And when that was necessitating the greatest wrath, which necessitates from the Able One the immediate taking, He reminded them of the blessing of being given respite after it. He said, indicating the greatness of the sin and the blessing with the tool of delay: ﴿Then We forgave﴾. And al-Harali said: Then the address exceeded what had befallen them from the punishment for their taking to the mention of forgiveness, confirming the repetition of their [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: talafihim] state after state, time after time. Whenever they committed a sin, forgiveness from Him would reach them. He specified it with the name of forgiveness when He mentioned their sins, because the one who is forgiven does not mention his sin. Indeed, forgiveness is the removal of punishment without the removal of its mention, while covering is the obliteration of the mention of sin along with the removal of punishment. End of quote.

﴿From you﴾ And We did not hasten to take you, and in His saying, the Exalted: ﴿After that﴾, meaning after the great sin, is an indication of what had befallen them from the punishment and an address to the remainder of those forgiven, so that the matter among them may end at a limit wherein gratitude for their remainder is hoped - this was said by al-Harali. And the indication was from the inclusion of 'from' on the circumstantial, which necessitated a delay between the forgiveness and the sin that was not encompassed by the forgiveness, but there was punishment in it. Just as His saying: 'After it' necessitated a delay between their taking of the calf and the first departure of Musa, peace be upon him, for the [UNTRANSLATED-LATIN: munajat]; and it is permissible that the singular letter of address indicates that he does not know all that is in their religion of shame except the Imam of the people of Tawhid, the Prophet ﷺ. ﴿So that you may give thanks﴾, meaning (p-368) so that your state may be like that of one from whom gratitude is expected.

Al-Harali said: And it is the appearance of the blessing of the inner upon the outer. It is said: A grateful creature, if its food succeeds by the appearance of its fat; and therein is an indication that among them are those who give thanks and among them are those who persist in what is in the expectation of the word 'perhaps' from the ambiguity indicating the two sides and preparing for the possibility of the appearance of the two groups until that appears at its appointed time. For everything that is in the right of creation is hesitation, it is from Allah, glorified is He, an ambiguity of what is known in them; upon this the words 'perhaps' and 'maybe' and similar expressions proceed. End of quote.