The worship of the calf in Moussa's absence

"and the people of Moussa took after him of their ornaments a calf, a body with a lowing sound: did they not see that it does not speak to them, nor guide them to a way ? They took it, and were wrongdoers. And when it fell into their hands, and they saw that they had gone astray, they said: if our Lord does not have mercy on us and forgive us, we will surely be of the losers. And when Moussa returned to his people, angry and grieved, he said: evil is what you did after me: would you hasten the command of your Lord ?

And he cast down the tablets, and seized his brother by the head, dragging him to him. He said: son of my mother, the people overpowered me and were about to kill me, so let not the enemies rejoice over me, and place me not with the wrongdoing people. He said: my Lord, forgive me and my brother, and admit us into Your mercy, and You are the most Merciful of the merciful. Those who took the calf, wrath from their Lord will surely reach them, and humiliation in the worldly life: and thus We recompense the fabricators.

And those who committed evil deeds then repented after it and believed: your Lord after it is indeed Forgiving, Merciful. And when the anger subsided from Moussa, he took the tablets, and in their transcription guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord. (al-A'raf, 148-154) "and why did you hasten away from your people, ô Moussa ? He said: they are close upon my traces, and I hastened to You, my Lord, that You be pleased.

He said: We have tried your people after you departed, and as-Samiri led them astray. (Ta-Ha, 83-85)

Then Moussa returned to his people angry and grieved: he said: "ô my people, did your Lord not promise you a good promise ? Did the term grow long upon you, or did you wish that anger from your Lord descend upon you, and so you broke my promise ? "They said: we did not break your promise by our choice, but we were carrying burdens of the people's ornaments, and we threw them: thus did as-Samiri throw, and he brought out for them a calf, a body with a lowing sound. They said: this is your god and the god of Moussa, and he forgot.

Do they not see that it returns to them no speech, and possesses for them neither harm nor benefit ? And Haroun had certainly told them before: ô my people, you are only being tried by it, and your Lord is the Most Merciful: so follow me and obey my command. They said: we will not cease being devoted to it until Moussa returns to us. He said: ô Haroun, what prevented you, when you saw them astray, that you did not follow me, did you disobey my command ?

He said: son of my mother, do not seize my beard nor my head, I feared you would say: you divided Bani Israil, and did not await my word. He said: so what is your matter, ô Samiri ? He said: I saw what they did not see, so I seized a handful from the messenger's trace, and threw it, and thus my soul enticed me. He said: go, for you have in the life to say: touch me not, and you have an appointment you will not fail, and look at your god to which you remained devoted: we will burn it, then blow it into the river, scattering.

Your god is only Allah who has no god but Him: He has encompassed everything in knowledge. (Ta-Ha, 86-98) The Most High mentions what occurred to Bani Israil when Moussa went to his Lord's appointment, and remained upon the Tour confiding with his Lord, and Moussa asked him about many things, and He, the Most High, answered him about them. As-Samiri took what they had borrowed of ornaments, and fashioned from it a calf, and cast into it a handful of dust he had taken from the trace of Jibril's horse, when he saw him the day Allah drowned Fir'awn by his hand: when he cast it into it, it lowed as a real calf lows: it became a bodily calf, that is, of flesh and blood, alive, lowing: said Qatada and others: rather the wind, when it entered from its rear, came out of its mouth, and it lowed as a cow lows: so they danced around it and rejoiced, and said: this is your god and the god of Moussa, he forgot: that is, Moussa forgot his Lord as far as we are concerned, and went seeking him, and he is here.

Allah is exalted above what they say with a great exaltation, and blessed are His names and attributes, and multiplied are His favors and gifts. Allah the Most High said, showing them the nullity of what they went toward and relied upon: "do they not see that it returns to them no speech, and possesses for them neither harm nor benefit ? And He said: "did they not see that it does not speak to them nor guide them to a way ? They took it and were wrongdoers" he mentioned that this animal does not speak, nor reply, and possesses neither harm nor benefit, nor guides to rectitude: they took it, and were wrongdoers to themselves, knowing within themselves the nullity of what they were upon of ignorance and misguidance: "and when it fell into their hands" that is: they regretted what they did, and saw that they had gone astray: "they said: if our Lord does not have mercy on us and forgive us, we will surely be of the losers."

