Al-Asif: the one who is extremely angry. So when they made us angry, we took revenge on them. It is said: he is the sad one. You have succeeded me; you have taken my place and you were my successors after me. This address is either to the worshippers of the calf from the Samaritan and his followers, or to the leaders of the Children of Israel, namely Aaron, peace be upon him, and the believers among them. This is indicated by his saying, 'Succeed me in my people.' The meaning is: how evil is what you succeeded me with, as you worshipped the calf instead of worshipping Allah, or as you did not cease from worshipping others besides Allah. If you say: where is what is implied by 'how evil' regarding the doer and the one specifically blamed? I say: the doer is implied and is explained by 'what you succeeded me with.' The one specifically blamed is omitted, its estimation being: how evil is the succession you succeeded me with after your succession. If you say: what is the meaning of his saying 'after me' after his saying 'you succeeded me'? I say: its meaning is after what you saw from me, of the oneness of Allah, and the negation of partners from Him, and the sincerity of worship to Him. Or after what I used to carry the Children of Israel upon, which is the oneness, and I would prevent them from what their eyes longed for of worshipping the calf, when they said, 'Make for us a god just as they have gods.' It is the right of the successors to follow the path of the one who appointed them and not to oppose him. Similar to this is 'Then after them came successors,' meaning after those described with praiseworthy attributes. It is said: 'He hastened the matter' if he left it incomplete, and its opposite is 'he completed it' and he hastened it for another, and it implies the meaning of 'preceded' so it is said: 'I hastened the matter.' The meaning is: you hastened from the command of your Lord, which is waiting for Moses, keeping your covenant and what He commanded you with. So you built the matter on the assumption that the appointed time had reached its end and I had not returned to you, so you spoke to yourselves of his death, and you changed as the nations changed after their prophets. It is narrated that the Samaritan said to them - when he brought out the calf and said, 'This is your god and the god of Moses' - that Moses would not return, and that he had died. It is narrated that they counted twenty days with their nights and made them forty, then they did what they did. And he threw down the tablets and cast them away due to the extreme astonishment and intense anger he felt upon hearing the news of the calf, anger for Allah and zeal for His religion. He was in himself very angry, and Aaron was softer than him, and for that reason he was more beloved to the Children of Israel than Moses. It is narrated that the Torah was in seven parts, and when he threw down the tablets, they broke, and six parts were raised from them and one part remained. In what was raised was the detail of everything, and in what remained was guidance and mercy. And he took hold of the head of his brother, meaning by the hair of his head, dragging him to him by his locks, due to the intensity of what had befallen him from the matter that overwhelmed him and took away his understanding. And he thought that his brother had failed in restraint. 'Son of my mother' is read with a fatḥa, likening it to 'fifteen,' and with a kasra on the dropping of the ya of the addition. 'Son of my mother' with ya. 'Son of my mother' with a kasra on the hamzah and the mim. It is said: he was his brother from both his father and mother, and if this is correct, then he added him to the mother, indicating that they are from one womb. This is more conducive to compassion and tenderness, and it emphasizes the obligation of the truth, and because she was a believer, he considered her lineage, and because she was the one who experienced fears and hardships with him, he mentioned him in relation to her. 'Indeed, the people have oppressed me' means that he did not spare any effort in restraining them with admonition and warning. And with what he was capable of exerting strength against them until they overpowered him and weakened him, and it remained only that they would kill him. 'So do not make the enemies rejoice over me' means do not do to me what they wish for, which is to belittle me and harm me. It is also read: 'So let not the enemies rejoice over me,' prohibiting the enemies from rejoicing. The intended meaning is that what they rejoice over should not befall him. 'And do not make me among the wrongdoing people' means do not make me in your anger against me and your punishment for me a companion to them or a partner. Or do not consider me one of the wrongdoers while I am innocent of them and their wrongdoing. When his brother apologized to him and mentioned to him the rejoicing of the enemies, he said: 'My Lord, forgive me and my brother' to please his brother and show the people of rejoicing his satisfaction with him so that their rejoicing would not be completed, and he sought forgiveness for himself for what he had failed in towards his brother, and for his brother that perhaps he had failed in good succession. And he asked that they not be separated from His mercy, and that it always be arranged for them in this world and the Hereafter.