Surah TaHa ayat 87 Tafsir Quran 20:87

﴿قَالُوا مَا أَخْلَفْنَا مَوْعِدَكَ بِمَلْكِنَا وَلَٰكِنَّا حُمِّلْنَا أَوْزَارًا مِّن زِينَةِ الْقَوْمِ فَقَذَفْنَاهَا فَكَذَٰلِكَ أَلْقَى السَّامِرِيُّ﴾
[ طه: 87]

20:87 They said, "We did not break our promise to you by our will, but we were made to carry burdens from the ornaments of the people [of Pharaoh], so we threw them [into the fire], and thus did the Samiri throw."

They said ‘We did not break our tryst with you of our own accord read the mīm with any of the three vowellings meaning ‘by our own power’ or ‘of our own will’ but we were laden with read hamalnā ‘we carried’ or hummilnā ‘we were made to carry’ the burdens the weight of the people’s ornaments of the trinkets of Pharaoh’s folk — which the Children of Israel had borrowed from them on the pretext of using them for a wedding but which had remained with them — and we cast them we threw them into the fire at the command of the Samaritan and so just as We cast did the Samaritan cast what he had on him of their trinkets together with the dust that he took from the track left by the hoof of Gabriel’s steed as follows

We did not break our promise of our own accord, they said, but we were made to carry loads of ornaments -of Egyptian women- which we thought portend evil and We threw them in the fire to get rid of them and so did Samiri

