The Trial of the Calf

The Trial of the Calf

The Almighty said:

{Their hearts absorbed [the worship of] the calf because of their disbelief. Say,

"How wretched is that which your faith enjoins upon you, if you are indeed believers."}^[84]

The Almighty also said: {[148] The people of Moses made, after [his departure], from their ornaments a

calf-an image having a lowing sound. Did they not see that it could neither speak to them nor guide them to a way? They took it [for worship], and they were wrongdoers. [149] And when regret overcame them and they saw that they had gone astray, they said, "If our Lord does not have mercy upon us and forgive us, we will surely be among the losers." [150] When Moses returned to his people, angry and grieved, he said, "How wretched is that by which you have replaced me after [my departure]. Were you impatient over the matter of your Lord?" And he threw down the tablets and seized his brother by [the hair of] his head, pulling him toward him. [Aaron] said, "O son of my mother, indeed the people oppressed me and were about to kill me, so let not the enemies rejoice over me and do not place me among the wrongdoing people." [151] [Moses] said, "My Lord, forgive me and my brother and admit us into Your mercy, for You are the most merciful of the merciful.” [152] Indeed, those who took the calf [for worship] will obtain anger from their Lord and humiliation in the life of this world, and thus do We recompense the inventors [of falsehood]. [153] But to those who committed misdeeds and then repented after them and believed-indeed your Lord, thereafter, is Forgiving and Merciful.}^[85]

And the Almighty said:

{[87] They said, "We did not break our promise to you by our will, but we were

made to carry burdens from the ornaments of the people [of Pharaoh], so we threw them [into the fire], and thus did the Samiri throw." [88] He then extracted for them [the statue of] a calf, which had a mooing sound, and they said, "This is your god and the god of Moses, but he [Samiri] forgot." [89] Did they not see that it could not return to them any speech and did not possess for them any harm or benefit? [90] But Aaron had already told them before [the return of Moses], "O my people, you are only being tested by it, and indeed, your Lord is the Most Merciful, so follow me and obey my order." [91] They said, "We will never cease being devoted to the calf until Moses returns to us." [92] [Moses] said, "O Aaron, what prevented you, when you saw them going astray, [93] From following me? Then have you disobeyed my order?" [94] [Aaron] said, "O son of my mother, do not seize [me] by my beard or by my head. Indeed, I feared that you would say, 'You caused division among the Children of Israel, and you did not observe [or await] my word.'" [95] [Moses] said, "And what is your case, O Samiri?" [96] He said, "I saw what they did not see, so I took a handful [of dust] from the tracks of the messenger^[86] and threw it, and thus did my soul entice me." [97] [Moses] said, "Then go. It is [decreed] for you in [this] life to say, 'No contact.' Indeed, you have an appointment [in the Hereafter] you will not fail to keep. Look at your 'god' to which you remained devoted. We will surely burn it and blow it into the sea with a blast. [98] Your god is only [One] God, there is no deity but him. He has encompassed all things in knowledge."}^[87]

The trial of the calf occurred during the forty years that the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness of the Sinai desert as a punishment for rebelling against the divine orders, and also as a reformation of the corruption in their souls. The Almighty made an appointment with Moses’s^℗ thirty nights and completed them with ten. God says: {We made an appointment with Moses’s thirty nights and completed them by (the addition of) ten; so the term of his Lord was completed.}^[88]

God Almighty was not unaware that the time appointed was forty nights, and He did not lie to Moses^℗; He is far above that. However, He promised him thirty nights and the ten nights that would complete forty depended on something else that did not occur, such as supplication, charity, or any other act [that could have been done] by Moses^℗. Alternatively, the ten nights could have depended on a shortcoming of the group of the children of Israel, which led to a punishment (in the form of) Moses’s extended absence. Included in God Almighty’s knowledge was the fact that Moses^℗ would be absent for forty nights. However, in the board of erasure and confirmation, Moses^℗ was to be absent for thirty nights, but if an unspecified matter were to take place with Moses^℗ or the children of Israel, God would complete it with ten more nights. God says: {God erases or confirms what He wills, and He has the Mother book.}^[89]

This is analogous to a supplication from any one of us in an effort to ward off afflictions or be given whatever He wills from His mercy. If matters were unchangeable, supplications would be futile and useless nonsense. But God Almighty preordains the amount, and extends both His hands. He gives abundance to whomever He wants and withholds from whomever He wants, and He is the Most Wise. This is the “changes in fate” and the clear truth in the Wise Remembrance^[90] that the ignorant ones have denied. They said, “God finalized all matters,” and made His hands chained, imitating the saying of the Jews.^[91]

However, some Sunni scholars prove that changes in fate exist, such as Ibn Al-Jawzi in his book, Al-Jawab Al-Kaafi Fi Fasl Al-Dua [The Sufficient Answer in the Chapter of the Supplication], though he didn’t state it directly; he confirmed it in both the narrations from the Prophet^℗ and his discussion about the benefits of supplication.

During these forty days, the Samiri took advantage of the absence of Moses^℗ and created the calf with ornaments. He then threw in a handful of soil that he took from under the hoof of Gabriel’s^℗ horse. A lowing sound emanated from the calf, similar to what a live calf would make. Moses^℗ said, “O Lord! The calf was made by the Samiri, but where did the lowing sound come from?” He said: “O Moses, it was from Me because when I saw them turning their backs on Me to the calf, I wanted to intensify their trial.”^[92]

The Samiri said to them, “This is your God and the God of Moses.” In other words, your Lord has settled in this calf! Many of the children of Israel believed him after helping him create the calf!