When Moussa returned to them, and saw what they were upon of the worship of the calf, and with him the tablets containing the Tora, he cast them down: he broke them. And thus it is with the People of the Book, and Allah exchanged others for them. There is nothing in the Quranic wording indicating that, except that he cast them down when he beheld what he beheld. And according to the People of the Book, they were two tablets: and the apparent of the Quran is that they were multiple tablets.

And he was not affected by the mere report from Allah the Most High of the worship of the calf: He commanded him to inspect it. That is why there came in the hadith reported by the imam Ahmad and Ibn Hibban: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: the report is not like the seeing. Then he turned to them and rebuked them, and blamed them, and confounded them for their deed, this ugly deed: "we were carrying burdens of the people's ornaments, and we threw them: thus did as-Samiri throw": be ashamed of having possessed the ornaments of the family of Fir'awn, while you are men of war, and Allah had commanded them to take them, and made them lawful for them: and they were not ashamed of their ignorance, and the littleness of their knowledge and intellect, at worshipping a bodily calf with a lowing sound, alongside the One, the Unique, the Self-Sufficient, the Subduer. Then he turned to his brother Haroun: "he said: ô Haroun, what prevented you when you saw them astray, that you did not follow me ?

that is: why, when you saw what they did, did you not follow me and inform me of what they did: "I feared you would say: you divided Bani Israil" that is: I left them and came to you, and you had appointed me over them: "he said: my Lord, forgive me and my brother, and admit us into Your mercy, and You are the most Merciful of the merciful. And Haroun had forbidden them this monstrous deed with the utmost prohibition, and deterred them from it completely: "Haroun had certainly told them before: ô my people, you are only being tried by it" that is: Allah decreed that this calf low, as a trial and test for you: "and your Lord is the Most Merciful" that is: it is not this calf: "so follow me" that is: in what I say to you: "and obey my command. "They said: we will not cease being devoted to it until Moussa returns to us. Allah testifies for Haroun, and Allah suffices as witness, that he forbade them and deterred them from that, and they did not obey him nor follow him.

Then Moussa turned to as-Samiri: "he said: so what is your matter, ô Samiri ? that is: what drove you to what you did: "he said: I saw what they did not see" that is: I saw Jibril riding a horse: "so I seized a handful from the messenger's trace" that is: from the trace of Jibril's horse. And some mentioned that he saw him, and that whenever its hooves landed on a spot it greened and grew herbage: so he took from the trace of its hoof, and when he cast it into this calf fashioned of gold, there occurred of its affair what occurred: "and threw it, and thus my soul enticed me. "he said: go, for you have in the life to say: touch me not": and this is a supplication against him that no one touch him in punishing him for his touch which should not have been his touch: this is his punishment in this world: "and you have an appointment you will not fail.

Read: Moussa proceeded to this calf, and burned it with fire, as Qatada and others said: with axes, as 'Ali and Ibn 'Abbas and others said: and it is the text of the People of the Book: then he cast it into the sea, and commanded Bani Israil to drink: and whoever was of its worshippers, there clung to their lips of that ash from it what indicated him: rather their colors turned yellow.

"Your god is only Allah who has no god but Him: He has encompassed everything in knowledge. And the Most High said: "those who took the calf, wrath from their Lord will surely reach them, and humiliation in the worldly life, and thus We recompense the fabricators": and so it occurred. And some of the early generations said: "and thus We recompense the fabricators," recorded against every adherent of innovation until the Day of Resurrection. Then the Most High informed of His forbearance and mercy toward His creation, and His kindness to His servants in accepting the repentance of whoever repents to Him: "and those who committed evil deeds then repented after it and believed: your Lord after it is indeed Forgiving, Merciful": but Allah did not accept the repentance of the worshippers of the calf except through killing: "and when Moussa said to his people: ô my people, you have wronged yourselves by your taking of the calf, so repent to your Creator and kill yourselves, that is better for you with your Creator.

