Prophet Mūsā: Part 5 — The Calf, the Seventy and the Cow
Section 9 of 23 · Lives of the Prophets
Touch Me Not
Mūsā made his decision about the punishment of al-Sāmirī. He handed down the punishment to al-Sāmirī, and that was that al-Sāmirī be exiled for the rest of his life because of the sin: you cannot be part of our ummah anymore; you have to leave us alone, and we will leave you alone.
قَالَ فَٱذْهَبْ فَإِنَّ لَكَ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ أَن تَقُولَ لَا مِسَاسَ ۖ وَإِنَّ لَكَ مَوْعِدًا لَّن تُخْلَفَهُۥ ۖ وَٱنظُرْ إِلَىٰٓ إِلَـٰهِكَ ٱلَّذِى ظَلْتَ عَلَيْهِ عَاكِفًا ۖ لَّنُحَرِّقَنَّهُۥ ثُمَّ لَنَنسِفَنَّهُۥ فِى ٱلْيَمِّ نَسْفًا
“He (Mūsā) said, “Then go away; it is destined for you that, throughout your life, you will say: ‘Do not touch me’. And, of course, you have another promise that will not be broken for you. And look at your god to which you stayed devoted. We will certainly burn it, then we will scatter it thoroughly in the sea.” (20:97)
Mūsā said: then go away; and verily, your punishment in this life will be that you will say, touch me not; and verily, you have a promise that will not fail. In other words, Mūsā is saying: go; in this dunyā you will not be with us, and we will not touch you. And then he said: wa inna laka mawʿidan lan tukhlafah — we are going to leave you alone now; this is a punishment in the dunyā; and then, in the ākhirah, there is another punishment that will be upon you from Allah (swt).
And then he said: and look at your god, to which you have been devoted; we will certainly burn it, and scatter its particles in the sea. He did not even want to make use of the gold in it. He said: we are going to burn it all and throw it into the sea.
إِنَّمَآ إِلَـٰهُكُمُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُلَّ شَىْءٍ عِلْمًا
“Your God is Allah other than whom there is no god. He encompasses everything with knowledge.”” (20:98)
And then Mūsā said: your god is only Allah; He has full knowledge of all things. It is only Allah — lā ilāha illā huwa — none has the right to be worshipped but He, and He has full knowledge of all things.