Then he moulded for them an idol of a calf that made a lowing sound. They said, “This is your god and the god of Moses, but Moses forgot ˹where it was˺!”
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Did they not see that it did not respond to them, nor could it protect or benefit them?
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Aaron had already warned them beforehand, “O my people! You are only being tested by this, for indeed your ˹one true˺ Lord is the Most Compassionate. So follow me and obey my orders.”
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They replied, “We will not cease to worship it until Moses returns to us.”
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Moses scolded ˹his brother˺, “O Aaron! What prevented you, when you saw them going astray,
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from following after me? How could you disobey my orders?”1
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Aaron pleaded, “O son of my mother! Do not seize me by my beard or ˹the hair of˺ my head. I really feared that you would say, ‘You have caused division among the Children of Israel, and did not observe my word.’”
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Moses then asked, “What did you think you were doing, O Sâmiri?”
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He said, “I saw what they did not see, so I took a handful ˹of dust˺ from the hoof-prints of ˹the horse of˺ the messenger-angel ˹Gabriel˺ then cast it ˹on the moulded calf˺. This is what my lower-self tempted me into.”1
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Moses said, “Go away then! And for ˹the rest of your˺ life you will surely be crying, ‘Do not touch ˹me˺!’1 Then you will certainly have a fate2 that you cannot escape. Now look at your god to which you have been devoted: we will burn it up, then scatter it in the sea completely.”
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˹Then Moses addressed his people,˺ “Your only god is Allah, there is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him. He encompasses everything in ˹His˺ knowledge.”
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