Musa goes to the Appointment with Allah and the Children of Israel succumb to worship the Calf Allah relates what happened when Musa traveled with the Children of Israel after Fir`awn's destruction. فَأَتَوْاْ عَلَى قَوْمٍ يَعْكُفُونَ عَلَى أَصْنَامٍ لَّهُمْ قَالُواْ يَمُوسَى اجْعَلْ لَّنَآ إِلَـهًا كَمَا لَهُمْ ءَالِهَةٌ قَالَ إِنَّكُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ إِنَّ هَـؤُلآء مُتَبَّرٌ مَّا هُمْ فِيهِ وَبَـطِلٌ مَّا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ- ( And they came upon a people devoted to some of idols.
They said: "O Musa! Make for us god as they have gods." He said: "Verily, you are a people who know not.
Verily, these people will be destroyed for that which they are engaged in.
And all that they are doing is in vain." ) 7:138-139 Then, Allah made a covenant with Musa of thirty nights after which He added to them ten more nights.
Thus, they were forty nights in all.
The covenant was that he was to fast these number of days, during both the day and night.
Thus, Musa made haste to go to the Mountain and he left his brother, Harun, in charge over the Children of Israel.
This is why Allah says, وَمَآ أَعْجَلَكَ عَن قَومِكَ يمُوسَى قَالَ هُمْ أُوْلآء عَلَى أَثَرِى ( "And what made you hasten from your people, O Musa" He said: "They are close on my footsteps." ) These means that they have arrived and are settled near the Mountain. وَعَجِلْتُ إِلَيْكَ رَبِّ لِتَرْضَى ( and I hastened to You, O my Lord, that You might be pleased. ) meaning, "So You will be more pleased with me." قَالَ فَإِنَّا قَدْ فَتَنَّا قَوْمَكَ مِن بَعْدِكَ وَأَضَلَّهُمُ السَّامِرِىُّ ( (Allah ) said: "Verily, We have tried your people in your absence, and As-Samiri has led them astray.") Allah informs His Prophet, Musa, of what happened to the Children of Israel after he left them, and their deification of the calf that As-Samiri had made for them.
During this time period, Allah wrote for Musa the Tablets, which contained the Tawrah.
Allah said, وَكَتَبْنَا لَهُ فِى الاٌّلْوَاحِ مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ مَّوْعِظَةً وَتَفْصِيلاً لِّكُلِّ شَىْءٍ فَخُذْهَا بِقُوَّةٍ وَأْمُرْ قَوْمَكَ يَأْخُذُواْ بِأَحْسَنِهَا سَأُوْرِيكُمْ دَارَ الْفَـسِقِينَ ( And We wrote for him on the Tablets the lesson to be drawn from all things and the explanation for all things (and said ): "Hold unto these with firmness, and enjoin your people to take the better therein.
I shall show you the home of evildoers.") 7:145 This means, "I will show you the final outcome of what will happen to those who abandon My obedience and oppose My command." Concerning Allah's statement, فَرَجَعَ مُوسَى إِلَى قَوْمِهِ غَضْبَـنَ أَسِفاً ( Then Musa returned to his people in a state of anger and sorrow Asif. ) This means that after Allah informed him of what they were doing, he became extremely angry and upset with them.
He was very worried for them.
During this time he received the Tawrah, which contained their Shari`ah ( Law ), this was a great honor for them.
For they were a people who used to worship other than Allah.
Every person with sound reason and good sense could see that what they were doing was false and foolish.
This is why Allah said that he ( Musa ) returned to them in a state of anger and sorrow.
The word for sorrow used here is Asif, which is used to emphasize to the severity of his anger.
Mujahid said, "In a state of anger and sorrow means worried." Qatadah and As-Suddi said, "Asif here means in a state of sadness because of what his people had done after him." قَالَ يَقَوْمِ أَلَمْ يَعِدْكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ وَعْداً حَسَناً ( He (Musa ) said: "O my people! Did not your Lord promise you a fair promise...") This means, "Did He not promise you in that which I have spoken to you, every good in this life and in the Hereafter, and the good end in the final outcome of things You have already witnessed how He helped you defeat your enemy ( Fir`awn ) and He made you victorious over him and He blessed you with other bounties as well through His help." أَفَطَالَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْعَهْدُ ( Did then the promise seem to you long in coming ) meaning, `in waiting for what Allah had promised you and forgetting His previous favors and the covenant that He made with you before.' أَمْ أَرَدتُّمْ أَن يَحِلَّ عَلَيْكُمْ غَضَبٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ( Or did you desire that wrath should descend from your Lord on you, ) The word `Or' here means `Nay, but.' It is used here to separate between a previous item and a coming item.
It is as if it is saying, "Nay, but you want to make permissible the anger of your Lord upon you by what you have done.
Therefore, you have broken your promise to me." The Children of Israel said in reply to Musa's blame and rebuke, مَآ أَخْلَفْنَا مَوْعِدَكَ بِمَلْكِنَا ( We broke not our promise to you of our own will, ) Meaning by our power and our choice.
Then, they began making lame excuses and they told him how they got rid of that which they were carrying of Coptic jewelry that they had borrowed from them ( the Egyptian Copts ) when they left Egypt.
Therefore they cast it, meaning that they threw it away.
Thus, it became a calf that made a moaning sound that would gradually rise in pitch.
This calf was an ordeal, a hindrance and test.
This is why Allah said, فَكَذَلِكَ أَلْقَى السَّامِرِىُّفَأَخْرَجَ لَهُمْ عِجْلاً جَسَداً لَّهُ خُوَارٌ ( "...that was what As-Samiri suggested." Then he took out (of the fire ) for them ( a statue of ) a calf which was mooing.) Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Ibn `Abbas said, هَـذَآ إِلَـهُكُمْ وَإِلَـهُ مُوسَى ( This is your god, and the god of Musa. ) "So they became religiously devoted to it ( the calf ) and they loved it with a love that they had never loved anything else with before.
" Allah then says, فَنَسِىَ ( but he had forgotten. ) This means that he abandoned what he was following of the religion of Islam.
This is referring to As-Samiri.
Allah says in refuting them and rebuking them, and also explaining to them their folly and foolishness in that which they had done, أَفَلاَ يَرَوْنَ أَلاَّ يَرْجِعُ إِلَيْهِمْ قَوْلاً وَلاَ يَمْلِكُ لَهُمْ ضَرّاً وَلاَ نَفْعاً ( Did they not see that it could not return them a word (for answer ), and that it had no power either to harm them or to do them good) This is about the calf.
`Do they not see that it does not respond to them when they ask it and when they speak to it' وَلاَ يَمْلِكُ لَهُمْ ضَرّاً وَلاَ نَفْعاً ( and that it had no power either to harm them or to do them good ) Meaning in their worldly affairs and matters of the Hereafter.
Ibn `Abbas said, "Nay, by Allah, the moaning sound of the calf was nothing but wind that would enter into its behind and come out of its mouth, thus causing it to make a sound." In a Hadith of Al-Fitun recorded from Al-Hasan Al-Basri, it is mentioned that this calf's name was Bahmut.
In reference to the excuse of these ignorant people, they claimed that they were merely ridding themselves of the jewelry of the Copts.
In the process of doing so, they cast the jewelry ( into the pit of fire ) and ended up worshipping the calf.
Thus, they were seeking to rid themselves of something detestable, but wound up doing something even worse.
This is similar to an authentic narration reported from `Abdullah bin `Umar.
A man from `Iraq asked him about the ruling of mosquitoes' blood if it get on one's garment.
The man wanted to know if it is permissible to pray in such a garment or not.
Ibn `Umar replied by saying, "Look at the people of `Iraq.
They killed the grandson of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Al-Husayn, and yet they're asking about the blood of the mosquito."

