Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:155
And Moses chose from his people seventy men for Our appointment. And when the earthquake seized them, he said, "My Lord, if You had willed, You could have destroyed them before and me [as well]. Would You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done? This is not but Your trial by which You send astray whom You will and guide whom You will. You are our Protector, so forgive us and have mercy upon us; and You are the best of forgivers.
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.
The statement concerning the interpretation of His saying: وَاخْتَارَ مُوسَى قَوْمَهُ سَبْعِينَ رَجُلا لِمِيقَاتِنَا فَلَمَّا أَخَذَتْهُمُ الرَّجْفَةُ قَالَ رَبِّ لَوْ شِئْتَ أَهْلَكْتَهُمْ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَإِيَّايَ ("And Mūsā chose from his people seventy men for Our appointed time. Then, when the trembling seized them, he said: 'My Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed them before, and me with them.'").
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Mūsā chose from his people seventy men for the time and term that Allah had promised him, at which He would meet him together with them, (40) to show repentance for what their foolish ones had done in the matter of the calf, as:
15152 - Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: Allah commanded Mūsā, peace be upon him, that he should come to Him with a number of men of the Banū Isrāʾīl, who would excuse themselves before Him for the worship of the calf, and He appointed for them an agreed time. Then Mūsā chose from his people seventy men according to his own judgment, and then went forth with them so that they might excuse themselves. When they came to that place, they said: "We will not believe you, O Mūsā, until we see Allah openly, for you have indeed spoken to Him; so show Him to us!" Then the lightning-blast seized them and they died. Mūsā stood up, weeping and calling upon Allah, and said: "My Lord, what shall I say to the Banū Isrāʾīl when I come to them, while I have caused the best of them to perish? Had You willed, You would have destroyed them before, and me with them!" (41)
15153 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: Mūsā chose from the Banū Isrāʾīl seventy men, the best and ever the best, and he said: "Go forth to Allah and show Him repentance for what you have done, and ask Him for repentance for those of your people whom you have left behind you; fast and purify yourselves, and purify your garments!" Then he went out with them to Mount Sinai, for an appointed time that his Lord had set for him. And he did not come to Him except with His permission and knowledge. Then the seventy said - according to what I have been told - after they had done what he had commanded them and had gone out with him to meet their Lord, to Mūsā: "Ask for us that we may hear the words of our Lord!" He said: "I will do that." When Mūsā drew near the mountain, the pillar of cloud descended upon him, until it covered the entire mountain. And Mūsā drew near and entered into it, and said to the people: "Draw near!" And when Allah spoke to Mūsā, there fell upon his forehead a radiant light that no son of Ādam could behold! Therefore a veil was stretched before him. And the people drew near, until, when they had entered into the cloud, they fell down in prostration, and they heard Him while He was speaking to Mūsā, commanding him and forbidding him: do this, and do not do that! When Allah had completed His command, the cloud withdrew from Mūsā. He turned toward them, (42) and they said to Mūsā: "We will not believe you until we see Allah openly!" Then the trembling seized them - and that was the lightning-blast - and their souls were suddenly snatched away, (43) and they died all together. And Mūsā, peace be upon him, stood up, calling upon his Lord and imploring Him and turning to Him, and he said: "My Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed them before, and me with them! They have acted foolishly! Will You then destroy those of the Banū Isrāʾīl who are behind me?" (44)
15154 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: "And Mūsā chose from his people seventy men for Our appointed time." He said: Allah had commanded him to choose from his people seventy men, so he chose seventy men and went out with them so that they might call upon their Lord. And among that which they called upon Allah was that they said: "O Allah, give us what You will give to no one after us!" But Allah detested that in their supplication, and therefore the trembling seized them. Mūsā said: "My Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed them before, and me with them!"
15155 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Khālid ibn Ḥayyān related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Maymūn: "And Mūsā chose from his people seventy men for Our appointed time." He said: for their agreed time that He had promised them.
15156 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "seventy men for Our appointed time." He said: he chose them in fulfillment of the promise.
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And others said: The trembling seized them only because of their accusation against Mūsā that he had killed Hārūn.
* Mention of who said that:
15157 - Ibn Bashshār and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, both of them saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Abū Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of ʿUmāra ibn ʿAbd al-Salūlī, on the authority of ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: Mūsā and Hārūn and Shabbar and Shabbīr went forth, and they traveled to the foot of a mountain. Hārūn was sleeping on a couch, and Allah caused him to die. When Mūsā returned to the Banū Isrāʾīl, they said to him: "Where is Hārūn?" He said: "Allah has caused him to die." They said: "You killed him, out of envy of his character and his gentleness" - or words to that effect. He said: "Then choose whomever you wish!" He said: They chose seventy men. He said: That is His saying: "And Mūsā chose from his people seventy men for Our appointed time." He said: When they came to him, they said: "O Hārūn, who killed you?" He said: "No one killed me, but Allah caused me to die!" They said: "O Mūsā, we will not disobey after this day!" He said: Then the trembling seized them. He said: Mūsā began to turn to the right and to the left and said: "O my Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed them before, and me with them. Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done? It is nothing but Your trial, by which You lead astray whom You will and guide whom You will." He said: Then Allah brought them back to life and made them all prophets. (45)
15158 - Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of a man of the Banū Salūl, that he heard ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, say concerning this verse: "And Mūsā chose from his people seventy men for Our appointed time." He said: Hārūn was of good character and beloved by the Banū Isrāʾīl. He said: When he died, Mūsā buried him. He said: When he came to the Banū Isrāʾīl, they said to him: "Where is Hārūn?" He said: "He has died!" They said: "You killed him!" He said: Then he chose from them seventy men. He said: When they came to the grave, Mūsā said: "Were you killed or did you die?" He said: "I died!" Then they were struck by the lightning-blast, and Mūsā said: "My Lord, what shall I say to the Banū Isrāʾīl? When I return, they will say: You killed them!" He said: Then they were brought back to life and made prophets.
