Imam Askari (peace be upon him): O people of Bani Israil! Remember... The story was that when Allah, through Musa (peace be upon him), exposed the falsehood of the affair of the calf and made the calf speak to reveal the trickery of the Samiri, He commanded Musa (peace be upon him) that those who had not worshipped the calf should kill those who had worshipped it. Many of them denied their guilt and said: "We did not worship it." Allah the Mighty and Majestic said to Musa (peace be upon him): "File this calf down with an iron file into fine pieces and scatter it in the sea. Whoever drinks its water [and had worshipped the calf], his lips and nose will turn black and his sin will be exposed." Musa (peace be upon him) did so, and in this way those who had worshipped the calf were identified. Allah the Exalted commanded the twelve thousand who were innocent to draw their swords, attack the others, and kill them. At that moment the caller of Allah also proclaimed: "May Allah's curse be upon anyone who moves a hand or a foot to prevent being killed by them, and likewise may Allah's curse be upon anyone who looks at the one to be killed so that if he is a friend or a relative he may spare him and pass on to another person unknown to him!" So the sinners submitted, and the innocent said: "This calamity is harder upon us than upon them! For we must kill our fathers, sons, brothers and relatives with our own hands, and so we — who did not worship the calf — and these who did, are struck by an equal calamity." Allah the Exalted revealed to Musa (peace be upon him): "O Musa (peace be upon him)! I have afflicted these innocent ones with such a trial because they did not distance themselves from those who worshipped the calf, did not abandon them, and did not show them enmity in this matter. So tell those innocent ones: whoever calls upon Allah by the right of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure family (peace be upon them), the killing of the one who deserves death because of that sin will be made easy for him." They prayed thus, and Allah made that task easy for them and they felt no pain in killing the sinners. The killing among them grew great; and besides the twelve thousand who had not worshipped the calf, there were six hundred thousand others [Persian says: another six thousand] present in that gathering. At that moment some who had not yet been killed were granted divine grace and said to one another: "Is it not the case that Allah considers seeking intercession through Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure family (peace be upon them) as something by which no hope is disappointed and no request is left unanswered? Moreover, the prophets have also clung to them, so why should we not seek intercession through them?" Then they all gathered together and cried out: "O Lord! By the majesty of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family), the most honoured of creation; by the majesty of Ali (peace be upon him), the most excellent and greatest of them; by the majesty of Fatima (peace be upon her), the woman of virtue and infallibility; by the majesty of Hasan and Husayn (peace be upon them), the two grandsons of the master of the prophets (peace be upon them) and the masters of all the youth of the people of paradise; and by the majesty of the pure and chaste household from the family of Taha and Yasin, we adjure You — forgive our sins, overlook our punishment, and remove this slaughter from us!" At that moment a call came from the heavens to Musa (peace be upon him): "Bring this slaughter to an end; for some of them have asked of Me and adjured Me by an oath such that if those who worshipped the calf had adjured Me by the same and asked Me to keep them from sin, I would surely have done so and they would not have worshipped that calf; even if Satan had adjured Me thus, I would surely have guided him; and if Nimrud and Firawn had adjured Me thus, I would surely have delivered them." Then Allah lifted the slaughter from among Bani Israil. They said: "Alas that we did not earlier seek intercession through Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family) and his pure family (peace be upon them) that Allah might have kept us from the evil of this trial and preserved us from sin."