So He pardoned you, He is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful. (al-Baqara, 54) They awoke one day, and Allah had placed in the hands of those who had not worshipped the calf the swords, and Allah cast a fog upon them, so that the close one knew not his close one, nor the kinsman his kinsman: then they fell upon its worshippers, and killed them, and harvested them: they killed in a single morning seventy thousand. "And when the anger subsided from Moussa, he took the tablets, and in their transcription guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord. Some argued from His saying "and in their transcription" that it had been broken: in this argument there is scrutiny, and nothing in the wording indicates it was broken, and Allah knows better.

Ibn 'Abbas mentioned in the hadith of the trial, as will come, that their worship of the calf was soon after their leaving of the sea: and it is not far-fetched, for when they came out they said: "ô Moussa, make for us a god as they have gods. And thus with the People of the Book: their worship of the calf was before their coming to the lands of Bayt al-Maqdis: that is because when they were commanded to kill whoever worshipped the calf, they killed on the first day three thousand: then Moussa went to seek forgiveness for them, and He forgave them, on condition that they enter the holy land.

"and Moussa chose from his people seventy men for Our appointment: and when the quake seized them, he said: my Lord, had You willed, You could have destroyed them before, and me. Would You destroy us for what the foolish among us did ? It is not but Your trial: You lead astray by it whom You will, and guide whom You will. You are our protector: so forgive us, and have mercy upon us, and You are the best of forgivers.

And decree for us in this world good, and in the hereafter: indeed we have turned back to You. He said: My punishment I afflict with it whom I will, and My mercy has encompassed everything: so I will decree it for those who are Allah-fearing and give zakat, and those who in Our signs believe. Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written with them in the Tora and the Gospel: he enjoins upon them what is right, and forbids them what is wrong, and makes lawful for them the good things, and prohibits for them the evil, and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them. So those who believed in him, and honored him, and supported him, and followed the light sent down with him: those are the successful."

Surat al-A'raf, 155-157

As-Suddi and Ibn 'Abbas and others mentioned that these seventy were the scholars of Bani Israil, and with them Moussa, and Haroun, and Youcha', and Nadab, and Abihou: they went with Moussa to apologize to Allah on behalf of Bani Israil for the worship of whoever among them worshipped the calf, and they had been commanded to perfume themselves and purify themselves and bathe. When they went with him and drew near to the mountain, upon which were the cloud and the shining pillar of light, and Moussa climbed the mountain: and Bani Israil mentioned that they heard the speech of Allah, and a group of the exegetes endorsed that. And there was a faction of them who heard the speech of Allah, then distorted it after understanding it, while they knew: "I made him hear up to the point of hearing the speech of Allah" that is: to the reach of hearing, and thus these heard it to the reach of hearing from Moussa. And they also claimed that the seventy saw Allah: "and when you said: ô Moussa, we will not believe you until we see Allah openly, so the thunderbolt took you while you looked on.

Then We revived you after your death, perhaps you would be grateful. (al-Baqara, 55-56)

Moussa chose from Bani Israil seventy men: they set out toward Allah: repent therefore to Him for what you did, and seek His pardon for those you left behind of your people: fast, and perfume yourselves, and purify your garments. He set out with them to the Tour of Sina for the appointment of his time with his Lord, and he would not come to it except with His permission and knowledge. The seventy asked him to hear the speech of Allah: do it. When Moussa drew near to the mountain, the pillar of cloud fell upon it until it covered the whole mountain, and Moussa drew near and entered into the cloud: draw near.

And Moussa, when Allah spoke to him, a brilliant light fell upon his forehead, such that no one of the sons of Adam could look at him: so he veiled himself from them with the veil. And the people drew near, until when they entered the cloud, they fell prostrate, and heard him while he spoke to Moussa, commanding and forbidding: do, and do not do. When Allah finished His command: "we will not believe you until we see Allah openly": the quake seized them, which is the thunderbolt, and their souls unknotted, and they all died. And Moussa stood appealing to his Lord, and invoking Him, and pleading with Him: "my Lord, had You willed, You could have destroyed them before, and me.

Would You destroy us for what the foolish among us did ? that is: do not punish us for what the fools who worshipped the calf among us did, for we disavow what they did. And Ibn 'Abbas and Moujahid and Qatada said: the quake seized them only because they did not forbid their people the worship of the calf. "It is not but Your trial" that is: Your testing, and Your trying, and Your examining.