We should reflect upon this incident in the Quran and study it. Perhaps God will bestow upon us the life of the happy ones and the death of the martyrs, as the Messenger of God^℗ promised us, if we study the Quran.^[93]

If you choose to study this incident, O beloved ones, then let us ask ourselves, who is the Samiri? Was he not one of the scholars of the children of Israel? Was he not an ascetic monk since he said, {"I saw what they did not see, so I took a handful [of dust]. . . }^[94]

From the context of the verse, it seems that he was able to see Gabriel^℗ or things from the unseen, which others were not able to see. Furthermore, was the Samiri a fighter?

This meaning is found in the interpretation of the verse that states he is the Samiri: {The one from his faction called to him for help.}^[95] However, if it were indeed true, then the Samiri is a fighter who fought the soldiers of the tyrant Pharaoh in Egypt before the dispatch of Moses^℗.^[96]

Then who is the one that forgot? If it was Moses^℗, then that means he forgot his god right then and there, which would make the words of the Samiri true. The truth is far from that because the children of Israel knew that Moses went to the mount by the command of God. Thus, the one who forgot is the Samiri, meaning that he abandoned the true faith and the true worshipped God. The words from God Almighty are true. What did his self entice him to do? The truth is that it is the basis of all trials: desires, the ego,^[97] Satan, and the ornaments of the world. His evil-commanding self enticed him to think that he was better than Aaron^℗. He therefore rebelled against him, disobeyed his command, and became arrogant. His inner self enticed him to think he was a scholar, worshipper, ascetic, and, perhaps, a fighter in God’s way. Some matters of the unseen were disclosed to him, which made him think he was more worthy of leading the children of Israel than Aaron during Moses's^℗ absence, and he envied Aaron and Moses^℗. Arrogance had completely taken hold of him; desire and ego took full control. Satan cast him into the abyss and caused his arrogance toward the great prophets^℗, just as he was arrogant toward Adam^℗. Thus, Satan incited the Samiri with his call, seduced him with his temptations, and inflicted him with his own disease. The veil came down over the soul when he exchanged guidance for misguidance and was no longer able to see: {You see them looking at you while they do not see.}^[98]

He forgot the truth and the true worshipped One [God] that cannot be seen with eyesight or perceived with the imagination. He reverted to the most despicable kind of shirk: depiction. He brought out what his soul embraced: a calf with a body and a mooing sound, to be a trial that delights a people whose soul embraced it before seeing it. Their hearts absorbed the worship of the calf before it was fashioned. How much they have gone against Moses and Aaron^℗, and how much they have hurt Moses^℗. God says: {When Moses said to his people, 'O my people, why do you harm me while you certainly know that I am the messenger of God to you?’ When they (chose) to deviate, then God caused their hearts to deviate.^[99] God does not guide the defiantly disobedient people.}^[100]

Many of the children of Israel used to think they were better than Moses^℗. As for Aaron^℗, he was a nobody to many of them. It says in the Torah:

[1] Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi took [himself to one

side] along with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben. [2] They confronted Moses together with two hundred and fifty men from the children of Israel . . . .[3] TThey assembled against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire congregation are all holy, and the Lord is in their midst. So why do you raise yourselves above the Lord's assembly?" [4] He spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, "In the morning, the Lord will make known who is His, and who is holy, and He will draw [them] near to Him, and the one He chooses, He will draw near to Him.^[101]

[16] The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [17] Speak to the children of Israel and

take from them a staff for each father's house from all the chieftains according to their fathers' houses; [a total of] twelve staffs, and inscribe each man's name on his staff. [18] Inscribe Aaron's name on the staff of Levi, for there is [only] one staff for the head of their fathers' house. [19] You shall place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting before the [Ark of] the Testimony where I commune with you. [20] The staff of the man whom I will choose will blossom, and I will calm down [turning away] from Myself the complaints of the children of Israel which they are complaining against you. [21] Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and all their chieftains gave him a staff for each chieftain according to their fathers' houses, [a total of] twelve staffs, and Aaron's staff was amidst their staffs. [22] Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony.

[23] And on the following day Moses came to the Tent of Testimony, and behold,

Aaron's staff for the house of Levi had blossomed! It gave forth blossoms, sprouted buds, and produced ripe almonds. [24] Moses took out all the staffs from before the Lord, to the children of Israel; they saw and they took, each man his staff. [25] The Lord said to Moses: Put Aaron's staff back in front of the Testimony as a keepsake [and] a sign for rebellious ones. Then their complaints against Me will end and they will not die. [26] Moses did so. He did just as the Lord had commanded him.^[102]

From Mount Hor,^[103] [4] They journeyed from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to circle the land of Edom, and the people became disheartened on the way. [5] The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in this desert? For there is no bread and no water, and we loathe this miserable food."^[104]

In this way, the Samiri and his bodily calf served as breathing space for these immoral people to let out what their souls embraced, namely, hatred and envy toward Moses and Aaron^℗, but especially Aaron^℗, who was easier to slander and whose prophethood and leadership were easier to challenge. This is because Moses^℗ had considerable standing and great prestige in the hearts of many of the children of Israel since the miracles happened through his actions. Those hypocrites who followed the Samiri behaved arrogantly toward Aaron^℗ and the group that sided with him. They tried to kill him^℗, but he dealt with the trial with prophetic wisdom and then waited patiently until Moses^℗ returned. God supported him, made clear his right, and judged the corrupted ideology, replacing it with the correct ideology. The truth that God wants is: {Look at your god to whose worship you kept (so long); we will certainly scatter it a (wide) scattering in the sea [98] Your God is only God, there is no god but He; He comprehends all things in (His) knowledge.}^[105]