(20:87) They answered, "We did not go against the Covenant with you of our own accord; it so happened that we felt burdened with the ornaments of the people and we merely threw them down. *67 ...........Then *68 the Samiri also put down something like these

They said, "We did not break our meaning

*67) This excuse was put forward by those people who were involved in the shirk fabricated by the Samiri.
They meant to say, " We did not throw down the ornaments with the intention of setting up a calf nor did we know what was going to be made of these, but when the calf was brought before us, we involuntarily got involved in shirk.
" The Arabic text which we have translated into: " We felt burdened with the ornaments of the people ", simply means this: " The heavy ornaments which our men and women were wearing like the Egyptians proved very burdensome to us in our wanderings in the desert and we did not know how to get rid of them for it appeared very difficult for us to travel in the desert with them. " But according to the Bible these ornaments had been borrowed by every family of the Israelites from their Egyptian neighbours with this intention, " ....and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters and ye shall spoil the Egyptians....and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold....And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians....so that they lent unto them such things as they required.
And they spoiled the Egyptians. " And that, too, on the advice of Prophet Moses, whom God Himself had instructed to do this " noble deed. " ( Exodus, 3: 1422, 11 : 2-3, and I 2 : 35-36 ).

It is a pity that some of our commentators have interpreted this verse in the light of the above traditions of the Bible.
They say that the Israelites felt burdened with the weight of those ornaments which they had borrowed from their Egyptian neighbours, with the intention of carrying them away as a " spoil " bestowed by God.

We are of the opinion that the clause of the verse under discussion means this: " When the people were tired of carrying their ornaments on their bodies, they decided by mutual consultation that all the ornaments should be gathered at one place and it should be noted down how much gold and silver belonged to each of the owners.
Then it should be melted into bars and rods and placed on the backs of the beasts of burden. " Accordingly, they might have brought their ornaments and thrown them in the common heap.

*68) It is obvious from the context that the answer of the people ended with " threw them down ", and Allah Himself has added the remaining story up to the end of the paragraph.
It appears from this that the people including the Samiri went on bringing their ornaments and throwing them down into the heap while they were absolutely unaware of what was going to be done by the Samiri.
After this the Samiri offered his services to melt it.
Then he shaped it into a calf which lowed like a cow.
Thus the Samiri deluded the people, saying, " This god of yours has come into being by itself for I had simply thrown the gold in the fire. "
 

