His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿And when Moses said to his people, 'O my people, you have wronged yourselves by taking the calf. So repent to your Creator and kill yourselves. That is better for you with your Creator.' Then He accepted your repentance. Indeed, He is the Accepting of Repentance, the Most Merciful.﴾ ﴿And when you said, 'O Moses, we will never believe you until we see Allah openly.' Then the thunderbolt took you while you were looking.﴾

This saying from Moses, blessings and peace be upon him, was by command from Allah, glorified and exalted is He. The 'ya' in 'O my people' was omitted because the address is a place of omission and lightening. The pronoun in 'your taking' is in a position of genitive in wording and in a position of nominative in meaning. 'The calf' is an Arabic term, a name for the offspring of the cow. Some said it was named a calf because it hastened before the coming of Moses, peace be upon him. This saying is not valid. There is a disagreement about whether the calf remained made of gold. This was said by the majority, while Hasan ibn Abi Hasan said it became flesh and blood. The first opinion is more correct. And 'repent' means: return from disobedience to obedience. The majority read 'your Creator' with the hamzah pronounced and broken, while Abu Amr read 'your Creator' with the hamzah silent. It was narrated from Sibawayh that the movement is omitted, which is better. This silence is good in the case of consecutive movements. Al-Mubarrad said: It is not permissible to silence in the case of consecutive movements in the grammatical letter. And the reading of Abu Amr 'your Creator' is incorrect.

(p-215) Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It has been narrated from the Arabs that silence occurs in the grammatical letter. The poet said:

If we go astray, I said to the companion of a people...

And Imru al-Qais said:

So today I drink without being deserving of it... a sin from Allah and not a thief.

And another said:

Sulaima said: Buy us some barley...

And another said:

... and it has appeared from the garment.

And Jarir said:

... and the river of Tir and what the Arabs do not know about you.

And Waddah al-Yaman said:

Indeed, my poetry is honey... mixed with Juljulaan.

And whoever denies the silence in the grammatical letter, his argument is that this is not permissible as it is a sign for the grammar. (p-216) Abu Ali said: As for the movement of the construction, the grammarians have not disagreed on the permissibility of its silence with consecutive movements.

And al-Zuhri read 'your Creator' with the 'ya' broken without hamzah, and it was narrated from Nafi. And Qatadah read 'So kill yourselves,' and he said: It is from the meaning of 'to resign.' Abu al-Fath said: 'To kill' is a form of Iftaal, and it is possible that its root is a waw like 'to take' or it could be a ya like 'to seek.'

And the derivation weakens the possibility that it is from 'to resign,' but Qatadah, may Allah have mercy on him, should be given the benefit of the doubt that he did not mention that except with a proof he has.

And His saying, exalted is He: "So He turned to you"; before it is omitted, the meaning of which is: "So you did." And His saying: "upon you" means: upon those who remain. And Allah, exalted is He, made killing for the one who was killed a testimony, and He turned to those who remain and forgave them. Some people said: "So kill" in this verse means with repentance, and the killing of the distractions of the souls from desire, obstinacy, and anger. He supported this with his saying, blessings and peace be upon him, regarding the onion and garlic: "Let them be killed by cooking."

And with the saying of Hassan:

...................................... ∗∗∗ You were killed, you were killed, so bring it forth, you were not killed.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And when you said, O Moses"; He means the seventy whom Moses chose. There is a difference regarding the time of their selection. Most of the interpreters narrated that this was after the worship of the calf. He chose them to seek forgiveness for the Children of Israel. Al-Naqqash and others narrated that he chose them when he came out of the sea and sought the appointment, but the first is more correct.

And the story of the seventy is that when Moses, blessings and peace be upon him, returned from speaking with Allah and found that the calf had been worshipped, a group of those who did not worship the calf said to him: "We have not disbelieved, and we are your companions, but let us hear the words of your Lord." So Allah revealed to him to choose seventy elders from them. He found only sixty, so Allah revealed to him to choose ten from the youth, and he did so, and they became elders. He had chosen six from each tribe, so they added two to the seventy. They disputed over who would be delayed, so Allah revealed to him that whoever is delayed will have the same reward as those who went ahead. So Joshua bin Nun and Talut bin Yuqina were delayed, and Moses, blessings and peace be upon him, went with the seventy after he commanded them to avoid women for three days and to purify themselves on the third day. He appointed Harun over his people and went until he reached the mountain, and a cloud was cast upon them. Al-Naqqash and others said: A cloud covered them, and they were prevented from seeing Moses by the light, so they fell in prostration. Al-Suddi and others said: They heard the words of Allah commanding and prohibiting, and they could not bear to hear it, and their minds became confused. They desired that Moses would hear and convey for them, and he did so. When he finished and they came out, a group among them changed what they had heard from the words of Allah. So that is His saying, exalted is He: "And indeed, a group of them used to hear the words of Allah, then they would distort it" [Al-Baqarah: 75].

And their faith became troubled, and Allah tested them with that, so they said: "We will never believe in you until we see Allah openly." They did not ask for the vision impossibly. Indeed, among the people of the Sunnah, it is impossible in this world through hearing. So at that time, the thunderbolt seized them, and they burned and died a death of annihilation that others consider. And Qatadah said: They died and their souls departed, then they were returned to fulfill their lifespans. So when they were in that state of annihilation, Moses began to beseech his Lord regarding them, saying: O my Lord, how can I return to the Children of Israel without them, and they will perish and will never believe in me, although they came out with me, and they are the good ones?

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This means they were in a state of goodness at the time of departure. And a group said: Rather, Musa, peace be upon him, thought that the seventy were punished because of the worship of the calf. Thus, his saying: "Will You destroy us?" means the seventy, "because of what the foolish among us did" [Al-A'raf: 155]? This refers to the worshippers of the calf. And Ibn Fawrak said: It is possible that the punishment of the seventy was for their demand to see Him by saying to Musa: "Show us," and that is not within the power of Musa, blessings and peace be upon him.

And "jahrah" is a source in the position of a state, and it is more apparent that it comes from the pronoun in "we see," and it is said: from the pronoun in "we believe," and it is said: from the pronoun in "you said." And "jahrah" is public, and from it: "jahru" is the opposite of secrecy, and the man made the matter known by revealing it.

And Sahl ibn Shu'ayb and Humayd ibn Qays read: "jahrah" with the 'h' opened, and this is a language heard among the Basrians when there is a throat letter that is silent and what precedes it has opened. And the Kufans permit the opening in it, even if they have not heard it. And it is possible that "jahrah" is the plural of jahara, meaning: until we see Allah revealing this matter. And Umar and Ali, may Allah be pleased with them, read: "Then the thunderbolt seized you," and it continues in the beginning of the surah with the meaning of "thunderbolt." And the thunderbolt is what happens to a person from the thunderbolt. And "tanzuroon" means: to your state.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Until the punishment turned them and removed their sight.