Said Ibn 'Abbas and Sa'id ibn Jubayr and Abu al-'Aliya and ar-Rab'i ibn Anas and more than one of the scholars of the early and later generations: You who decreed this, and created what occurred of the affair of the calf, as a test by which You try them: "ô my people, you are only being tried by it" that is: tried by it: "You lead astray by it whom You will, and guide whom You will" that is: whom You will You lead astray by Your testing of him, and whom You will You guide: to You belong the judgment and the will, there is none who prevents nor returns what You decreed and judged: "You are our protector: so forgive us, and have mercy upon us, and You are the best of forgivers."

"And decree for us in this world good, and in the hereafter: indeed we have turned back to You" that is: we turn to You and return, and confess to You. Said Ibn 'Abbas and Moujahid and Sa'id ibn Jubayr and Abu al-'Aliya and Ibrahim at-Taymi and ad-Dahhak and as-Suddi and Qatada and more than one: and this is also linguistically. "He said: My punishment I afflict with it whom I will, and My mercy has encompassed everything" that is: I punish whom I will with what I will of matters that I create and decree, and My mercy has encompassed everything: as is established in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): Allah, when He finished creating the heavens and the earth, wrote a book: My mercy overcomes My anger. "So I will decree it for those who are Allah-fearing and give zakat, and those who in Our signs believe" that is: I will make it obligatory certainly for whoever is adorned with these qualities: "those who follow the messenger, the unlettered prophet": the verse.

And this contains Allah the Most High's attention to mentioning Mohammad and his community to Moussa, among that with which He confided with him and informed him and acquainted him: and we have spoken of this verse and what follows it in its commentary sufficiently and convincingly, and to Allah praise and favor. Moussa said: ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community, the best community brought forth for the people: they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong: Lord, make them my community. That is the community of Ahmad. Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: they are the last in creation and the first in entering Paradise: Lord, make them my community.

That is the community of Ahmad. Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: their gospels are in their breasts, they recite them, whereas those before them used to recite their book by looking at it, to the point that when they raised it they memorized nothing of it and knew it not. And Allah has given you, ô community, of memorization what He gave no one of the nations: Lord, make them my community. That is the community of Ahmad.

Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: they believe in the first Book and the last Book, and fight the excess of misguidance, until they fight the one-eyed liar: so make them my community. That is the community of Ahmad. Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: their charities they eat in their bellies, and are rewarded for them: whereas before them, when one gave a charity and it was accepted from him, Allah sent fire upon it and consumed it, and if it was returned to him he left it, and the beasts and birds ate it: Lord, so make them my community. That is the community of Ahmad.

Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: when one of them intends a good deed and does not do it, I write for him a good deed: and if he does it, I write for him ten of its like, up to seven hundred fold: Lord, make them my community. That is the community of Ahmad. Ô Lord, I find in the tablets a community: they are the intercessors and those for whom intercession is made: so make them my community. He said: that is the community of Ahmad.

He thus informed us that Moussa said: ô Allah, make me of the community of Ahmad. Many people have mentioned what there was of Moussa's confidential dialogue, and cited many things with no basis: and we mention what can be mentioned of hadiths and athars, with Allah's help and His success, and His good guidance, and His aid and His support.

Al-Hafiz Abu Hatim, Mohammad ibn Hatim ibn Hibban, said in his Sahih: mention of the question of the interlocutor of Allah to his Lord about the lowest of the people of Paradise and the highest of them in rank: 'Umar ibn Sa'id at-Ta'i informed us in Manbij: Hammad ibn Yahya al-Balkhi informed us: Soufyan informed us: Moutrif ibn Tarif and 'Abd al-Malik ibn Abjar, two righteous elders: I heard al-Moughira ibn Chou'ba say on the minbar: Moussa asked his Lord: who of the people of Paradise is lowest in rank ? A man who comes after the people of Paradise have entered Paradise: enter Paradise: how shall I enter Paradise when the people have taken their abodes and taken their takings ? Would you be content to have of Paradise like what a king of the kings of the world had ? Yes, ô Lord: for you is this, and its like, and its like: yes, ô Lord, I am content: for you is this and ten times its like: ô Lord, I am content: for you, with this, all that your soul covets and your eye delights in: ô people of Paradise, who is highest of them in rank ?

