Rowwad Translation Center — 318

20:88 Then he molded for them an image of a calf that made a mooing sound. They said, “This is your god and Moses’ god, but he has forgotten.”

20:89 Do they not see that it does not respond a word to them, nor does it have the power to harm or benefit them?

20:90 Aaron told them beforehand, “O my people, you are being tested with it. Your Lord is the Most Compassionate, so follow me and obey my command.”

20:91 They said, “We will never cease to worship it until Moses comes back to us.”

20:92 Moses said, “O Aaron, what prevented you when you saw them going astray,

20:93 from following me? Did you disobey my command?”[1]

20:94 Aaron said, “O son of my mother, do not seize me by my beard or by my head! I feared that you would say, ‘You have caused division among the Children of Israel, and did not heed my words.’”

20:95 Moses said, “What is the matter with you, O Sāmiri?”

20:96 He said, “I saw something they did not see, so I took a handful [of dust] from the hoof-print of the horse of the messenger [Gabriel] and cast it [into the fire][1]. This is what my mind prompted me.”

20:97 Moses said, “Begone then! Your [punishment] in this life will be to say, ‘Do not touch me,’[1] but there awaits you an appointed time for your reckoning that you cannot escape[2]. Now look at your so-called god which you kept worshiping; We will surely burn it and then scatter it in the sea.

20:98 [O people], your god is only Allah; none has the right to be worshiped except Him. He encompasses everything in knowledge.”