His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And when the anger of Musa subsided, he took the tablets, and in their copy is guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord﴾ ﴿And Musa chose from his people seventy men for our appointed time. And when the earthquake seized them, he said, 'My Lord, if You had willed, You could have destroyed them before and me. Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done? It is nothing but Your trial; You lead astray whom You will and guide whom You will. You are our protector, so forgive us and have mercy upon us, and You are the best of the forgivers.'﴾

The meaning of this verse is that when Musa, peace be upon him, calmed down from his anger, he took the tablets that he had thrown down. It has been narrated that most of them were raised up or were lost in breaking. His saying: ﴿subsided﴾ is a borrowed term; he likened the calming of anger to the cessation of a speaker's words, which is his silence. Younus ibn Habib said: The Arabs say, 'The valley flowed for two days, then it subsided.' Al-Zajjaj and others said: The source of your saying, 'The anger subsided,' is subsidence, and the source of your saying, 'The man was silent,' is silence. This implies that it is an action in itself and not from the silence of people. It was said that there is a reversal in meaning, and what is meant is: 'And when Musa was silent from anger.' This is similar to: 'I put my mouth in the stone,' and 'I put the cap on my head.' In this, there is also a metaphor, as anger does not speak to be described as silent. Muawiya ibn Qurra read: 'And when it calmed down,' and in the Mushaf of Hafsa: 'And when it subsided,' and in the Mushaf of Ibn Mas'ud: 'And when the anger of Musa was patient.' Al-Naqqash said: And in the Mushaf of Ubayy: 'And when the anger of Musa was removed.'

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿And in their copy﴾ means: and in what is copied from them and recited. The 'lam' in His saying: 'for their Lord' has several interpretations. The view of Al-Mubarrid is that it relates to a source as if he said: 'those whose fear is for their Lord.' It is possible that since the object has preceded, the action has weakened, so it has become strong in transitivity with the 'lam.' It is also possible that the meaning is: they, for the sake of obeying their Lord and fearing their Lord, fear punishment and warning and the like.

And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿And Musa chose from his people﴾ means that Musa, peace be upon him, chose from his people this number to go with them to a place of worship, supplication, and prayer, so that he and they could make an apology to Allah, exalted and glorified is He, for the error of the Children of Israel in worshiping the calf and seeking complete forgiveness for those who remained among them. It has been narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, that their selection was due to the saying of the Children of Israel: 'Indeed, Musa killed Harun when he went with him and did not return,' so he chose these men to go and tell them that he died at his appointed time. And His saying, exalted and glorified is He: ﴿for our appointed time﴾ supports the first statement and contradicts this statement, as it implies that this was by an appointment from Allah, exalted and glorified is He, and a promise regarding the time and place. The implied meaning is: 'And Musa chose from his people,' so when the preposition was omitted, the action became transitive and was in the accusative case. This is common in the speech of the Arabs.

(p-57) The scholars differed regarding the reason for the tremor that befell them. It was said: It was a punishment for them due to their silence and their turning away from the worship of the calf. It was said: It was for their worship of the calf by themselves, and this was hidden from Musa at the time of the choice until Allah informed him of it, as stated by Al-Suddi. It was said: It was a punishment for them because when they drew near and knew that Musa was hearing the words of Allah, they said to him: "Show us your Lord," so the tremor seized them. It was said: It was a punishment for their excessive supplication when they said: "O Allah, give us what You have not given anyone before us and do not give it to anyone after us," so the tremor seized them. It was said: They were seized when they heard the words of Harun while he was dead. This is because Musa and Harun went to worship or something similar, and Harun died, so Musa buried him and came back. The Children of Israel said: Where is Harun? He said: He has died. They said: Rather, you killed him because you envied us for his good character and companionship. So he chose seventy to go with him until they could see the proof of what he had told them. When they arrived, Musa said to him: O Harun, were you killed or did you die? He called to him from the grave: Rather, I have died, so the tremor seized the people. Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: It has been narrated that they died in this tremor of theirs. It is possible that it was like a fainting spell or something similar. The tremor is: shaking and quaking due to the great horror. When Musa saw that, he was saddened for them and knew that the matter of the Children of Israel would become complicated for him if he did not bring the people. So he began to plead with his Lord, saying: O my Lord, if You had destroyed them before this condition and me, it would have been more rightful for me. And this is a time in which their destruction would be harmful to me. Then he sought understanding in a manner of desire, supplication, and humility. It is possible that his saying: "O my Lord, if You had willed, You would have destroyed them before me" means at the time of their turning away from the worship of the calf, that is: at the time of their worship - according to the saying of that - and within himself is the time of his killing the Egyptian, meaning: You had concealed and pardoned then, so how now when my return without them is corruption for the Children of Israel? So the direction of the speech - on this - is purely one of pleading, and on the first interpretation, it is a direction of presenting evidence in the form of pleading. If we say: If the reason for the tremor was the worship of the calf, then the pronoun in his saying: "Will You destroy us" is for him and for the seventy. And "the foolish ones" refers to the worshippers among the Children of Israel. Likewise, if the reason was their saying to him: You killed Harun. If the reason for the tremor was their request for the vision and their excessive supplication or their worship of the calf by themselves, then the pronoun in his saying: "Will You destroy us" refers to himself and the Children of Israel, meaning: through division, disbelief, and disobedience, their destruction would occur. And his saying: "the foolish ones" refers to the seventy. It has been narrated that among the seventy there was no one who exceeded forty nor anyone who fell short of twenty. It has been narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, that they were revived and made all prophets.

And a group said: When Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, informed Musa, peace be upon him, that seventy had worshipped the calf, he was astonished and said: "It is nothing but Your trial by which You lead astray whom You will." This means: The matters are in Your hands; You do what You want. It is said that when Allah, the Exalted, informed Musa about the worship of the Children of Israel of the calf and its description, Musa said: O my Lord, and who misled them? He said: I did. Musa said: Then You have led them astray; it is nothing but Your trial. It may be that he refers by "it" to their saying: "Show us Allah," as it was a trial from Allah that caused the shaking. In this verse, there is a refutation of the Mu'tazila, and "forgive" in its meaning is: cover.