I will tell you about them: I planted their nobility with My hand, and sealed upon it: no eye has seen, nor has any ear heard, nor has it crossed the heart of any human: and its attestation in the Book of Allah the Most High: "no soul knows what has been hidden for them of the refreshment of eyes" (as-Sajda, 17): and thus Mouslim and at-Tirmidhi reported it, both from Ibn Abi 'Umar, from Soufyan, who is ibn 'Ouyayna, thus: it will be said to him: are you content to have like a king of the kings of the world ? I am content, Lord: for you is this, and its like, and its like, and its like, and its like: I am content, Lord: this is for you, and ten times its like, and for you all that your soul covets and your eye delights in: I am content, Lord: Lord, then who is highest of them in rank ?

Those toward whom I willed: I planted their nobility with My hand, and sealed upon it: no eye saw, nor any ear heard: and its attestation from the Book of Allah: "no soul knows what has been hidden for them of the refreshment of eyes as reward for what they used to do" (as-Sajda, 16-17): and at-Tirmidhi said: hassan, sahih. And some of them reported it from ach-Cha'bi, from al-Moughira, and did not raise it as marfou': and the marfou' form is more sound.

Mention of the question of the interlocutor to his Lord about seven qualities: 'Abdullah ibn Mohammad ibn Salm reported to us in Bayt al-Maqdis: Hourmala ibn Yahya reported to us: Ibn Wahb reported to us: 'Amr ibn al-Harith informed me: that Abu as-Samh reported to him from Ibn Houjayra, from Abu Hourayra, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): Moussa asked his Lord (exalted is He) about six qualities which he thought were exclusively his: ô Lord, which of Your servants is most Allah-fearing ? The one who remembers Me and does not forget. And which of Your servants is best guided ? The one who follows the guidance.

And which of Your servants is most just in judgment ? The one who judges for people as he judges for himself. And which of Your servants is most knowledgeable ? A scholar who is never sated with knowledge, and adds the knowledge of people to his knowledge.

And which of Your servants is mightiest ? The one who, when able, forgives. And which of Your servants is richest ? The one who is content with what he is given.

And which of Your servants is poorest ? The one of deficient state. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: wealth is not from worldly goods: wealth is only the wealth of the soul: when Allah wills good for a servant, He makes his wealth within his soul, and guards it in his heart: and when He wills evil for a servant, He places his poverty between his two eyes. His saying: the one of deficient state: he means by it the one whose state is diminished, who disdains what he is given and seeks more.

And Ibn Jarir reported it in his tafsir, from Ibn Houmayd, from Ya'qoub al-Qoumi, from Haroun ibn 'Antara, from his father, from Ibn 'Abbas: Moussa asked his Lord, and he mentioned the like of it. He said: ô Lord, which of Your servants is most knowledgeable ? The one who seeks the knowledge of people toward his knowledge: perhaps a word will reach him that guides him to guidance, or turns him back from ruin. Ô Lord, is there on earth anyone more knowledgeable than I ? Yes: al-Khidr. So Moussa asked the way to him, and there occurred what we shall mention later, if Allah the Most High wills: and upon it is the trust.

Mention of another hadith meaning what Ibn Hibban mentioned: Yahya ibn Ishaq reported to us: Ibn Lah'ah reported to us: from Durraj, from Abu al-Haytham, from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): Moussa said: ô Lord, Your believing servant is constrained in this world. So He opened for him a gate of Paradise, and he looked at it: ô Moussa, this is what I have prepared for him. Ô Lord, and by Your might and majesty, if his hands and feet were cut off, and he were dragged on his face from the day I created him to the Day of Resurrection, and this were his destiny, he would never have seen any misery. Then he said: ô Lord, Your disbelieving servant, he is given ease in this world.

So He opened for him a gate to the Fire: ô Moussa, this is what I have prepared for him. Ô Lord, and by Your might and majesty, if he had this world from the day I created him to the Day of Resurrection, and this were his destiny, he would never have seen any good. Al-Ahmad is alone in reporting it from this angle: and its authenticity is subject to scrutiny, and Allah knows better.