Musa goes to the Appointment with Allah and the Children of Israel succumb to worship the Calf Allah relates what happened when Musa traveled with the Children of Israel after Fir`awn's destruction. فَأَتَوْاْ عَلَى قَوْمٍ يَعْكُفُونَ عَلَى أَصْنَامٍ لَّهُمْ قَالُواْ يَمُوسَى اجْعَلْ لَّنَآ إِلَـهًا كَمَا لَهُمْ ءَالِهَةٌ قَالَ إِنَّكُمْ قَوْمٌ تَجْهَلُونَ إِنَّ هَـؤُلآء مُتَبَّرٌ مَّا هُمْ فِيهِ وَبَـطِلٌ مَّا كَانُواْ يَعْمَلُونَ- ( And they came upon a people devoted to some of idols.
They said: "O Musa! Make for us god as they have gods." He said: "Verily, you are a people who know not.
Verily, these people will be destroyed for that which they are engaged in.
And all that they are doing is in vain." ) 7:138-139 Then, Allah made a covenant with Musa of thirty nights after which He added to them ten more nights.
Thus, they were forty nights in all.
The covenant was that he was to fast these number of days, during both the day and night.
Thus, Musa made haste to go to the Mountain and he left his brother, Harun, in charge over the Children of Israel.
This is why Allah says, وَمَآ أَعْجَلَكَ عَن قَومِكَ يمُوسَى قَالَ هُمْ أُوْلآء عَلَى أَثَرِى ( "And what made you hasten from your people, O Musa" He said: "They are close on my footsteps." ) These means that they have arrived and are settled near the Mountain. وَعَجِلْتُ إِلَيْكَ رَبِّ لِتَرْضَى ( and I hastened to You, O my Lord, that You might be pleased. ) meaning, "So You will be more pleased with me." قَالَ فَإِنَّا قَدْ فَتَنَّا قَوْمَكَ مِن بَعْدِكَ وَأَضَلَّهُمُ السَّامِرِىُّ ( (Allah ) said: "Verily, We have tried your people in your absence, and As-Samiri has led them astray.") Allah informs His Prophet, Musa, of what happened to the Children of Israel after he left them, and their deification of the calf that As-Samiri had made for them.
During this time period, Allah wrote for Musa the Tablets, which contained the Tawrah.
Allah said, وَكَتَبْنَا لَهُ فِى الاٌّلْوَاحِ مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ مَّوْعِظَةً وَتَفْصِيلاً لِّكُلِّ شَىْءٍ فَخُذْهَا بِقُوَّةٍ وَأْمُرْ قَوْمَكَ يَأْخُذُواْ بِأَحْسَنِهَا سَأُوْرِيكُمْ دَارَ الْفَـسِقِينَ ( And We wrote for him on the Tablets the lesson to be drawn from all things and the explanation for all things (and said ): "Hold unto these with firmness, and enjoin your people to take the better therein.
I shall show you the home of evildoers.") 7:145 This means, "I will show you the final outcome of what will happen to those who abandon My obedience and oppose My command." Concerning Allah's statement, فَرَجَعَ مُوسَى إِلَى قَوْمِهِ غَضْبَـنَ أَسِفاً ( Then Musa returned to his people in a state of anger and sorrow Asif. ) This means that after Allah informed him of what they were doing, he became extremely angry and upset with them.
He was very worried for them.
During this time he received the Tawrah, which contained their Shari`ah ( Law ), this was a great honor for them.
For they were a people who used to worship other than Allah.
Every person with sound reason and good sense could see that what they were doing was false and foolish.
This is why Allah said that he ( Musa ) returned to them in a state of anger and sorrow.
The word for sorrow used here is Asif, which is used to emphasize to the severity of his anger.
Mujahid said, "In a state of anger and sorrow means worried." Qatadah and As-Suddi said, "Asif here means in a state of sadness because of what his people had done after him." قَالَ يَقَوْمِ أَلَمْ يَعِدْكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ وَعْداً حَسَناً ( He (Musa ) said: "O my people! Did not your Lord promise you a fair promise...") This means, "Did He not promise you in that which I have spoken to you, every good in this life and in the Hereafter, and the good end in the final outcome of things You have already witnessed how He helped you defeat your enemy ( Fir`awn ) and He made you victorious over him and He blessed you with other bounties as well through His help." أَفَطَالَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْعَهْدُ ( Did then the promise seem to you long in coming ) meaning, `in waiting for what Allah had promised you and forgetting His previous favors and the covenant that He made with you before.' أَمْ أَرَدتُّمْ أَن يَحِلَّ عَلَيْكُمْ غَضَبٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ( Or did you desire that wrath should descend from your Lord on you, ) The word `Or' here means `Nay, but.' It is used here to separate between a previous item and a coming item.