15159 - ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to me, saying: My father related to us, saying: al-Rabīʿ ibn Ḥabīb related to us, saying: I heard Abū Saʿīd - that is, al-Raqāshī - and he recited this verse: "And Mūsā chose from his people seventy men for Our appointed time," and he said: They were older than twenty years but not older than forty, for whoever is twenty has left behind his ignorance and childishness, and whoever has not passed forty has lost nothing of his intellect. (46)
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And others said: The trembling seized that people only because of their failure to separate themselves from the worshippers of the calf, not because they themselves were among its worshippers.
* Mention of who said that:
15160 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "And Mūsā chose from his people seventy men for Our appointed time," and he recited until he came to: السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَّا ("the foolish among us"). We have been told that Ibn ʿAbbās used to say: The trembling struck them only because they did not separate themselves from the people when those set up the calf, although they detested joining with them in that.
15161 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His saying: "And Mūsā chose from his people seventy men for Our appointed time," from those who had not made that saying, on the grounds that they had not joined with them in that. The trembling seized them because they had not separated themselves from their people when those took the calf. He said: When they went out and called upon Him, Allah caused them to die and then brought them back to life. And when the trembling seized them, he said: "My Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed them before, and me with them. Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done?"
15162 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Abū Saʿd related to us, saying: Mujāhid said: "And Mūsā chose from his people seventy men for Our appointed time" - and "the appointed time" is the agreed time. When the trembling seized them, after Mūsā had gone out with the seventy of his people while they were calling upon Allah and asking Him to remove the calamity from them, but He did not answer them, Mūsā knew that they had committed of disobedience what their people too had committed. Abū Saʿd said: (47) Then Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī related to me, saying: He did not answer them because they had not forbidden them the reprehensible nor commanded them the proper. He said: Then the trembling seized them, and they died, and afterward Allah brought them back to life.
15163 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of ʿAwn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Ḥayyān, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that the seventy whom Mūsā chose from his people were seized by the trembling only because they were not content with the calf nor forbade it.
15164 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, saying: ʿAwn related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Ḥayyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, with similar import.
* * *
The linguists differed concerning the basis for the accusative in His saying: "his people seventy men for Our appointed time." Some grammarians of Basra said: The meaning is: and Mūsā chose from his people seventy men. When "from" (min) was omitted, the verb acted directly, as al-Farazdaq said:
And among us is he who was chosen from the men for his generosity and his mildness, when the fierce storm-winds rise up. (48)
And as another said: (49)
I commanded you to do good, so do what you are commanded, for I have left you as the possessor of wealth and property. (50)
And al-Rāʿī said:
I chose you out of the people when their nature became evil, and he failed from whom the obtaining of favor was hoped. (51)
* * *
And some grammarians of Kufa said: It was permitted only that the verb act directly upon them when "from" (min) is omitted, because it is derived from your saying: "These are the best of the people" (khayr al-qawm) and "better than the people" (khayr min al-qawm); and since the annexation (iḍāfa) was permitted in place of "from" (min) without the meaning changing, (52) one was permitted to say: "I chose you, a man" and "I chose from you a man." And the poet has said: (53)
Then I said to him: pick out for yourself a fat young she-camel. (54)
And the rajaz-poet said: (55)
* Among the one for whom Allah chose the tree * (56)
with the meaning: Allah chose it from the trees. (57)
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And this second statement is, in my judgment, the most correct, on account of the indication of "choosing" (al-ikhtiyār) upon the requirement of "from" (min) in the sense of partitivity (tabʿīḍ). And it is the custom of the Arabs to omit a word from the midst of the statement when its place is known, and when in what they displayed there was an indication of what they omitted. This belongs to that, if Allah wills.
* * *
And we have already previously explained the meaning of "the trembling" (al-rajfa) with its proofs, and that it is: that which made the people tremble, shook them, and set them in motion, (58) after which it destroyed them and caused them to die, (59) or struck them with the lightning-blast and took away their reason. (60)
* * *
And we have mentioned the narration in another place, and the statement of him who said: that it was a lightning-blast that caused them to die. (61)
15165 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "Then, when the trembling seized them," they died and afterward He brought them back to life.