Mention of the question of the interlocutor of Allah to his Lord, glorious and exalted is He, that He teach him something by which he may remember Him: Ibn Salm reported to us: Hourmala ibn Yahya reported to us: Ibn Wahb reported to us: 'Amr ibn al-Harith informed me: that Durraj reported to him from Abu al-Haytham, from Abu Sa'id, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): Moussa said: ô Lord, teach me something by which I remember You and invoke You. Say: ô Moussa, there is no god but Allah. Ô Lord, all Your servants say this. Say: there is no god but Allah.

I rather want something by which You single me out. Ô Moussa, if the people of the seven heavens and the seven earths were in one pan, and there is no god but Allah in another pan, there is no god but Allah would outweigh them. And the hadith of the card attests to this hadith: and the closest thing to its meaning is the hadith reported in the Sahih from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he said: the best supplication is the supplication of the day of 'Arafa: there is no god but Allah alone without partner, to Him belongs the dominion, and to Him is the praise, and He is over everything powerful.

And Ibn Abi Hatim said: Ahmad ibn al-Qassim ibn 'Atiya reported to us: Ahmad ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman ad-Dachtaki reported to us: my father informed me from his father: Ach'ath ibn Ishaq reported to us: from Ja'far ibn Abi al-Moughira, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn 'Abbas: does your Lord sleep ? Fear Allah. Ô Moussa, they have asked you whether your Lord sleeps: take two flasks in your hand, and stand up the night. So Moussa did: when a third of the night had gone, he dozed and fell upon his knees, then recovered:

and mastered them until, at the end of the night, he dozed, and the two flasks fell, and broke. ô Moussa, if I slept, the heavens and the earth would fall, and perish as the two flasks perished in your hand. And Allah sent down upon His messenger the verse of the Throne.

Ishaq ibn Abi Isra'il reported to us: Hicham ibn Youssouf reported to us: from Oumayya ibn Chabl, from al-Hakam ibn Aban, from 'Ikrima, from Abu Hourayra: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) narrating, on the minbar, about Moussa: it crossed Moussa's mind: does Allah sleep ? Allah sent him an angel who woke him three times, then gave him two flasks, in each hand a flask, and commanded him to keep them. He began to sleep, and when his two hands were about to meet he would wake, and hold one against the other, until he slept one sleep: his two hands clashed. Allah struck for him a similitude: were he to sleep, the heaven and the earth would not hold. And this hadith is gharib, marfou': the more likely is that it be mawqouf, and that its origin be Israelite.

"and when We took your covenant and raised above you the Tour: take what We have given you with strength, and remember what is in it, perhaps you will be Allah-fearing. Then you turned away after that: had it not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, you would have been of the losers. (al-Baqara, 63-64) "and when We raised the mountain above them as if it were a canopy, and they thought it would fall upon them: take what We have given you with strength, and remember what is in it, perhaps you will be Allah-fearing. (al-Baqara, 93) Ibn 'Abbas said: when Moussa came to them with the tablets containing the Tora, he commanded them to accept it and take it with strength and determination.

Spread it before us: if its commands and prohibitions are easy, we will accept it. Rather accept it with what it contains. They returned it to him therefore several times. Allah therefore commanded the angels to raise the mountain over their heads, until it became like a canopy: that is, a cloud over their heads: if you do not accept it with what it contains, this mountain will fall upon you.

They accepted it therefore, and were commanded to prostrate, and prostrated, and began looking at the mountain with half of their faces: and this became a practice of the Jews until today: they say: no prostration is greater than the prostration in which the punishment was lifted from us. And Sanid ibn Dawoud said, from Houshaym ibn Mohammad, from Abu Bakr ibn 'Abdullah: when he spread it, there remained on the face of the earth no mountain, nor tree, nor stone except that it trembled: there is therefore on the face of the earth no Jew, small or great, upon whom the Tora is read except that he trembles and shakes his head at it.

"then you turned away after that" that is: then, after beholding this great covenant and the weighty command, you violated your pledges and covenants: had it not been for the favor of Allah upon you and His mercy, in overtaking you by sending to you and sending down the Book upon you, you would have been of the losers.