Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): فَإِنَّا قَدْ فَتَنَّا قَوْمَکَ [So indeed We have tried your people]; after you We tested them. وَ أَضَلَّهُمُ السَّامِرِیُّ [and the Samiri has led them astray]; and he led them astray with a calf which they worshipped. The reason for this was that when Allah the Exalted promised Musa (peace be upon him) that within thirty days He would send down the Torah and the Tablets upon him, he informed the Children of Israel of that and went to the appointed meeting-place, and left Harun (peace be upon him) as his successor over his people. When the thirty days passed and Musa (peace be upon him) had not returned to them, they disobeyed and wanted to kill Harun (peace be upon him). They said: "Musa has lied to us and fled from us." Iblis came to them in the form of a man and said to them: "Musa has fled from you and will never return to you at all. Bring your jewellery to me so that I may make for you a god for you to worship." Now the Samiri, on the day when Allah drowned Pharaoh and his companions, had been in the vanguard of Musa (peace be upon him). He looked at Jibril, who was mounted upon an animal in the form of a ramaka (a kind of mare), and every time it placed its hoof on a spot of the ground, that spot would move. The Samiri looked at him — and he was among the choicest companions of Musa (peace be upon him) — and he took the dust from beneath the hoof of Jibril's mare, and it was moving, and he tied it up in a bundle. He kept it with him and used to boast of it over the Children of Israel. When Iblis came to them and they took up the calf, he said to the Samiri: "Bring the dust that is with you." The Samiri brought it. Iblis threw it into the belly of the calf. When the dust fell into its belly, it moved and lowed, and fur and hair began to grow upon it. The Children of Israel prostrated to it; seventy thousand of the Children of Israel prostrated to it. Harun (peace be upon him) said to them, as Allah has related: یا قَوْمِ إِنَّما فُتِنْتُمْ بِهِ وَ إِنَّ رَبَّکُمُ الرَّحْمنُ فَاتَّبِعُونِی وَ أَطِیعُوا أَمْرِی * قالُوا لَنْ نَبْرَحَ عَلَیْهِ عاکِفِینَ حَتَّی یَرْجِعَ إِلَیْنا مُوسی [O my people, you have only been tried by it, and indeed your Lord is the Most Merciful, so follow me and obey my command. They said: We will not cease being devoted to it until Musa returns to us]. They intended to kill Harun (peace be upon him), so he fled from among them. They remained in that state (devoted to the calf) until Musa's appointment of forty nights was completed. When it was the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah, Allah sent down upon him the Tablets, and in them was the Torah and everything they needed of rulings, biographies and narratives. Then Allah revealed to Musa (peace be upon him): فَإِنَّا قَدْ فَتَنَّا قَوْمَکَ مِنْ بَعْدِکَ وَ أَضَلَّهُمُ السَّامِرِیُّ [Indeed We have tried your people after you and the Samiri has led them astray], and they worshipped the calf, and it had a sound like the sound of a cow. Musa (peace be upon him) said: "My Lord, the calf is from the Samiri; then from whom is the sound?" He said: "From Me, O Musa. When I saw them turning away from Me to the calf, I loved to increase their trial." So Musa (peace be upon him) returned, as Allah has said, to his people angry and grieved, and said: یا قَوْمِ أَ لَمْ یَعِدْکُمْ رَبُّکُمْ وَعْداً حَسَناً أَ فَطالَ عَلَیْکُمُ الْعَهْدُ أَمْ أَرَدْتُمْ أَنْ یَحِلَّ عَلَیْکُمْ غَضَبٌ مِنْ رَبِّکُمْ فَأَخْلَفْتُمْ مَوْعِدِی [O my people, did your Lord not promise you a good promise? Was the covenant too long for you, or did you wish that wrath from your Lord should descend upon you, so you broke your appointment with me?]. Then he threw down the Tablets and took hold of the beard and head of his brother Harun (peace be upon him) and pulled him towards himself, and said to him: "When you saw them going astray, what prevented you from following me? Did you disobey my command?" As Allah has related, Harun (peace be upon him) said: کَمَا حَکَی اللهُ یَابْنَ‌أُمَّ لا تَأْخُذْ بِلِحْیَتِی وَ لا بِرَأْسِی إِنِّی خَشِیتُ أَنْ تَقُولَ فَرَّقْتَ بَیْنَ بَنِی إِسْرائِیلَ وَ لَمْ تَرْقُبْ قَوْلِی [As Allah has related: O son of my mother, do not take hold of my beard or my head; indeed I feared that you would say: You have caused division among the Children of Israel and have not observed my word]. The Children of Israel said to him: ما أَخْلَفْنا مَوْعِدَکَ بِمَلْکِنا [We did not break our appointment with you by our own will]; we did not oppose you. وَ لکِنَّا حُمِّلْنا أَوْزاراً مِنْ زِینَةِ الْقَوْمِ [But we were burdened with loads of the people's ornaments] — that is, from their jewellery. فَقَذَفْناها [So we cast them]; we threw the dust which the Samiri brought into its belly. Then the Samiri brought out the calf, and it had a sound. Musa said to him: فَما خَطْبُکَ یا سامِرِیُّ [Then what was your case, O Samiri?] The Samiri said: بَصُرْتُ بِما لَمْ یَبْصُرُوا بِهِ فَقَبَضْتُ قَبْضَةً مِنْ أَثَرِ الرَّسُولِ [I saw what they did not see, so I took a handful of the trace of the Messenger] — that is, from beneath the hoof of Jibril's mare in the sea. فَنَبَذْتُها [Then I cast it] — that is, I held it. وَ کَذلِکَ سَوَّلَتْ لِی نَفْسِی [And thus my soul suggested it to me] — that is, my soul so adorned it for me. Musa (peace be upon him) brought out the calf and burnt it with fire and cast it into the sea. Then Musa (peace be upon him) said to the Samiri: فَاذْهَبْ فَإِنَّ لَکَ فِی الْحَیاةِ أَنْ تَقُولَ لا مِساسَ [Go, for indeed it is for you in this life to say: No touching] — that is, so long as you live this mark is upon your back, and until the end of life it will be said to you: لا مِساسَ [No touching]; do not touch — so that it may be known that you are Samiris and the people are not deceived by you. They are to this day in Egypt and Syria known by "la misas" (no touching). Then Musa (peace be upon him) intended to kill the Samiri. Allah revealed to him: "O Musa, do not kill him; he is generous." Musa (peace be upon him) said to him: انْظُرْ إِلی إِلهِکَ الَّذِی ظَلْتَ عَلَیْهِ عاکِفاً لَنُحَرِّقَنَّهُ ثُمَّ لَنَنْسِفَنَّهُ فِی الْیَمِّ نَسْفاً إِنَّما إِلهُکُمُ اللهُ الَّذِی لا إِلهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَسِعَ کُلَّ شَیْءٍ عِلْماً [Look at your god to which you remained devoted; we shall surely burn it and then scatter it into the sea, scattering. Your god is only Allah, besides whom there is no god; He encompasses all things in knowledge].