Tafseer of Taa-Haa · Taa-Haa · 20:97
[Moses] said, "Then go. And indeed, it is [decreed] for you in [this] life to say, 'No contact.' And indeed, you have an appointment [in the Hereafter] you will not fail to keep. And look at your 'god' to which you remained devoted. We will surely burn it and blow it into the sea with a blast.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
And His word بَصُرْتُ بِمَا لَمْ يَبْصُرُوا بِهِ: this means: the Sāmirī said, "I have gained knowledge of what they did not know" — this is the verbal form derived from baṣīrah (having insight), that is to say: through what I have done I have become seeing and knowing.
Mention of those who said this:
We were told by al-Qāsim, who said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, who said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: When Pharaoh killed the newborns, the mother of the Sāmirī said, "If only I could bring him somewhere safe, so that I do not see him and do not know whether he is killed." She laid him in a cave, and Jibrīl (ʿalayhi al-salām) came to him and placed his palm in the mouth of the child and fed him with honey and milk. Jibrīl kept coming to him until he (the Sāmirī) recognized him; and this is the reason he knew him when he said فَقَبَضْتُ قَبْضَةً مِنْ أَثَرِ الرَّسُولِ.
Others said: the expression has the meaning of "abṣartu" — I saw what they did not see; they said that one says "baṣartu bi-l-shayʾ" and "abṣartuhu," just as one also says "asraʿtu" and "saraʿtu," according to what one wishes.
Mention of those who said that it has the meaning of "abṣartu":
We were told by Bishr, who said: Yazīd related to us, who said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning قَالَ بَصُرْتُ بِمَا لَمْ يَبْصُرُوا بِهِ: by it he meant the horse of Jibrīl (ʿalayhi al-salām).
And His word فَقَبَضْتُ قَبْضَةً مِنْ أَثَرِ الرَّسُولِ means: I took a handful of earth from the imprint of the hoof of the horse of Jibrīl.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of exegesis also spoke.
Mention of those who said this:
We were told by Ibn Ḥumayd, who said: Salama related to us, who said: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of Ḥakīm ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: When the Banū Isrāʾīl threw the ornaments of the people of Pharaoh into the fire and these melted, and the Sāmirī saw the imprint of the horse of Jibrīl (ʿalayhi al-salām), he took earth from the imprint of the hoof, brought it to the fire and threw it in, and said, "Become a calf with a body that makes lowing sounds." And so it came to pass — as a trial and temptation.
It was related to me by Muḥammad ibn Saʿd, who said: my father related to me, who said: my uncle related to me, who said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: he took a handful of the earth of Jibrīl, threw the handful upon their ornaments and it became a calf with a body that makes lowing sounds; and he said, "This is your god and the god of Mūsā."
It was related to me by Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, who said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, who said: ʿĪsā related to us; and it was related to me by al-Ḥārith, who said: al-Ḥasan related to us, who said: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah فَقَبَضْتُ قَبْضَةً مِنْ أَثَرِ الرَّسُولِ فَنَبَذْتُهَا: he said, "[He took earth] from beneath the hoof of the horse of Jibrīl, and the Sāmirī threw it upon the ornaments of the Banū Isrāʾīl, and they melted together into a calf with a body that makes lowing sounds — the wind whistled through it and that was its lowing. And the calf is the young of a cow."
The reciters (qurrāʾ) differed over the reading of these two words. Most of the reciters of Medina and Baṣra read بَصُرْتُ بِمَا لَمْ يَبْصُرُوا بِهِ with the yāʾ, in the meaning: the Sāmirī said, "I have gained knowledge of what the Banū Isrāʾīl did not know." Most of the reciters of Kūfa read بَصُرْتُ بِمَا لَمْ تَبْصُرُوا بِهِ with the tāʾ, as a form of address to Mūsā (ʿalayhi al-salām) and his companions, in the meaning: the Sāmirī said to Mūsā, "I have seen what you and your companions have not seen."
The view on this matter, according to me, is: these are two well-known readings, each of which the scholars among the reciters have employed, and both meanings are correct. For it is possible that the Sāmirī had seen Jibrīl and that it had been suggested to him through his soul or otherwise that the earth of the hoof-imprint of the horse on which he rode was suitable for what subsequently came forth from it when he threw it into the interior of the calf; and Mūsā did not possess this knowledge, nor did the Banū Isrāʾīl who were with him. Hence he said to Mūsā بَصُرْتُ بِمَا لَمْ تَبْصُرُوا بِهِ — "I knew what you did not know." As for the reading with the yāʾ بَصُرْتُ بِمَا لَمْ يَبْصُرُوا بِهِ: in it there is no difficulty whatsoever, for it is indeed known that the Banū Isrāʾīl did not know what that earth was suitable for.
As for His word فَقَبَضْتُ قَبْضَةً مِنْ أَثَرِ الرَّسُولِ: the reciters of the cities read it with the ḍād, in the meaning: I took with my palm earth from the earth of the imprint of the horse of the Messenger.
From al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī and Qatāda it has been transmitted — as was related to me by Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf, who said: al-Qāsim related to us, who said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of ʿAbbād ibn ʿAwf, on the authority of al-Ḥasan — that he read it as فَقَبَصْتُ قَبْصَةً with the ṣād.
And it was related to me by Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf, who said: al-Qāsim related to us, who said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of ʿAbbād, on the authority of Qatāda — the same, with the ṣād — in the meaning: I took with my fingertips earth from the imprint of the horse of the Messenger. And the qaḍah among the Arabs means: taking with the entire palm, while the qaṣah means: taking with the fingertips.
And His word فَنَبَذْتُهَا means: I threw it [the handful of earth]. And وَكَذَلِكَ سَوَّلَتْ لِي نَفْسِي means: and in the same manner as I did — the throwing of the handful that I had taken from the imprint of the horse upon the ornaments that had been stoked in the fire until they flowed together and became a calf with a body that makes lowing sounds — سَوَّلَتْ لِي نَفْسِي — "my soul created for me the desire" that this should be so.
As was related to me by Yūnus, who said: Ibn Wahb informed us, who said: Ibn Zayd said concerning وَكَذَلِكَ سَوَّلَتْ لِي نَفْسِي: "Thus my soul spoke to me."
