And when all of this is something that the successful one marvels at for committing it, He, the Most High, followed it by clarifying, depicting, and affirming its occurrence, and confirming His saying in connection with: ﴿So they came upon a people who were devoting themselves﴾ [Al-A'raf: 138], clarifying their hastiness in disbelief: ﴿And he took﴾ meaning: with utmost desire ﴿the people of Musa﴾ meaning: by taking the Samaritan and their approval. They did not consider anything of what was brought to them by those signs, which had not been seen like them ﴿after him﴾ meaning: after His delaying from them for the ten days with which We completed the forty ﴿of their ornaments﴾ meaning: which were with them from their wealth and from what they borrowed from the Egyptians ﴿a calf﴾. And since the calf is the name for the offspring of cattle, it was clarified that it only resembles its form, so He said, replacing it: ﴿a body﴾.

And when the news that it is a body implies that it is devoid of what resembles that which arises from the soul, He said: ﴿It has a lowing﴾ meaning: a sound like the sound of cattle. The meaning is that there is no more misguided or blind than a people who had with them ornaments taken from those who used to enslave them and harm them, and yet they were among the most disbelieving of disbelievers. It was fitting for them to be hated for being from the effects of the oppressive enemies, for they believed that by molding it, it became a god, and they exaggerated in their love for it and in their servitude to it, while it is a body that they see and touch. Their prophet, whom Allah guided them with and chose for His speech, asks to see Allah, yet he cannot reach it.

And when there was no text in the speech about taking it as a god, it was indicated by the denial against them in His saying: ﴿Did they not see﴾ meaning: those who took a god ﴿that it does not speak to them﴾ meaning: as Allah spoke to Musa, blessings and peace be upon him ﴿nor does it guide them to a way﴾ as Allah guided them to the way of salvation, among which was their journey in the sea that was a cause for the destruction of their enemy, just as it was a cause for their salvation. Abu Hayyan said: He removed these two attributes from it without the remaining attributes of divinity; for the negation of speech necessitates the negation of knowledge, and the negation of guidance to a way necessitates the negation of ability, and the negation of these two attributes necessitates the negation of the remaining attributes.

And when this matter was truly great, extremely unlikely to occur, especially from a people whose prophet was among them, and especially since he showed them from the blessings and signs that filled the horizons with their light, it was fitting for emphasis. So He, the Most High, said: ﴿They took it﴾ meaning: with utmost seriousness, activity, and desire ﴿And they were﴾ meaning: by nature and disposition, along with what He established for them from the lights ﴿wrongdoers﴾ meaning: their state is like that of one who walks in darkness, or that the intended meaning is that wrongdoing is a description that is inherent to them, so it is no wonder if they did such things.