Wamin qawmi moosa ommatun yahdoona bilhaqqi wabihi yaAAdiloon (surah Araf: 159)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(7:159) Among the people of Moses' *116 there was a party who guided others in the way of the truth and established justice in its light.  *117

Wa min qawmi Moosaaa ummatuny yahdoona bilhaqqi wa bihee ya`diloon

*116). This marks the resumption of the main theme of the discourse which had been interrupted by the parenthesis (see verses 157-8) calling people to affirm the prophethood of Muhammad (peace be on him).
>*117). The translators generally render the verse as the following:
Of the people of Moses there is a section who guide and do justice in the light of truth. (Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.)
They do so because, in their view, the present verse describes the moral and intellectual state of the Israelites at the time when the Qur'an was revealed. However, the context seems to indicate that the above account refers to the state of the Israelites at the time of the Prophet Moses. Thus, the purpose of the verse is to emphasize that even in the days of their calf-worship when God rebuked them, all members of Israel were not corrupt; that a sizeable section of them was righteous.