وَإِذۡ

أَنجَيۡنَٰكُم

مِّنۡ

ءَالِ

فِرۡعَوۡنَ

يَسُومُونَكُمۡ

سُوٓءَ

ٱلۡعَذَابِ

يُقَتِّلُونَ

أَبۡنَآءَكُمۡ

وَيَسۡتَحۡيُونَ

نِسَآءَكُمۡۚ

وَفِي

ذَٰلِكُم

بَلَآءٞ

مِّن

رَّبِّكُمۡ

عَظِيمٞ

١٤١

And ˹remember˺ when We rescued you from the people of Pharaoh, who afflicted you with dreadful torment—killing your sons and keeping your women. That was a severe test from your Lord.

We appointed for Moses thirty nights then added another ten—completing his Lord’s term of forty nights. Moses commanded his brother Aaron, “Take my place among my people, do what is right, and do not follow the way of the corruptors.”

When Moses came at the appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he asked, “My Lord! Reveal Yourself to me so I may see You.” Allah answered, “You cannot see Me! But look at the mountain. If it remains firm in its place, only then will you see Me.” When his Lord appeared to the mountain, He levelled it to dust and Moses collapsed unconscious. When he recovered, he cried, “Glory be to You! I turn to You in repentance and I am the first of the believers.”

Allah said, “O Moses! I have ˹already˺ elevated you above all others by My messages and speech.¹ So hold firmly to what I have given you and be grateful.”

We wrote for him on the Tablets ˹the fundamentals˺ of everything; commandments and explanations of all things. ˹We commanded,˺ “Hold to this firmly and ask your people to take the best of it.¹ I will soon show ˹all of˺ you the home of the rebellious.²

I will turn away from My signs those who act unjustly with arrogance in the land. And even if they were to see every sign, they still would not believe in them. If they see the Right Path, they will not take it. But if they see a crooked path, they will follow it. This is because they denied Our signs and were heedless of them.

The deeds of those who deny Our signs and the meeting ˹with Allah˺ in the Hereafter will be in vain. Will they be rewarded except for what they have done?”

In the absence of Moses, his people made from their ˹golden˺ jewellery an idol of a calf that made a lowing sound. Did they not see that it could neither speak to them nor guide them to the ˹Right˺ Path? Still they took it as a god and were wrongdoers.

Later, when they were filled with remorse and realized they had gone astray, they cried, “If our Lord does not have mercy on us and forgive us, we will certainly be losers.”

When Moses returned to his people, ˹totally˺ furious and sorrowful, he said, “What an evil thing you committed in my absence! Did you want to hasten your Lord’s torment?” Then he threw down the Tablets and grabbed his brother by the hair, dragging him closer. Aaron pleaded, “O son of my mother! The people overpowered me and were about to kill me. So do not ˹humiliate me and˺ make my enemies rejoice, nor count me among the wrongdoing people.”