of the majority.
3. He forgot the time of the appointed meeting for his return.

As for "Do they not see that it does not return a word to them, nor does it have power to harm or benefit them?" (أفلا يرون أنا لا يرجعون إليهم قولاً ولا يملك لهم ضراً ولا نفعاً), this is an argument against its divinity: it neither speaks nor benefits nor harms. This indicates that God must be described with these attributes, similar to what Allah said in Abraham's story: "Why do you worship what neither hears nor sees, nor can it avail you in anything?" (Maryam: 42). Moses, in most matters, relied on Abraham's proofs.

Two further discussions remain here:

Discussion 1: Reading of يرجع

Al-Zajjāj preferred the reading with raf'a (nominative): لا يرجع (it does not return), similar to: "And they supposed there would be no trial, so they became blind and deaf" (Al-Mā'idah: 71), meaning "there will be no trial." It was also read with naṣb (accusative), meaning أن is the particle that makes the following verb accusative.

Discussion 2: Proof for Speculative Inquiry

This verse proves the obligation of speculative inquiry (النظر) in knowing Allah. Another verse states: "Did they not see that He does not speak to them, nor does He guide them to any way?" (Al-A'rāf: 148), which is similar in meaning to the condemnation of idolaters: "Do they have feet with which they walk?" (Al-A'rāf: 195). The intent is not that if the calf had spoken, it would be God, because a thing can be conditioned by many prerequisites; the absence of one negates the necessary outcome, but the presence of one does not necessitate the outcome.

Discussion 3: A Statement to 'Alī

Some Jews said to 'Alī (عليه السلام): "You have not buried your Prophet until you differed among yourselves?" He replied: "We differed from him concerning what we differed about. As for you, your feet had not yet dried from the sea water when you said to your Prophet, 'Make for us a god just as they have gods!'"

Verse 87

Exegesis: Aaron had warned them previously: "O my people, you are only being tried by this, and indeed, your Lord is the Most Merciful, so follow me and obey my command."

Verse 88

Exegesis: They replied, "We will not cease to adhere to it until Moses returns to us."