His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿He said, 'O my people! Did your Lord not make you a good promise? Did the term seem long to you, or did you wish for the wrath of your Lord to descend upon you, so you broke my appointment?'﴾ [Taha: 86] ﴿They said, 'We did not break your appointment willingly, but we were burdened with the ornaments of the people, so we threw them in, and thus did the Samiri cast.'﴾ ﴿So he brought forth to them a calf, a body that had a lowing sound.﴾

And Moses, peace be upon him, admonished his people with this statement. The 'good promise' refers to what he promised them regarding reaching the side of the right side of the mountain, and what follows that of victories in the land, and forgiveness for whoever repents and believes, and other things that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, promised to the people of His obedience. And his saying, 'a promise,' could either be in the accusative as a source, with the second object being implied, or it could mean the promised thing itself, and it is the second object in its essence.

Then he confronted them with excuses that were neither valid nor true for them, which was the length of the term, so that it would become clear to them the breaking of the promise. And the desire for the wrath of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, was not the case, but they acted like those who did not adhere to religion. And the punishment was called wrath because it arises from anger. If anger is taken to mean will, it is a description of essence, and if it is taken to mean the manifestation of vengeance and punishment, it is a description of action, so it is from the wavering between the two states.

Nafi' and Asim read: 'with our kingdom' with a fatha on the meem, while Hamzah and Al-Kisai read: 'with our kingdom' with a damma on it. Ibn Kathir, Abu Amr, and Ibn Amer read: 'with our kingdom' with a kasra on it. Abu Ali said: These are dialects.

(p-122) The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

The apparent meaning is that they are of one meaning, but Abu Ali and others have distinguished between their meanings. As for the damma on the meem, its meaning, according to Abu Ali, is that we did not have a king so that we could break your appointment by his strength and authority, but rather we broke it by a consideration that led to what the Samiri did. And the meaning is not that they had a king, but rather it is like the saying of Dhul-Rumma:

؎ He complains of a fall from it while the valleys danced with it until it showed a hump.

Meaning: there would be no fall from it for him to complain. He said: And this is like His saying, exalted is He: ﴿They do not ask people for alms with insistence﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 273], meaning: there is no asking from them that would be considered insistence.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And all of this in these examples is not certain from the saying of Abu Ali, but he followed the trace of Al-Zujaj without refutation. And I have explained this meaning in Surah Al-Baqarah in His saying, exalted is He: ﴿They do not ask people for alms with insistence﴾ [Al-Baqarah: 273], and it became clear that this verse is not like these examples because they did not remove the difference, and the examples in it remove the two sides.

(p-123) As for the fatha on the meem, it is a source from 'malaka,' and the meaning is: we did not do that because we possessed the rightness, nor were we guided to it, but rather our souls overwhelmed us.

As for breaking the letter 'mīm', its usage has become frequent in what the hand possesses. However, it is used in matters that a person decides. Its meaning is like that of the one before it. The source is added in both cases to the doer. The object is implied, meaning: by our ownership of it, correctness. This is as it can sometimes be added to the object, and the doer is implied, as in His saying, 'By asking your sheep for his sheep' [Sad: 24], and His saying, 'From the supplication of good' [Fussilat: 49].

Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Ibn 'Amir, and Hafs from 'Asim read: 'We were burdened' with a dammed 'hā' and a doubled 'mīm'. Abu 'Amr, Hamzah, and al-Kisai read: 'We carried' with an opened 'hā' and 'mīm'. 'Al-Awzar' means burdens. It is possible that this naming is because it is heavy in terms of weight, and it is possible that it is because you sin in casting it, and it became clear to them that this is the truth, thus it was sins for those who carried it. His saying: 'So likewise the Samaritan cast' means: just as we cast, so likewise the Samaritan cast what was in his hand.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: These words imply that the calf was not fashioned by the Samaritan. Then Allah, the Exalted, informed about the action of the Samaritan by saying: 'So he brought out for them a calf, a body' and the meaning of 'a body' is a being without a soul. It is said: the meaning of 'a body' is one that does not feed. 'Al-Khawar' is the sound of cattle, and a group said: this calf used to low and walk.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Thus, the trial is from Allah, the Exalted. This was said by Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them. A group said: Indeed, its lowing was by the wind, which would enter from its rear and exit from its mouth, causing it to make that sound.