al-Aʿrāf 7:148-151

Wa'ttakhadha qawmu Mūsā min baʿdihī min ḥuliyyihim ʿijlan jasadan lahū khuwār, a-lam yaraw annahū lā yukallimuhum wa lā yahdīhim sabīlā, ittakhadhūhu wa kānū ẓālimīn · Wa lammā suqiṭa fī aydīhim wa raʾaw annahum qad ḍallū qālū la-in lam yarḥamnā rabbunā wa yaghfir lanā la-nakūnanna mina'l-khāsirīn

"After Moses had gone, his people made out of their ornaments a calf, a body that lowed. Did they not see that it did not speak to them and did not guide them to any way? They took it, and they became wrongdoers. · And when it was brought home to them and they saw that they had gone astray, they said: 'If our Lord does not have mercy on us and forgive us, we shall surely be among the lost.'"

The root ج-س-د. It was recorded in al-Anbiyāʾ, and I rely on that treatment: the lexicographers record a distinction between jasad and jism — jasad is used of a body with no sign of life in it.

The root خ-و-ر: the lowing of cattle. It was recorded at 20/88 in Ṭāhā: the word occurs in the Qurʾān only here and at Ṭāhā 20/88. I rely on that treatment.

And the coming together of the two words must be recorded, and this is a point of word order:

The verse gives both in the same sentence: a lifeless body and a sound. I record this as an observation, and its ground is the verse's own words.

And how the sound came about is not stated in the verse. Detailed explanations are conveyed in the classical sources; this commentary does not enter into them, because the text does not, and their soundness cannot be established (Method).

The proof the verse builds must be recorded, and it is one of the most concrete measures in the sūra: two lacks are counted.

I record this as my own reading and it is not binding; its ground is the words of the two verses: the verse compares the calf with what was told five verses earlier. There there was speech; here there is none. And the measure is not the look of what is worshipped but what it can do.

And this measure will be repeated and widened in the last block of the sūra (7/191-198): there what those called upon can do will be counted one by one. That link will close there.

This expression is an idiom in Arabic, and the lexicographers dwell on it. Word for word: "it was dropped into their hands". As an idiom its sense is: severe regret and bewilderment.

And the verb's being passive must be recorded: suqiṭa — "it was dropped". Who dropped it is not stated.

This is the word's only occurrence in the Qurʾān. This is a countable datum.

I give this as a note about the language, and I convey as transmitted the explanation that renders the picture of the idiom thus: the regretful person biting his hand or striking hand upon hand — the bodily counterpart of regret.

Wa lammā rajaʿa Mūsā ilā qawmihī ghaḍbāna asifan qāla biʾsamā khalaftumūnī min baʿdī, a-ʿajiltum amra rabbikum, wa alqa'l-alwāḥa wa akhadha bi-raʾsi akhīhi yajurruhū ilayh, qāla'bna umma inna'l-qawma'staḍʿafūnī wa kādū yaqtulūnanī fa-lā tushmit biya'l-aʿdāʾa wa lā tajʿalnī maʿa'l-qawmi'ẓ-ẓālimīn "When Moses returned to his people, angry and grieved, he said: 'How evil is what you have done after me! Were you in haste over the command of your Lord?' He put down the tablets and took hold of his brother's head, pulling him towards himself. [Aaron] said: 'Son of my mother! The people reckoned me weak and were about to kill me. Do not let the enemies gloat over me, and do not place me with the wrongdoing people.'"

This scene was treated in detail at 20/92-94 in Ṭāhā, and I rely on that treatment. A summary of what was recorded there:

• Ṭāhā 20/90, by saying min qablu (earlier), puts Aaron's warning back into the telling of the events; that is, when the reader hears Moses's question he already knows the answer.
• The two things Aaron asked of his people (ittibāʿ and iṭāʿa) are expressed in the same words as what Moses asked of Aaron.
• In Ṭāhā the address is yabnaʾumma ("son of my mother"), and it was treated there.

Now I work out the difference between the two sūras, and it can be verified from the two texts:

That is, the two sūras cut the same scene at two different places. I record this as an observation, and I give it not as a contradiction but as a choice of detail — the same method was recorded at 20/20 in Ṭāhā.

ٱلْأَسَف — the root أ-س-ف. It was recorded at 12/84 in Yūsuf and at 43/55 in al-Zukhruf, and I rely on those treatments: when the word is used of Jacob it means grief, and when it is used of Moses (ghaḍbāna asifā — al-Aʿrāf 7/150; Ṭāhā 20/86) it means grief mixed with anger. I do not repeat it.

And the coming together of two words in al-Aʿrāf must be recorded: ghaḍbāna (angry) and asifan (grieved). Two states are named together.

وَأَلْقَى ٱلْأَلْوَاحَ — and the verb must be recorded: alqā. This is a verb that has already occurred three times in the sūra (7/107: fa-alqā ʿaṣāh; 7/115-116: immā an tulqiya / alqū; 7/117: an alqi ʿaṣāk). The fourth occurrence is here, and its object is the tablets.

I record this as my own reading and it is not binding; its ground is the four occurrences of the verb: the same verb had three times been used for the showing of a sign; at the fourth what was given is set down. And it will be taken up again in the hundred and fifty-fourth verse: akhadha'l-alwāḥ. This is an explanation, not a ruling.

لَا تُشْمِتْ بِىَ ٱلْأَعْدَآءَ — the root ش-م-ت: to rejoice at the ill that befalls another. The word occurs only here in the Qurʾān. This is a countable datum.

And Aaron's last sentence must be recorded: wa lā tajʿalnī maʿa'l-qawmi'ẓ-ẓālimīn. This sentence had occurred word for word in the forty-seventh verse of the sūra — in the mouth of the people of al-Aʿrāf: rabbanā lā tajʿalnā maʿa'l-qawmi'ẓ-ẓālimīn.

The same sentence, two different addressees. This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra, and it is added to the repetitions counted in the section on the structure.

Qāla rabbi'ghfir lī wa li-akhī wa adkhilnā fī raḥmatik, wa anta arḥamu'r-rāḥimīn

A point of word order must be recorded: the prayer begins with himself. Ighfir lī wa li-akhī — first himself, then his brother.

I record this as an observation about word order and build no ruling on it: the order of the sentence is read from the text; its reason is not stated in the text.

And the verse-ending must be recorded: arḥamu'r-rāḥimīn — in the section on the structure of the sūra it was named as one of the short closings scattered among the long verses. The same expression will come once more at 7/155, in the form khayru'l-ghāfirīn, together with its fellow.