"We did not break our promise to you by our own will," [meaning] by the command of our own authority, "but we were burdened with loads." He said: [meaning] heavy burdens of the people's adornments, which is the jewelry they had borrowed from the people of Pharaoh. "And we threw them [into the fire]," he said: [meaning] we cast them down. "And so did the Samiri cast." He said: [meaning] he did likewise. "And he extracted for them a calf, a physical body that had a lowing sound." He said: [meaning] the whistling of the wind within it, which is its lowing. The calf is the offspring of the cow.

The Saying of the Exalted: "By our own will."

13502 - From Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) regarding His saying: "By our own will," he said: By our own command.

13503 - From al-Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) regarding His saying: "By our own will," he said: By our own authority.

The Saying of the Exalted: "A calf, a physical body that had a lowing sound."

13504 - From Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) who said: The Children of Israel had borrowed jewelry from the Copts and brought it out with them. Harun said to them: "Moses has gone to the sky; gather this jewelry until Moses returns and decides concerning it what he decides." So it was gathered and then melted. When the Samiri threw in the handful, it turned into a calf, a physical body that had a lowing sound. He said: "This is your god and the god of Moses, but he forgot." He said: [meaning] Moses went to seek his Lord and missed the path, so he did not know His place, and this [the calf] is He.

13505 - From Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) who said: The Samiri was from the people of Kirman.

The Saying of the Exalted: "But he forgot. Do they not see that it cannot return to them a word?"

13506 - From Mujahid (may Allah be pleased with him) regarding "But he forgot," he said: His people say that the Lord erred [concerning] the calf. Regarding "Do they not see that it cannot return to them a word?" he said: [meaning] the calf. "Nor does it possess for them any harm," he said: [meaning] straying.

The Saying of the Exalted: "I feared that you would say, 'You caused division among the Children of Israel.'"

13507 - From Ibn Zayd regarding His saying: "I feared that you would say, 'You caused division among the Children of Israel,'" he said: I feared that some of them would follow me and some would stay behind."