ﱁ ﱂ ﱃ ﱄ ﱅ ﱆ ﱇ ﱈ ﱉ ﱊ ﱋ ﱌ ﱍ ﱎ ﱏ ﱐ ﱑ ﱒ ﱓ ﱔ ﱕ ﱖ ﱗ ﱘ ﱙ
And We took the Children of Israel across the sea; then they came upon a people intent in devotion to [some] idols of theirs. They said, "O Moses, make for us a god just as they have gods." He said, "Indeed, you are a people behaving ignorantly.
Tafsir
Verse range: 7:138-139
[138] And We passed the Children of Israel across the sea.
Commentary: After Allah (Exalted is He) mentioned the types of blessings bestowed upon the Children of Israel—namely, the destruction of their enemy and inheriting their land and dwellings—He followed this up with the greatest blessing: causing them to cross the sea safely.
In other Surahs, Allah explained how He made the sea passable for them safely by splitting the sea when Moses struck it with his staff, making it dry ground.
However, when the Children of Israel witnessed people devotedly worshipping their idols, they became ignorant and reverted, saying to Moses: "Make for us a god just as they have gods."
Undoubtedly, when this group witnessed the dazzling miracles Allah showed Moses against Pharaoh, and then witnessed Allah destroying Pharaoh and his soldiers while granting the Children of Israel safety and honor, their utterance of this corrupt and false statement—after such profound witnessing—was the height of ignorance and extreme deviation.
It is said: Jāwaza al-wādī (He crossed the valley) means he traversed it and left it behind. Jāwaza bi-ghayrihi (He crossed with something else) means he conveyed it across.
It is also recited as: {جَوَّزْنَا} (We made [them] pass), meaning: We enabled them to pass (Ajaznā). It is said: Ajāza al-makān and Jawwazahu in the sense of Jāzahu (He passed through the place).
Al-Zajjaj said: Ya‘kufūn means they persist in and adhere to them. It is said of anyone who adheres to and persists in something: ‘Akafa, ya‘kufu, wa ‘akafu. From this, the one who constantly attends the mosque is called a Mu‘takif (one in seclusion/devotion).
Qatadah said: Those people were from the tribe of Lakhm, and they were settled in the fertile lands (al-rīf).
Ibn Jurayj said: Those idols were statues of cows, and this is the first mention of the story of the Calf (the golden calf).
Allah then recounts their statement: "O Moses, make for us a god just as they have gods."
It must be understood that it is impossible for an intelligent person to ask Moses to "make us a god" in the sense of a Creator and Sustainer, because whatever Moses could create or design would not possess the power to create the universe or manage its affairs. Anyone who doubts this lacks complete intellect.
The more probable interpretation is that they asked Moses (peace be upon him) to designate idols or statues for them, through whose worship they could draw nearer to Allah Almighty. This aligns with what Allah recounts about idol worshippers when He says: {We only worship them so that they may bring us nearer to Allah in station} (Az-Zumar: 3).
If this is understood, one might ask: Why was this statement considered disbelief (kufr)?
We reply: All the Prophets (peace be upon them) agreed that worshipping anyone other than Allah is disbelief, whether one believes that entity is the world's god, or whether one believes that worshipping it brings one closer to Allah. This is because worship (‘ibādah) is the ultimate form of veneration, and the ultimate veneration is only befitting the One from Whom the ultimate bestowal of favors and honor originates.
Objection: Did this statement come from all the Children of Israel or only some of them?
Reply: It came only from some of them, because the seventy chosen men were with Moses (peace be upon him), and among them were those who were far above such a baseless request.
Then Allah recounts Moses' response to them: {He said, "Indeed, you are a people who are ignorant."}
The basis for this ignorance is what we mentioned: Worship is the ultimate veneration, and it is only befitting the One from Whom the ultimate bestowal of favor originates—which is by creating the body, life, desire, power, and intellect, and by creating the things from which benefit is derived. The only One capable of these things is Allah Almighty; therefore, worship is due only to Him.
Objection: If their intention in worshipping those idols was to draw nearer to Allah through veneration, what is the reason for the ugliness of this worship?
Reply: If that were the case, they would not have taken them as gods (āilah) at all; rather, they would have made them like a Qibla (direction of prayer). This contradicts their statement: {Make for us a god just as they have gods}.
Note that the mā (what) in {كَمَا لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ} (just as they have gods) can be maṣdariyyah (a verbal noun marker), meaning: "just as gods are established for them." Or it can be mawṣūlah (a relative pronoun), in which case the pronoun lahum (for them) refers back to it, and āilah (gods) is an apposition (badal) to that pronoun. The meaning would be: "like that which is gods for them."
Then Allah recounts Moses' statement: {He said, "Indeed, what you are engaged in is doomed to destruction, and vain is what they were doing."}
Al-Layth said: Tabār means destruction. It is said: Tabira shay’un yatabbaru tabāran, and al-tabyīr means annihilation, as in His saying: {and We destroyed them with utter destruction} (Al-Furqan: 16). Also, broken, fragmented gold is called tabar.
So, {مُتَبِّرٌ مَا هُمْ فِيهِ} (what you are engaged in is doomed to destruction) means it is ruinous and annihilating.
And {وَبَاطِلٌ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ} (and vain is what they were doing): It is said that bāṭil (vanity/falsity) is the absence of a thing, either by the absence of its essence or by the absence of its benefit and purpose. What is meant by the vanity of their deeds is that no benefit accrues to them from those deeds, nor is any harm averted.
The reality of the matter here is that the purpose of worship is for the persistence in those actions to become a means for the firm establishment of the remembrance of Allah in the heart, so that this spirit becomes blessed by attaining that knowledge within it. When a person occupies himself with worshipping other than Allah, his heart becomes attached to other than Allah, and this attachment becomes a cause for the heart to turn away from the remembrance of Allah.
When this reality is revealed, it becomes clear that engaging in the worship of other than Allah is destructive (mutabbar) and vain (bāṭil), and a waste, as it is striving to achieve the opposite and antithesis of the goal. We have already established that the purpose of worship is the establishment of the knowledge of Allah in the heart. Engaging in the worship of other than Allah removes the knowledge of Allah from the heart; thus, this is contrary to the objective and the opposite of what is desired. And Allah knows best.
[139] {He said, "Shall I seek for you a god other than Allah, while He has favored you over the worlds?"}
