Prophet Mūsā: Part 4 — Banū Isrāʾīl at the Gates and the Golden Calf
Section 25 of 25 · Lives of the Prophets
But He Forgot
Mūsā had told his people that he was going to be absent for how long? Thirty days — because the appointment in the beginning was thirty. And then Allah (swt) told Mūsā to add another ten days. Banū Isrāʾīl did not know that the appointment had changed; Mūsā had not told them about the change in time. So they thought it was thirty days. Thirty days passed; thirty-one days passed; thirty-two days passed. Where is Mūsā? They said: Mūsā forgot where his God is. He got lost. He did not know that his God is right here. Fa-nasiya — he forgot.
They added another piece of evidence. Number one: this calf is making this special sound. Number two: Mūsā said he was going to be absent for thirty days, and now he has been absent for more than thirty days.
فَأَخْرَجَ لَهُمْ عِجْلًا جَسَدًا لَّهُۥ خُوَارٌ فَقَالُوا۟ هَـٰذَآ إِلَـٰهُكُمْ وَإِلَـٰهُ مُوسَىٰ فَنَسِىَ
“Then he brought forth for them a calf, which was (merely) a body with a lowing sound. Then they said, “This is your god and the god of Mūsā, and he (Mūsā) erred.”” (20:88)
They said: hādhā ilāhukum wa ilāhu Mūsā fa-nasiy — this is your god, and the god of Mūsā, but he forgot. So this is the story behind the calf, and we will come back to it at the end of the story.
***
* Kept as said. Piracy in the Mediterranean long predates Islam; Roman sources record Pompey's campaign against the Cilician pirates in 67 BC.
** Kept as said. The reply about the cat is reported of al-ʿIzz ibn ʿAbd al-Salām before the Ayyubid sultan in Cairo; the account of companions drawing in their clothes for fear of the blood is reported of Ibn Taymiyyah before the Tatar ruler Ghāzān.
*** Kept as said. The words yā Yaḥyā khudhi al-kitāba bi-quwwah are addressed to Yaḥyā (19:12); the command to Banū Isrāʾīl to hold firmly to what they were given is in 2:63 and 7:171.