2:51 Al-Baqara (The Cow)

واذكروا نعمتنا عليكم: حين واعدنا موسى أربعين ليلة لإنزال التوراة هدايةً ونورًا لكم، فإذا بكم تنتهزون فرصة غيابه هذه المدة القليلة، وتجعلون العجل الذي صنعتموه بأيديكم معبودًا لكم من دون الله - وهذا أشنع الكفر بالله- وأنتم ظالمون باتخاذكم العجل إلهًا.

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.

يقول تعالى واذكروا نعمتي عليكم في عفوي عنكم لما عبدتم العجل بعد ذهاب موسى لميقات ربه عند انقضاء أمد المواعدة وكانت أربعين يوما وهي المذكورة في الأعراف في قوله تعالى "وواعدنا موسى ثلاثين ليلة وأتممناها بعشر" قيل إنها ذو القعدة بكماله وعشر من ذي الحجة وكان ذلك بعد خلاصهم من فرعون وإنجائهم من البحر.

And when We appointed for wā‘adnā or wa‘adnā Moses forty nights at the end of which We shall give him the Torah for you to implement then you took to yourselves the calf the one which the Samaritan fashioned for you as a god after him that is after he departed for Our appointment and you were evildoers for taking it in worship because you directed your worship to the wrong place.

Verse 51 refers to other incidents in the same story. When the Pharaoh had been drowned, the Israelites, according to one report, went back to Egypt, or, according to another, began to live somewhere else. Having at last found a peaceful existence, they now wished they could receive a Shari` ah, or a religious code of laws, from Allah which they should follow. Allah answered the prayer of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and promised that if he came to the Mount Tur طور (Sinai) and devoted himself to worship for a month, he would receive a Divine Book. He gladly obeyed the Commandment, and was granted the Torah تورات . But he was ordered to continue to worship for ten days more, because he had broken his fast after a month and thus lost the special odour which rises from the mouth of a fasting person and which is very pleasant to Allah; so Allah commanded him to fast for ten additional days and regain that odour. Thus, Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) completed forty days of total fasting and devotion. While he was on Mt. Sinai, something very odious happened to the Israelites. Among them there was a man called Samiriyy سامری . He fashioned the figure of a calf out of gold or silver, and put into it some of the dust which he had picked up from under the hooves of the horse of Jibra'il (the Archangel Gabriel علیہ السلام), at the time when the Pharaoh and his army had been drowned by the Archangel. The golden calf immediately acquired life. The ignorant among the Israelites were so impressed that they started worshipping it.

Verse 51 calls them "unjust" for having committed this sin, for 'injustice' lies in putting things in the improper places, and idolatory is essentially just that.