89. By purity is meant purity from polytheism, denial and sinful living. The word ‘tazakka’ used in the text not only means to purify oneself but also to embellish oneself. Therefore this word signifies that one should train oneself in a righteous manner and also embellish oneself by virtuous deeds.

90.The long dawah efforts and striving of Prophet Moosa and his performing of the various miracles have been mentioned in different places in Qur’an. See Surah A’raf, ayat 130 to 135.

Here the last stage is being narrated. For explanation, please see Surah Yunus Notes, Nos.137 and 138.

91. That is: Strike your staff on the sea water, it will part in the middle, making a dry path for you to pass. This was a divine miracle which was performed through the means of Prophet Moosa’s staff. If we presume that the sea water had parted by chance, then the path that would have been thus made would not have been dry. But the emergence of a dry path in the sea suddenly could have been possible through a miracle only. Therefore, the straight thing is to accept it as a miracle of Allah and there is no need to interpret the ayah in a haphazard way.

In Surah Shua’ra (Poets) this event has been narrated in ayah No.63 with further details.

92. That is : Firaun will chase you, but will not be able to overtake you, therefore, you may proceed without fear. There is also no danger of your drowning in the sea, because a path will be specially made for you in the sea.

93. Firaun reached the sea, chasing Prophet Moosa and his followers. He saw the dry path created by the parting of the sea. He also stepped into the dried sea with his army. When he reached the middle part of the sea, the water of the sea from both the sides came back rushing and the parted sea became one again. Firaun and his army were caught in the middle of the fathomless sea.

This was a great sign of Allah. Bani Israil were allowed by the sea to pass safely, but the people of Firaun were trapped inescapably.

94. That is :This claim of Firaun that he was showing the right path to the people proved to be false. Had he been showing the right path, then he and his community would not have met the fate which they did. There is a lesson in this event for those who do not accept the guidance which Allah sends with His messenger. Kings and leaders themselves are misguided and they misguide their people. The result is that they themselves drown and cause others to drown with them.

95. That is :Promised to bestow the blessings of the Shariah in the holy valley of Sinai (Tur).

‘Aiman’ (right) has been explained in Surah Maryam Note No.72.

96. For the explanation of Manna wa Salwa, please see Note No.76, Surah Baqarah.

97. This ayah explains that Allah had promised to grant salvation to those who would avoid kufr (denial of faith), polytheism and sin, who would believe in the message of Allah’s Messenger, who would perform virtuous acts and would stick to the path of guidance, that is Allah’s religion and Shariah till their last.

98. Prophet Moosa presented himself before the time fixed for him to go to Tur. Allah asked him the reason for this. Allah knew the real state of affairs, but He asked the question so that Prophet Moosa should know that on one side there was this zeal and enthusiasm that brought him before time for getting the shariah, and on the other side there was his community which had started following the path of polytheism, heedless of the commandments of Allah. Detail follows.

This question was probably asked after the appointed time, when the tablets were given to Prophet Moosa, as is clear from the ayat that follow in which it is stated that Prophet Moosa returned to his community in a state of rage when he learnt of their indulging in worshipping the calf.9 9. That is: Bani Israil are following me, and I have appeared before You earlier than the time fixed to seek your pleasure. Prophet Moosa had confidence that his community would follow his footsteps, therefore, he did not feel that there was anything wrong in appearing before Allah before time. But subsequent events showed that his absence proved costly for his community. In the beginning Allah had fixed a period of one month for Prophet Moosa’s presence on the Mount Tur, later on it was extended by ten days and thus it was for a total period of forty days. As it is Prophet Moosa reached Tur earlier than the appointed time. Therefore, when the period of one month had passed and Prophet Moosa did not return to his community, the mischief-makers got the opportunity to create mischief and misunderstanding in the community.

100. Samiri was a mischief-making hypocrite, who had intermingled with Bani Israil. He took the advantage of Prophet Moosa’s absence and misguided the community and prompted them to worship the calf. As for the research concerning this name, nothing can be said with certainty, and the attempt would be futile. It is possible that samiri might have been a tribe or a cow-worshipping community, and this man might have been a member of that community. That is why Qur’an has called him the Samiri (As-Samiri). Qur’an has specifically mentioned this name so that it should be clear as to who was the real culprit who presented the calf as worthy of worship-it was Samiri and not Prophet Haroon (Aaron) as mentioned in the Bible which is absolutely wrong and false.

It should be noted that the Samiri mentioned by the Qur’an has no relation with the kingdom of Samiriyah, for the kingdom of Samiriyah was a Jewish state which came into being much later, after the reign of Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon).

101. Angry because his community had begun indulging in polytheism, and sad because the valuable treasure of monotheism it had obtained, and for safeguarding and spreading which they had reached from Egypt into the valley of Mount Tur, was lost by them.

102. By gracious promise is meant the promise of giving the Shariah (the commandments) for which Prophet Moosa had gone to the Mount Tur.

103. That is : My absence was not for a long time. If the period of one month was extended by a few days more, even then this much absence was not too long to make you feel it and be the victim of mischief.

104. That is: The promise that you gave of following me has been broken by you.

Then he produced for them a calf, a body which gave forth lowing sound, and they said: “This is your god and the god of Moosa, but he has forgotten.” Did they not see that it returned them no word (answer), and that it could neither harm nor profit them ?”(Al-Quran)

105. This is the statement of those chieftains of Bani Israil who had given them their ornaments for being kept in trust. These ornaments were of Bani Israil which they had brought from Egypt. But in the life of desert there was no opportunity for their women to don these ornaments nor their safe keeping was an easy task. Therefore, they had given their ornaments to a few trusted persons for safe custody. However this responsibility was such that they felt it to be burdensome, for them also safe-guarding them was not easy. In the meanwhile As-Samiri played a trick to entice the people to indulge in worshipping the calf. He misguided the people by saying that Moosa brought you to this desert and has abandoned you, and that if you want to seek the true Lord, give me your ornaments I will show you some wonderful miracles. The people were deceived by him and they demanded of their chieftains that they should hand over their ornaments to the Samiri. Since the chieftains themselves were finding the burdens of the ornaments unbearable, immediately relieved” themselves of the burdens and threw the ornaments, which As-Samiri collected and cast them into the fire and produced a calf of the molten ornaments.

It may be noted that the statement of the Bible that when Bani Israil left Egypt they had borrowed the ornaments from the Egyptians for temporary use, and they left Egypt with the borrowed ornaments deceiving the Egyptians, is not correct. (See Exodus 12 : 35, 36).

Relying, on this statement of the Bible some commentators have written that these were those borrowed ornaments which the Bani Israil threw and the Samiri produced from them a calf. But this opinion is not supported by Qur’an, for in Surah A’raf the ornaments are stated to belong to the community of Prophet Moosa:

“And Moosa’s people, after his departure (to Mount Tur) made, from their ornaments, a calf, which was merely (the image of) a body.” (.A’raf- 148).

It shows that these ornaments were of the people of Prophet Moosa’s community, and the matter regarding deceiving the Egyptians does not seem to be correct. Then how could Prophet Moosa have allowed it, and Egyptians were not fools to give their ornaments to the people whom they had subjected to all kinds of humiliation.

106. Samiri cast all the ornaments, probably of gold, into the fire and moulded the molten material into a calf; he displayed such an expertise in his craft that the metallic calf could produce a thin lowing sound. When a little air passed through it. Qur’an states that it was merely a lifeless body, in the image of a calf, and which could just produce a lowing sound.

107. The people were so much enamoured of this golden calf that they made it their god, and also claimed it was also the god of Moosa, who had forgotten it and had gone in search of another god.