28. CALF OF SAAMRI
After the death of pharaoh, the Bani Israel got freedom from his subjugation and they embraced faith in Sayyiduna Musa Sayyiduna Musa was then ordered by Allah to observe I’tikaf (ritual seclusion) on Mount Sinai [Kauh-e-Toor] for forty nights. After this, he was to be blessed with the holy book, Tawrah. Therefore, in order to fulfil this Divine commandment, Sayyiduna Musa went to Mount Sinai and handed over the control of
the Bani Israel to his brother Sayyiduna Haroon . Sayyiduna Musa observed fasts during the day and performed worship during the whole night for consecutive forty days.
Saamri
There was a person in the Bani Israel called Saamri who was bastard i.e. born of an illegitimate birth. He was a very sinful person. Due to the fear of disgrace within her community, his mother deserted him in a cave of some mountain just after his birth. Sayyiduna Jibra`eel raised him by feeding him milk with his finger. Therefore, he was acquainted with Sayyiduna Jibra`eel . His full name is ‘Musa Saamri’ and Sayyiduna Musa’s name is ‘Musa’ too.
Sayyiduna Jibra`eel brought up Musa Saamri whereas Sayyiduna Musawas brought up in the home of pharaoh. How strange and mysterious the glory of Allah is that Sayyiduna Musa who was brought up in the home of pharaoh became Prophet of Allah and Musa Saamri who was brought up by Sayyiduna Jibra`eel became an unbeliever (Kafir). He enticed the Bani Israel to worship the calf. Regarding this, some mystic has said:
Meaning, when a person has been destined with wretched fate eternally, he can never attain piety and he remains unlucky. Even the efforts of those who raise him go futile. You see that Musa Saamri who was brought up by Sayyiduna Jibra`eel became pagan
and Sayyiduna Musa who was brought up by pharaoh became Prophet of Allah.
The secret behind this is that Musa Saamri was destined to be ill- fated so his tending and nursing by Sayyiduna Jibra`eel did not benefit him and he remained an infidel. On the other hand, Sayyiduna Musa was destined to be pious and fortunate eternally. That’s why even the nursing by an unbeliever like pharaoh could not harm him.
When Sayyiduna Musa was staying [doing I’tikaf] on Mount Sinai, Saamri took advantage of his absence for producing heresy. He asked for gold and silver jewellery from the Bani Israel, melted it to mould a calf. After this, he put the dust of the hoofs of the horse of Sayyiduna Jibra`eel into the mouth of the calf that he had kept safe. By virtue of it, the calf started to speak. Then, Saamri said to the Bani Israel, ‘O my people! (Sayyiduna) Musa has gone to the Mount Sinai to see the vision of the Rab whereas this calf is your lord. Therefore, you should worship this calf.’ The Bani Israel got misguided from this speech of Saamri and except for twelve thousand people, rest of them admitted the calf to be the god after witnessing it speaking. They started prostrating and worshipping before it. Therefore, Allah has said:
And behind Musa, his people molded a calf from their ornaments – a lifeless body making sounds like a cow.
After forty days, when Sayyiduna Musa returned to his town after talking to Allah and bringing the holy Tawrah with him, he flew into fury to see his people worshipping the calf. Sayyiduna Musa placed the Tawrah on the ground out of anger and started dragging his brother Haroon by holding him from his beard, snatched his hair and started beating him saying that why he did not prevent them from committing that evil act. Sayyiduna Haroon apologized as mentioned in Holy Quran:
O son of my mother! The people thought I was weak and would have probably killed me; so do not make my enemies laugh at me and do not link me amongst the oppressors.
After hearing this apology of Sayyiduna Haroon , the anger of Sayyiduna Musa faded away. He supplicated for his brother Sayyiduna Haroon’s forgiveness and for mercy upon him. Then, he broke the calf into small pieces, burnt it and dispersed its ash into the river.
Moral:
From this event, we get two important lessons:
1. This event provides guidelines to religious scholars that they should never be negligent towards their people. They should always keep imparting the religious knowledge to their people. You saw that Saamri took the advantage of 40 days absence of Sayyiduna Musa . He misguided the people away from the right path. Similarly, if the religious scholars of Ahl-us- Sunnah will remain heedless and negligent in the affairs of their people, then the sects bearing corrupt beliefs will get a chance to misguide the people away from the right path.
2. When the dust of the hoofs of the horse of Sayyiduna Jibra`eel can make the statue of the calf speak, we may deduce that the dust of the feet of the chosen people of Allah can also bring benefits and blessings. Therefore, it is not a useless act to sprinkle the water in homes that is obtained from washing the feet of the chosen people of Allah. It has been the good practice of devoted disciples. We can hope for mercy and blessings by virtue of it and it is not contrary to the Islamic Shari’ah.
Source: (QURANIC WONDERS) by ‘ABDUL MUSTAFA A’ZAMI.
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