Al-A‘rāf: 150
**"And when Moses returned..."**
Al-Asaf (الأسف): Extreme anger. As in: “And when they angered Us (ءاسفونا), We took retribution from them” (al-Zukhruf: 55). It is also said: it means the sorrowful one.
"You have replaced me (خلفتموني)": You stood in my place and were my successors after me. This address is either directed at the calf-worshippers—the Samiri and his followers—or at the leaders of the Children of Israel, namely Aaron (peace be upon him) and the believers among them. This is indicated by his words: “Take my place (اخلفني) among my people” (al-A‘rāf: 142). The meaning is: "Evil is what you have done in replacing me," in that you worshipped the calf instead of worshipping Allah, or in that you did not restrain those who worshipped other than Allah.
If you ask: Where are the requirements of bi’sa (evil is)—the agent and the specific object of blame?
I say: The agent is hidden, interpreted by khalaftumuni (you replaced me). The specific object of blame is omitted; the estimation is: "Evil is the succession you performed after my departure."
If you ask: What is the meaning of his saying “after me” (min ba‘di) after saying “you replaced me”?
I say: It means after you saw from me the oneness of Allah, the negation of partners from Him, and the sincerity of worship to Him. Or, after I had been leading the Children of Israel toward monotheism and restraining them from what their eyes coveted—the worship of cows—when they said: “O Moses, make for us a god just as they have gods” (al-A‘rāf: 128). It is the right of successors to follow the path of the one they succeeded and not to oppose him. Similar to this is: “Then there succeeded them successors” (al-A‘rāf: 169), meaning after those described with praiseworthy qualities.
It is said: ‘ajila (عجل) regarding a matter means to leave it incomplete, and its opposite is to complete it. ‘Ajaltum (you hastened/left incomplete) means you were hasty regarding the command of your Lord—which was to wait for Moses while upholding his covenant and what he enjoined upon you. You based your actions on the assumption that the appointed time had reached its end and I would not return to you, so you suggested to yourselves that I had died, and you changed just as nations changed after their prophets. It is narrated that the Samiri said to them when he brought out the calf and said, "This is your god and the god of Moses": "Moses will not return; he has died." It is also narrated that they counted twenty days and nights and made them forty, then they committed what they committed.
"And he cast down the tablets": He threw them down due to the extreme shock and intense distress that overcame him upon hearing the news of the calf, out of anger for the sake of Allah and zeal for His religion. He was, by nature, stern and intensely angry, while Aaron was softer in temperament; for this reason, Aaron was more beloved to the Children of Israel than Moses. It is narrated that the Torah consisted of seven parts; when he cast down the tablets, they shattered. He lifted up six parts, and one part remained. In what was lifted up was the detail of everything and the mercy.
"And he seized his brother by the head": Meaning by the hair of his head.
"Pulling him toward him": By his forelock. This was due to the intensity of the matter that befell him, which provoked him and took away his composure, thinking his brother had been negligent in restraining them.
"Son of my mother": It is read with a fatha (ibna umma) by analogy to khamsata ‘ashar (fifteen); with a kasra (ibna ummi) by dropping the ya of possession; with the ya (ibna ummi); and ibna ummi with a kasra on the hamza and the mim. It is said he was his brother through both father and mother. If this is true, he attributed him to the mother to indicate they were from the same womb, which is more conducive to affection and tenderness, greater for the obligatory right, and because she was a believer, so he honored her lineage, and because she was the one who endured fears and hardships for his sake, so he reminded him of her right.
"Indeed, the people": Meaning he had spared no effort in restraining them through preaching and warning, and by exerting his full capacity to oppose them until they overpowered him and deemed him weak, and nothing remained but that they would kill him.
"Do not let the enemies rejoice over me": Do not do to me what is their wish—to belittle me and harm me. It is also read: “Do not let the enemies rejoice over me” (fala yashmat bi al-a‘da’), as a prohibition against the enemies rejoicing. The intent is that no harm should befall him that would cause them to rejoice.
"And do not place me with the wrongdoing people": Do not place me, in Your anger toward me and Your punishment of me, as a companion to them. Or: Do not believe that I am one of the wrongdoers, given my innocence of them and their wrongdoing.
When his brother apologized to him and mentioned the rejoicing of the enemies, "He said, 'My Lord, forgive me and my brother'": To please his brother and show those who rejoice that he is pleased with him, so their rejoicing would not be fulfilled. He sought forgiveness for himself for what he had done toward his brother, and for his brother in case he had been negligent in his succession. He requested that they not be separated from His mercy, and that it remain constant for them in this world and the Hereafter.