15166 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "seventy men for Our appointed time," Mūsā chose them in fulfillment of the agreed time. "Then, when the trembling seized them," they died and afterward Allah brought them back to life.
15167 - ʿAbd al-Karīm related to me, saying: Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Abū Saʿd said, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Then, when the trembling seized them." He said: they were shaken by the trembling.
* * *
The statement concerning the interpretation of His saying: أَتُهْلِكُنَا بِمَا فَعَلَ السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَّا إِنْ هِيَ إِلا فِتْنَتُكَ تُضِلُّ بِهَا مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتَهْدِي مَنْ تَشَاءُ أَنْتَ وَلِيُّنَا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الْغَافِرِينَ ("Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done? It is nothing but Your trial, by which You lead astray whom You will and guide whom You will. You are our Protector, so forgive us and have mercy upon us, and You are the best of the Forgivers.") (155).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The interpreters differed concerning the interpretation of that.
Some of them said: The meaning of that is: Will You destroy these whom You have destroyed for what the foolish among us have done, that is: for the worship of those who worshipped the calf? They said: Allah destroyed them only because they were among those who worshipped the calf. And Mūsā said what he said, while he had no knowledge of what had issued from them of that. (62)
* Mention of who said that:
15168 - Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done?" Then Allah revealed to Mūsā: Verily, these seventy were among those who had taken the calf! And that is when Mūsā says: "It is nothing but Your trial, by which You lead astray whom You will and guide whom You will." (63)
* * *
And others said: The meaning of that is: Verily, Your destruction of these whom You have destroyed is a destruction for those of the Banū Isrāʾīl who are behind them, when I return to them while they are not with me. And "the foolish," according to this statement, are the destroyed ones who had asked Mūsā to show them their Lord.
* Mention of who said that:
15169 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: When the trembling seized the seventy and they all died together, Mūsā stood up, calling upon his Lord and imploring Him and turning to Him, saying: رَبِّ لَوْ شِئْتَ أَهْلَكْتَهُمْ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَإِيَّايَ ("My Lord, had You willed, You would have destroyed them before, and me with them"), they have acted foolishly; will You then destroy those of the Banū Isrāʾīl who are behind me for what the foolish among us have done? That is to say: this is for them a destruction; I chose from them seventy men, the best and ever the best, and I return to them while there is not a single man with me! What then will move them to believe me, or to trust me after this? (64)
* * *
And others said concerning that:
15170 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done?" Will You call us to account while there is not among us a single man who has abandoned Your worship or taken another in Your place?
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the more correct of the two statements in the interpretation of the verse is the statement of him who said: that Mūsā only grieved over the destruction of the seventy with his words: "Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done?", and that by "the foolish" he meant only the worshippers of the calf. For it is impossible that Mūsā, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, would have chosen from his people for his supplication to his Lord anything other than that he wished to ask for them the best and ever the best of them, and it is impossible that the best in his view was one who had associated partners in the worship of the calf and had taken it as a god instead of Allah.
* * *
He said: If someone were to say: Is it not then possible that Mūsā, peace be upon him, believed that Allah, glorified be He, punishes a people for the sins of others, so that he says: Will You destroy us for the sins of those who worshipped the calf, while we are innocent of that? Then it is answered: It is possible that the meaning of "destruction" (al-ihlāk) is the taking away of the souls, not by way of punishment, as the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, said: إِنِ امْرُؤٌ هَلَكَ ("If a man perishes") [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ: 176] - that is: dies - so that he says: Will You cause us to die for what the foolish among us have done? (65)
* * *
And as for His saying: "It is nothing but Your trial," by it the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: This deed which my people have committed, namely that they worshipped something other than You, is nothing but a trial from You that befell them. And by "the trial" (al-fitna) He means the testing and the proving; (66) He says: I have tried them with it, so that it might become clear who strays from the truth through his worship of it, and who is guided through abstaining from its worship. And He attributed their straying and their guidance to Allah, because what issued from them of that had a cause in Him, whose praise is exalted.
* * *
And in agreement with what we have said concerning "the trial," a group of the interpreters spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
15171 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: "It is nothing but Your trial." He said: Your affliction (baliyya).
15172 - .... he said: Ḥabwayh al-Rāzī related to us, on the authority of Yaʿqūb, on the authority of Jaʿfar ibn Abī al-Mughīra, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "but Your trial," that is to say: but Your affliction (baliyya). (67)
15173 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Saʿd related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar informed us, (68) on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: "It is nothing but Your trial." He said: Your affliction (baliyya).
15174 - .... he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "It is nothing but Your trial, by which You lead astray whom You will." It is nothing but Your punishment (ʿadhāb), by which You strike whom You will and which You turn away from whom You will. (69)
15175 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "It is nothing but Your trial." You are their tester.
* * *
And His saying: "You are our Protector," by it He says: You are our Helper. (70) "So forgive us," by it He says: So cover for us our sins by refraining from Your punishment for them. "And have mercy upon us," turn to us with Your mercy. "And You are the best of the Forgivers," by it He says: the best of those who forgive a misdeed and cover a sin. (71)