Salaam all,
This is 2:51
وَإِذْ وَاعَدْنَا مُوسَىٰ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً ثُمَّ اتَّخَذْتُمُ َالْعِجْلَ مِن بَعْدِهِ وَأَنْتُمْ ظَالِمُونَ
Transliteration:
Wa-ith waAAadna moosaarbaAAeena laylatan thumma ittakhathtumu alAAijla minbaAAdihi waantum thalimoona
Note:
The AYAH says “And as WE (GOD) set up a promised meeting with Moses of forty nights and then you (Israelites) Took the Baby cow (for your worship) while you are transgressing (through misplacing who you should worship).”
My personal note:
This is a reminder that humans have to be careful in remembering GOD even at the time when the spiritual leadership is absent – for a short or a long time. Worshiping other than GOD is a transgression since we are misplacing the direction of our worship.
The meaning of the words:
WAITH: and As
WAAAaDNA: We promised (a meeting) and the other side accepted/We set a joint promise.
Note: The root is W-Ain-D and it means to make a promise. WAAAaDNA is a first person singular past tense of a verb that is derived from the same root. This verb is interactive and assumes the participation of the other side. It means We made a promise (for a meeting) and the other side responded with approval..
MUSA: Moses
ARBAAeeN: Forty
LAYLATAN: Nights
Note : the root is L-Y-L and it means night for the noun, and to become night for the verb. LAYLA is a night..
THUMMA: And then
ITTAKHATHTUM: You took to yourselves/ You acquired
Note: The root is T-KH-TH and it means to take. ITTAKHATHTUM is the second person plural past tense of the verb ITTAKHATHA and it means to take to oneself/ To acquire.
alAAijla: The baby cow
MIN: from
BAAaDIHI: After him (Moses)/later than him (Moses)
Note: BaAAD means after/later. The root B-Ain-D and it means to move far away in place mainly, but it also can be used for time. BAAaD means later or after and therefore it relates to the root but only in the TIME area. Therefore it means Later/After/Farther in time. The HI points to a male and that is Moses.
WA: and
ANTUM: You
Note: the You here is a plural.
THALIMUN: Transgressing/Displacing things out of natural place
Note: The root here is TH-L-M and it means to put something out of it’s place. A concrete word that is related to this word is THALAAM and it means darkness, which is the cause of Displacing things. Therefore the essence of the word is a wrong decision made in darkness and that is the essence of Transgression. THALIMUN means Transgressing.
Salaam all and have a great day
Hussein
2 comments:
thanks Mohammad for your kind words. May GOD be with you
Hussein
Thanks Mohammad for the question. I looked up on this subject and my answer is only my thinking.
In 4:153 it mentions that the Israelites have received the clear (things/news). Therefore I would say that they were Muslim in their belief in general, but that the belief system of some of them was somehow vulnerable or shaken.
I don't see in the Qur'an anything that suggests that they worshipped the cow before.
Aya 20:88 mentions that they thought the baby cow was their GOD and the GOD of Moses. So, I don't think that they used it as a focal point, nor as an intermediary.
Ayah 20:87 may mention the reason why they did it. To me, it suggests that they had some of the jewelry and they thought that they can make a GOD that rivals the gods of Egypt in richness and so forth. (GOD knows best though)
I hope that this helps answer your question. Take care brother.
Hussein
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