'And when'

Al-Harali said: When the address was fully directed to them multiple times with what has preceded of their calling and the connection to what is related, the Truth turned the face of the address away from them to mention the address of His Prophet ﷺ to them. For indeed, Allah addresses the servants by removing the intermediary between Him and them, elevating their ranks before Him. He raises whom He wills and responds to him with what He wills, and He stops whom He wills and makes between Him and him an intermediary from His Prophet. When He established them with what has passed from the reminder of what the Truth, glorified and exalted is He, confronted them with, He mentioned in this verse their establishment on what their Prophet addressed them with when the Truth turned away from their address due to the evil of their sin. End.

He said: 'And when Moses said to his people' those who worship the calf and remain silent about it. The people, Al-Harali said, is the name of those who have a favor in performing what they are mentioned for. Therefore, it is contrasted with the term 'women' due to their weakness in what they attempt; and therein is a warning to this nation that they may be afflicted with what befell them in the address of their Lord, so He turns away from them. End.

'O my people' and he confirmed their deep-rooted ignorance of the great sin they committed and their negligence regarding it due to what they have absorbed in their hearts of desires. He said: 'Indeed, you have wronged yourselves' a wrongdoing for which you deserve punishment 'by taking the calf' as a god besides Allah. You have made yourselves submissive to one who does not possess anything for you and to one who is more noble than him. You have lowered yourselves from the rank of its honor by submitting to its master who does not humiliate those who are loyal to Him nor honor those who oppose Him to its humiliation by submitting to one who is beneath you. This is the worst of wrongs, for a man is not suitable to humble himself and worship someone like him. So how about to one beneath him from an animal! How about with what is likened to the animal from the gold, which is from the minerals and is the lowest of the origins when its life does not reach to appear above the earth like plants from stars and trees, and for what is in it of benefit from what may be of grains and fruits that are benefited from as food and medicine. The minerals are not benefited from except as tools and currency; their benefit is in extracting them, not in establishing them, Al-Harali said. 'So repent to your Creator' who created you before you took the calf, innocent of defect with the perfection of creation upon different forms. Al-Harali said: The Creator is a name that stands for the meaning of innocence, which is the rectification of materials for shaping, like one who cuts leather and cloth to make it into a shoe and a shirt, and like one who grinds wheat and kneads clay to make it into bread and pottery and so forth. Its meaning is the precision of the thing according to the preparation for its form. End.

And when their repentance was by killing their relatives, even if they were fathers or sons, He expressed them by the soul for that reason and as a reference to the wickedness of what they committed. So He said: ﴿So kill yourselves﴾ meaning the one that you have created which led you to other than it. Al-Harali said: And killing is the slaughter of the living being before the end of its strength, akin to the slaughter of the crop before its harvest. It has ended. And when what He commanded them was a matter that is hardly permitted, He magnified the desire for it by saying: ﴿That﴾ meaning the great matter, which is killing, ﴿is better for you﴾ and the good, Al-Harali said, is what is suitable in the choice of tangible things, and what is more suitable and what is better. Perhaps it is used from it 'good' omitted, so it is said: it is good in itself, meaning from what is chosen, and it is said: this is better than that, meaning more suitable than it, that is, more appropriate in the choice. Likewise, the term 'evil' in its opposite indicates a medium of things that are not chosen for the sake of an increase in goodness nor rejected for the sake of harm or detriment. 'At' is a word that implies the specification of what is added to it in a general way and more specific than it 'Ladun', so 'Ladun' is its specialty and 'Inda' is its generality, like one who possesses something, so it is with him even if it is not in his presence. It has ended. ﴿Your Creator﴾ meaning the one capable of annihilating you as He was capable of bringing you into existence. And in the expression of 'the Creator' there is an encouragement for them to obey Him by reminding them of the kindness and a warning by inflicting humiliation.

And when the estimation was: So you have performed the commanded repentance by that some of you killed each other by His guidance for you, glorified is He, along with what is in it of great hardship; He turned to His saying: ﴿So He accepted your repentance﴾ meaning along with the enormity of your crime, and if it were not for His repentance upon you, you would not have repented; then He explained that by saying: ﴿Indeed, He﴾ meaning because He ﴿is the Accepting of Repentance, the Most Merciful﴾ meaning this has remained a characteristic of Him, not for any merit from you upon Him. Al-Harali said: And in the showing of 'He' separated from the pronoun of connection, it affirms the meaning of mercy for Allah as a fixed attribute that does not change or alter except that it is from behind the unseen what Allah wills of discipline, testing, and punishment. Therefore, He concluded it with His name, the Most Merciful, because the conclusion reveals the expression of the hidden meaning from the content of what is in the conclusion. It has ended.