Prophet Mūsā: Part 5 — The Calf, the Seventy and the Cow
Section 16 of 23 · Lives of the Prophets
Narrower and Narrower
Allah told them: sacrifice a cow. Now, if they had followed that order, what would it have meant? You go and take any cow. But Banū Isrāʾīl asked too many questions. So they went to Mūsā:
قَالُوا۟ ٱدْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّن لَّنَا مَا هِىَ ۚ قَالَ إِنَّهُۥ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ لَّا فَارِضٌ وَلَا بِكْرٌ عَوَانٌۢ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ ۖ فَٱفْعَلُوا۟ مَا تُؤْمَرُونَ
“They said, “Pray for us to your Lord that He makes it clear to us what sort (of cow) should she be.” He said, “He says she should be a cow neither too old, nor too young - of some middle age in between. Now, do what you are being asked to do.”” (2:68)
They said: call upon your Lord for us, that He may make plain to us what it is. So they asked a question, and they were going to get an answer. He said: He says, verily, it is a cow neither too old nor too young, but between the two conditions; so do what you are commanded. So now their pool of choice is narrower: it has to be a middle-aged cow. It cannot be old; it cannot be young.
قَالُوا۟ ٱدْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّن لَّنَا مَا لَوْنُهَا ۚ قَالَ إِنَّهُۥ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ صَفْرَآءُ فَاقِعٌ لَّوْنُهَا تَسُرُّ ٱلنَّـٰظِرِينَ
“They said, “Pray for us to your Lord that He makes it clear to us of what colour it should be.” He said: “He says that she should be a yellow cow, rich yellow in her colour that should please the onlookers.”” (2:69)
So they went, and they looked at the cows. And then they came back to Mūsā and said: O Mūsā, can you ask Allah to tell us what colour it is? He said: He says it is a yellow cow, bright in its colour, pleasing to the beholders. Now it has to be yellow — and yellow is rare — and it has to be pleasing: when you see it, you are pleased. So now they are forced into an even smaller choice. Now the choice is becoming narrower and narrower; the pool of choice is smaller.
قَالُوا۟ ٱدْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّن لَّنَا مَا هِىَ إِنَّ ٱلْبَقَرَ تَشَـٰبَهَ عَلَيْنَا وَإِنَّآ إِن شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ لَمُهْتَدُونَ
“They said, “Pray for us to your Lord that He makes it clear to us of what sort should she be, for this cow has made us confused and, if Allah wills, We shall certainly take the right course.”” (2:70)
They went and looked around at the cows, and then they came back. They said: call upon your Lord for us, to make plain to us what it is; verily, to us all cows are alike. We went and saw all the cows; they look the same. All these cows look the same to us. They look the same — go and take one of them and sacrifice it! Why do you have to ask all these questions? They felt that they were asking too many questions; they knew that. So they said: and, in shāʾ Allāh, we will be guided — we will find the right one.
قَالَ إِنَّهُۥ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ لَّا ذَلُولٌ تُثِيرُ ٱلْأَرْضَ وَلَا تَسْقِى ٱلْحَرْثَ مُسَلَّمَةٌ لَّا شِيَةَ فِيهَا ۚ قَالُوا۟ ٱلْـَٔـٰنَ جِئْتَ بِٱلْحَقِّ ۚ فَذَبَحُوهَا وَمَا كَادُوا۟ يَفْعَلُونَ
“He said, “He says that it should be a cow which is not tractable for tilling the soil or in watering the fields, (and it should be) sound and without blemish.” They said, “Now, you have come up with the right description.” Then they slaughtered her, although it appeared that they would not do it.” (2:71)
Mūsā said: He says it is a cow neither trained to till the soil nor to water the fields, sound, having no other colour except bright yellow. So this cow now neither tills the soil nor waters the fields. It is sound; there is nothing wrong with it. These are additional descriptions narrowing their choice. They went around, and they found only one cow that fulfilled these conditions. Only one — in all of Banū Isrāʾīl, only one cow.
And it is said that this cow was owned by an orphan. Somehow the orphan knew that Banū Isrāʾīl wanted this cow badly, so he made a business out of it. He knew that there was no cow with these qualities except this one. And it was not only triple the price — it was not tripling the price. He said: if you want this cow, you have to pay me its weight in gold. You have to pay me its weight in gold. He knew how to make money out of a cow. And Banū Isrāʾīl were forced to pay its weight in gold, because that was the only cow that fulfilled the conditions.
Allah (swt) says: qālū al-āna jiʾta bil-ḥaqq. When they saw this cow, they said: now you have brought us the truth. They told Mūsā: now you have brought us the truth — as if he had been joking with them, or lying to them, before. It shows you how rude they were with their nabī. Fa-dhabaḥūhā wa mā kādū yafʿalūn — so they slaughtered it, though they were near to not doing it. They barely did it.