It is as if it is saying, "Nay, but you want to make permissible the anger of your Lord upon you by what you have done.
Therefore, you have broken your promise to me." The Children of Israel said in reply to Musa's blame and rebuke, مَآ أَخْلَفْنَا مَوْعِدَكَ بِمَلْكِنَا ( We broke not our promise to you of our own will, ) Meaning by our power and our choice.
Then, they began making lame excuses and they told him how they got rid of that which they were carrying of Coptic jewelry that they had borrowed from them ( the Egyptian Copts ) when they left Egypt.
Therefore they cast it, meaning that they threw it away.
Thus, it became a calf that made a moaning sound that would gradually rise in pitch.
This calf was an ordeal, a hindrance and test.
This is why Allah said, فَكَذَلِكَ أَلْقَى السَّامِرِىُّفَأَخْرَجَ لَهُمْ عِجْلاً جَسَداً لَّهُ خُوَارٌ ( "...that was what As-Samiri suggested." Then he took out (of the fire ) for them ( a statue of ) a calf which was mooing.) Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Ibn `Abbas said, هَـذَآ إِلَـهُكُمْ وَإِلَـهُ مُوسَى ( This is your god, and the god of Musa. ) "So they became religiously devoted to it ( the calf ) and they loved it with a love that they had never loved anything else with before.
" Allah then says, فَنَسِىَ ( but he had forgotten. ) This means that he abandoned what he was following of the religion of Islam.
This is referring to As-Samiri.
Allah says in refuting them and rebuking them, and also explaining to them their folly and foolishness in that which they had done, أَفَلاَ يَرَوْنَ أَلاَّ يَرْجِعُ إِلَيْهِمْ قَوْلاً وَلاَ يَمْلِكُ لَهُمْ ضَرّاً وَلاَ نَفْعاً ( Did they not see that it could not return them a word (for answer ), and that it had no power either to harm them or to do them good) This is about the calf.
`Do they not see that it does not respond to them when they ask it and when they speak to it' وَلاَ يَمْلِكُ لَهُمْ ضَرّاً وَلاَ نَفْعاً ( and that it had no power either to harm them or to do them good ) Meaning in their worldly affairs and matters of the Hereafter.
Ibn `Abbas said, "Nay, by Allah, the moaning sound of the calf was nothing but wind that would enter into its behind and come out of its mouth, thus causing it to make a sound." In a Hadith of Al-Fitun recorded from Al-Hasan Al-Basri, it is mentioned that this calf's name was Bahmut.
In reference to the excuse of these ignorant people, they claimed that they were merely ridding themselves of the jewelry of the Copts.
In the process of doing so, they cast the jewelry ( into the pit of fire ) and ended up worshipping the calf.
Thus, they were seeking to rid themselves of something detestable, but wound up doing something even worse.
This is similar to an authentic narration reported from `Abdullah bin `Umar.
A man from `Iraq asked him about the ruling of mosquitoes' blood if it get on one's garment.
The man wanted to know if it is permissible to pray in such a garment or not.
Ibn `Umar replied by saying, "Look at the people of `Iraq.
They killed the grandson of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Al-Husayn, and yet they're asking about the blood of the mosquito."

( They said ) O Moses: ( We broke not tryst with thee ) we did not go against your promise ( of our own will ) intentionally knowing that we were doing so, ( but we were laden with burdens ) loads ( of ornaments of the folk ) of the ornament of the people of Pharaoh, and the evil omen of that burden led us to worship the calf, ( then cast them ) then we cast the ornament ( (in the Fire ), for thus al-Samiri proposed) just as al-Samiri did.

They said: "We broke not the promise to you, of our own will, but we were made to carry the weight of the ornaments of the [Fir'aun's (Pharaoh)] people, then we cast them (into the fire), and that was what As-Samiri suggested."

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