RENAISSANCE MAY 2023

Qur’ ā nic Exegesis 17 | Monthly Renaissance May 2023 chance that Moses (sws) would be able to control the situation because of his acumen and forceful personality. For this reason, he abandoned the first option as it would create disorder. He obviously wanted it to not happen. ﻗﺎلﻓﻤﺎﺧﻄﺒﻚﻳﺴﺎﻣﺮي﴿ & ' ) ) $ٰ $ &ۡ $ $ $ $ $ ٩٥﴾ 13 After asking all those who could be responsible for the mischief, when it became evident to Moses (sws) that it was S ā mir ī ’s handiwork, he posed the question alluded to in this verse. تﺑﻤﺎﻟﻢ ﻳﺒ – ۡﻗﺎلﺑ $ $ۡ $ $ $ ) & $ۡ & Dw و ﺑﻪﻓﻘﺒﻀﺖﻗﺒﻀﺔﻣﻦ ﺛﺮ ﻟﺮﺳﻮلﻓﻨﺒﺬﺗﻬﺎ وﻛﺬﻟ)ﻚﺳﻮﻟﺖ –ۡ )ۡ & $ $ ' $ $ $ $ $ٰ $ $ & $ $ $ۡ $ $ $ $ )ۡ ' &ۡ $ ) $ۡۡ ) 'ًٖۡ ) & & ﴿!‚ ﻔ ‰ۡ )ۡ $ ٩٦﴾ 14 When S ā mir ī saw that he could not escape from the grasp of Moses (sws), he made up a clever excuse to absolve himself. In the excuse, on the one hand, he tried to justify his action and on the other confessed that whatever he did was a deception of his own inner-self and he was led to believe that it was actually the truth. He said that he had a vision and saw something which others did not; he saw in his vision that Gabriel had come and that he (S ā mir ī ) had picked up a handful of dust and put it inside the model of a calf that he had made. As a result of this, it started to speak. He confessed that after Moses’ statement, it became evident to him that he had been deceived by his inner-self and that it was not a vision that he had seen. As a result, he perpetrated this crime. In this way, he tried to convince Moses (sws) that it was a misconception and nothing intentional. However, he fully knew that it would not be easy for him to escape from the grasp of Moses (sws) and whatever bluff he was playing would not succeed before him. He thus confessed that whatever happened was because of a misconception: he regarded the deceptive prompting of his soul to be a vision and hence committed the crime. 13. Moses asked: “What is your matter, O S ā mir ī ?” 14. He replied: “I saw that which others did not; so, I picked up a handful from the footprints of the messenger; then cast it into the calf. Thus did my soul prompt me.”