Ṭāhā 20:90-93

Wa laqad qāla lahum Hārūnu min qablu yā qawmi innamā futintum bih, wa inna rabbakumu'r-Raḥmānu fa'ttabiʿūnī wa aṭīʿū amrī · Qālū lan nabraḥa ʿalayhi ʿākifīna ḥattā yarjiʿa ilaynā Mūsā · Qāla yā Hārūnu mā manaʿaka idh raʾaytahum ḍallū · Allā tattabiʿani, a-fa-ʿaṣayta amrī

"Aaron had said to them before this: 'My people! You are only being tested by it. Your Lord is the Merciful. Follow me and obey my command.' · 'We shall not cease to devote ourselves to it until Moses returns to us,' they said. · Moses said: 'Aaron! When you saw them go astray, what kept you · from following me? Did you disobey my command?'"

A point of word order must be recorded: the ninetieth verse says min qablu (before this).

That is, after telling the events the verse goes back and records that Aaron's warning was given before the calf was worshipped. This is information given to the reader before Moses's question in the ninety-second verse.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the note min qablu: the text makes Aaron's defence before his own defence. That is, when the reader hears Moses's question he already knows the answer.

The root of fitna was treated at the fortieth verse (wa fatannāka futūnā), where its four occurrences in the sūra were tabulated. Here is the third occurrence: Aaron names the event by its right name — this is not a straying but a testing.

And the name that follows the diagnosis must be recorded: wa inna rabbakumu'r-Raḥmān.

I record this as an observation: the name recalled in the face of the calf is the one that declares mercy, not punishment. And as recorded at Maryam, this is the name called upon in moments of fear and of seeking refuge.

Two commands: ittibāʿ (to follow) and ṭāʿa (to obey a command). And these two words will return exactly as they are in Moses's question in the ninety-second and ninety-third verses: allā tattabiʿani and a-fa-ʿaṣayta amrī.

The same two words, in two different mouths. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra, and I record it as my own reading: what Aaron asked of his people is expressed in the same words as what Moses asks of Aaron. And the ninetieth verse has already told the reader that Aaron had asked for those two things.

The root ع-ك-ف: to stand constantly over a thing, not to leave it. From the same root comes iʿtikāf. The root was treated at al-Shuʿarāʾ on 26/71 (fa-naẓallu lahā ʿākifīn); I rely on that treatment.

And the word will return in the ninety-seventh verse: ilāhika'lladhī ẓalta ʿalayhi ʿākifā. The same word, once of the people's insistence, once of the Sāmirī's condition.