He said, “Mūsā, I have chosen you above all men for my messages and for My speaking (to you). So, take what I have given to you, and be among the grateful.”
We wrote for him on the Tablets advice of every kind, and explanations of all (needful) things. “So hold it firm, and ask your people to hold on to the best things in it. I shall show you the house of the sinners.
I shall keep away from My verses those who show arrogance on the earth with no right to do so. Even if they were to see every sign, they would not believe in it; and if they see the Path of guidance, they do not take it as their way; and if they see the path of misguidance, they would take it as their way. That is because they have rejected Our signs, and have been neglectful of them.
Gone to waste are the deeds of those who have rejected Our signs and the meeting of the Hereafter. They will be recompensed only for what they have been doing.
And in the absence of Mūsā, his people made a calf from their ornaments, which was merely a sculpture with a moaning sound. Did they not see that it neither talked to them nor could it guide them to any way? They adopted it (as god), and were so unjust.
When they became remorseful and saw that they had gone astray, they said, “If Allah shows no mercy to us, and does not forgive us, we shall certainly be among the losers.”
When Mūsā returned to his people, angry and sad, he said, “How bad is the thing you have done in my absence! How did you act in haste against the command of your Lord?” He dropped down the Tablets, and grabbed the head of his brother, pulling him towards himself. He (Hārūn) said, “My mother’s son, the people took me as weak and were about to kill me. So do not let the enemies laugh at me, and do not count me with the wrong-doers.”
Surely, those who have taken the calf (as god) shall be seized by Allah’s wrath and by humiliation in the worldly life. That is how we recompense the fabricators.
When the fury of Mūsā calmed down, he picked up the Tablets, and in its contents there was guidance, and mercy for those who are fearful before their Lord.
And Mūsā selected seventy men from his people for Our appointment. Later when the earthquake seized them, he said, “My Lord, had it been Your will, You could have destroyed them earlier, and me too. Would You destroy us for what the foolish among them have done? It is nothing but a trial from You, wherewith you let go astray whom You will, and give guidance to whom You will. You are our protector, so forgive us, and have mercy on us, and You are the best among those who forgive.
And write for us good in this world and in the Hereafter. We turn to You in repentance.” He (Allah) said, “As for My punishment, I afflict with it whom I will. And My mercy extends to everything. So, I shall write it for those who guard themselves against evil, and pay Zakāh, and those who do believe in Our verses,