The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 136
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH PT. 1 وَإِذْ وَعَدْنَا مُوسى اَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً ثُمَّ And remember the time. 52 a when We made Moses اتَّخَذْتُمُ الْعِجْلَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَنْتُمْظْلِمُونَ promise of forty nights; then you took the calf for worship in his absence and you were transgressors. 58 a7:143. 2:55, 93; 4:154; 7:149, 153; 20:89. In Abbott's Life of Napoleon it is related that, "One day, with quite a retinue, he (Napoleon) made an excursion to that identical point of the Red Sea which, as tradition reports, the children of Israel crossed three thousand years ago. The tide was out, and he passed over the Asiatic shore upon extended flats. Various objects of interest engrossed his attention until late in the afternoon, when he commenced his return, the twilight faded away, and darkness came rapidly on. The party lost their path, and, as they were wandering bewildered among the sands, the rapidly returning tide surrounded them. The darkness of the night increased, and the horses floundered deeper and deeper in the rising waves. The water reached the girths of the saddles, and dashed upon the feet of the rider, and destruction seemed inevitable. From that perilous position Napoleon extricated himself by that presence of mind and promptness of decision which seemed never to fail him. . . The horses did not reach the shore until midnight, when they were wading breast deep in the swelling waves. The tide rises on that part of the coast to the height of 22 feet. 'Had I perished in that manner 136 like Pharaoh', said Napoleon, 'it would have furnished all the preachers in Christendom with a magnificent text against me'. " (Abbott's Life of Napoleon, Chap. 12, p. 96). The words, while you looked on, have been added in the verse to make the Israelites realize that though the above miracle was performed before their very eyes and their proud and haughty oppressor was brought to naught in their very sight, yet they proved ungrateful to their Lord and His Prophet. 58. Important Words: (transgressors) is the plural of which is derived from which means (1) he put a thing at a wrong place (2) he transgressed against or wronged a person (Aqrab). Commentary: In this verse the incident of calf- worship mentioned in Exodus 32 is related. Man is generally the slave of environment. This is particularly true of a subject people, who assiduously imitate the manners and customs of their rulers. The Israelites had lived under the Pharaohs for a long time, and had imbibed the idolatrous faith of the Egyptians. When they left