2:53 Al-Baqara (The Cow)

تفسير الآيات من 50 الى 55 :ـ ثم ذكر منته عليهم بوعده لموسى أربعين ليلة لينزل عليهم التوراة المتضمنة للنعم العظيمة والمصالح العميمة، ثم إنهم لم يصبروا قبل استكمال الميعاد حتى عبدوا العجل من بعده, أي: ذهابه. { وَأَنْتُمْ ظَالِمُونَ } عالمون بظلمكم, قد قامت عليكم الحجة, فهو أعظم جرما وأكبر إثما. ثم إنه أمركم بالتوبة على لسان نبيه موسى بأن يقتل بعضكم بعضا فعفا الله عنكم بسبب ذلك { لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ } الله.

"وإذ آتينا موسى الكتاب" يعني التوراة "والفرقان" وهو ما يفرق بين الحق والباطل والهدى والضلالة لعلكم تهتدون وكان ذلك أيضا بعد خروجهم من البحر كما دل عليه سياق الكلام في سورة الأعراف ولقوله تعالى "ولقد آتينا موسى الكتاب من بعد ما أهلكنا القرون الأولى بصائر للناس وهدى ورحمة لعلهم يتذكرون" وقيل الواو زائدة والمعنى ولقد آتينا موسى الكتاب الفرقان وهذا غريب وقيل عطف عليه وإن كان المعنى واحدا كما في قول الشاعر: وقدمت الأديم لراقشيه فألفى قولها كذبا ومينا وقال الآخر: ألا حبذا هند وأرض بها هند وهند أتى من دونهـا النأي والبعد فالكذب هو المين والنأي هو البعد. وقال عنترة: حييت من طلل تقادم عهده أقوى وأقفر بعد أم الهيثم فعطف الإقفار على الإقواء وهو هو.

The Children of Israel worshipped the Calf

Allah then said, "Remember My favor on you when I forgave you for worshipping the calf." This happened after Musa went to the meeting place with his Lord at the end of that period which was forty days. These forty days were mentioned in Surat Al-A`raf, when Allah said,

وَوَعَدْنَا مُوسَى ثَلَـثِينَ لَيْلَةً وَأَتْمَمْنَاهَا بِعَشْرٍ

(And We appointed for Musa thirty nights and added (to the period) ten (more)) (7:142).

It was said that these days were during the month of Dhul-Qa`dah plus the first ten days in Dhul-Hijjah, after the Children of Israel were delivered from Fir`awn and they safely crossed the sea. Allah's statement,

وَإِذْ ءَاتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَـبَ

(And (remember) when We gave Musa the Scripture) means, the Tawrah,

وَالْفُرْقَانِ

(And the criterion) that is that which differentiates between truth and falsehood, guidance and deviation.

لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ

(So that you may be guided aright), after escaping the sea, as another Ayah in Surat Al-A`raf clearly stated,

وَلَقَدْ ءَاتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَـبَ مِن بَعْدِ مَآ أَهْلَكْنَا الْقُرُونَ الاٍّولَى بَصَآئِرَ لِلنَّاسِ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً لَّعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ

(And indeed We gave Musa ـ after We had destroyed the generations of old ـ the Scripture (the Tawrah) as an enlightenment for mankind, and a guidance and a mercy, that they might remember (or receive admonition)) (28:43).

And when We gave to Moses the Scripture the Torah and the Criterion wa’l-furqān is an explicative supplement of Torah that is the one that discriminates faraqa between truth and falsehood and between what is licit and illicit so that you might be guided by it away from error.

Torah is the book which was given to Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام)

In the language of the Holy Qur'an, al-Furgan الفرقان is a term signifying something which separates truth from falsehood or distinguishes the one from the other. In the present verse, it refers either to (a) the injunctions of the Shari` ah which are to be found in the Torah, for the Shari` ah resolves all the differences that may arise with regard to the doctrines or the practice of good deeds; or to (b) miracles which decide between a true or a false claim in a palpable manner; or even to (c) the Torah itself which has the twin qualities of being a Book of Allah and of being an instrument for separating truth from falsehood.

And when We gave Moses the book and the discernment. He gave Moses' folk the discernment outwardly, and He placed the discernment in the inwardness of MuḤammad's folk in addition to their outwardness. The inner discernment is a light in the heart of the friends through which they separate truth from falsehood. It is alluded to in His words, “If you are wary of God, He will appoint for you a criterion” [8:29]. This is why MuṣṬafā said to Wābisa, “Ask for a pronouncement from your heart!” He also said, “Be wary of the perspicacity of the man of faith, for he gazes with the light of God.” When this discernment appears in someone's inwardness, his drinking and aspiration are purified of the dust of others; the walkway of his desire is protected from the debris of customs, the carpet of his days is shaken loose of the opacities of mortal nature, and the eyes of his moment are kept away from the hand of newly arrived things. Then, things that are reports for others are for him face-to-face vision; what had been the knowl- edge of certainty becomes the eye of certainty. No newly arrived thing enters existence in the empire without his heart being aware of it. MuṣṬafā was asked if this has a mark. He said, “When light enters the heart, the breast is expanded.” Its mark is that the breast is opened up to the divine light. When the breast is opened up, the aspiration becomes high, every sorrow is comforted, scatteredness turns into togetherness, the carpet of subsistence is spread, the rug of annihilation is rolled up, the corner of heartaches is closed off, and the door to the garden of union is opened. In joy and coquetry, he says with the tongue of the state, “In the quarter of hope, I have a delightful home, in the story of passion, I have a delightful problem. Why do you ask details about my heart, O spirit of the world? Know, in short, that I have a delighted heart.”