Prophet Mūsā: Part 5 — The Calf, the Seventy and the Cow
Section 10 of 23 · Lives of the Prophets
Kill Yourselves
They asked Allah (swt) for tawbah. Allah (swt) said: I will accept your tawbah, but there is a condition. This crime is a very grave crime — it is a very big crime — so for its tawbah, you have to sacrifice.
وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِۦ يَـٰقَوْمِ إِنَّكُمْ ظَلَمْتُمْ أَنفُسَكُم بِٱتِّخَاذِكُمُ ٱلْعِجْلَ فَتُوبُوٓا۟ إِلَىٰ بَارِئِكُمْ فَٱقْتُلُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمْ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ عِندَ بَارِئِكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلتَّوَّابُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
“When Mūsā said to his people: “My people, you have wronged yourselves by your taking the calf (as God). So, turn in repentance to your Creator, and slay yourselves. That will be better for you in the sight of your Creator”. Then, He accepted your repentance. Indeed He is the Most-Relenting, the Very-Merciful.” (2:54)
Allah (swt) says: and remember when Mūsā said to his people: O my people, verily you have wronged yourselves by worshipping the calf, so turn in repentance to your Creator. And what is the repentance? Fa-qtulū anfusakum — kill yourselves. This is a big sin; worshipping the calf is a big sin, so they have to pay a price for the tawbah.
Because Banū Isrāʾīl kept changing their minds every now and then: they commit a crime, and then they say, O Allah, forgive us; they commit a crime — O Allah, forgive us. Allah (swt) wants them to pay a price and to sacrifice if they want their tawbah to be accepted. Allah says in the Qur'an: kill yourselves. What does this mean? The mufassirūn say it means that those who did not take part in worshipping the calf should kill those who worshipped the calf — even if it is their father, or their brother, or their son. And that is why it is killing yourselves: because you could be killing your father, or killing your son, or killing your brother; it is like killing your own self.
So all of Banū Isrāʾīl had to pay a price, even though not all of them worshipped the calf, because this happened in front of their eyes and they did not stop it. So the tawbah was: kill yourselves. So they took the knives and the swords, and they started killing each other, and it was a massacre. It is said that 70,000 were killed in one day. It was a massacre; blood was flowing. But this was their tawbah. Because of the big sin they had committed, they had to pay a hefty price for this tawbah.
Allah says: and remember when Mūsā said to his people: O my people, verily you have wronged yourselves by worshipping the calf, so turn in repentance to your Creator, and kill yourselves; that will be better for you with your Creator. Then He accepted your repentance. Allah accepted it from them, even though it was riddah. Truly, He is the One who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful.