And We brought the children of Israel across the sea; and they came unto a people who gave themselves up to the worship of idols belonging to them;[287] [whereupon] they said, O Moses, make for us a god (an idol for us to worship), like as they have gods. He replied, Verily ye are a people who are ignorant, since ye have requited God’s favour towards you with that which ye have said; for that [religion] in which these are [occupied shall be] destroyed, and vain is that which they do. He said, Shall I seek for you any other deity than God, when He hath preferred you above the peoples of your time?
(vii. 134-136.)
And We caused the thin clouds to shade you from the heat of the sun in the desert, and caused the manna and the quails[288] to descend upon you, and said, Eat of the good things which We have given you for food, and store not up.—But they were ungrateful for the benefit, and stored up; wherefore it was cut off from them. And they injured not Us thereby; but they did injure their own souls.
(ii. 54.)
[Remember, O children of Israel,] when ye said, O Moses, we will not bear patiently the having one kind of food, the manna and the quails; therefore supplicate for us thy Lord, that He may produce for us somewhat of that which the earth bringeth forth, of its herbs and its cucumbers and its wheat and its lentils and its onions:—he said unto them, Will ye take in exchange that which is worse for that which is better?—But they refused to recede; therefore he supplicated God, and He said, Get ye down into a great city;[289] for ye shall have therein what ye have asked.—And the marks of abjection and poverty were stamped upon them: so these characteristics necessarily belong to them, even if they are rich, as necessarily as the stamped coin belongeth to its die; and they returned with indignation from God. This was because they did disbelieve in the signs of God, and slay the prophets (as Zechariah and John) unjustly: this was because they rebelled and did transgress.
(ii. 58.)
And remember when Moses asked drink for his people, who had become thirsty in the desert, and We said, Strike with thy rod the stone. (It was the stone that fled away with his garment:[290] it was light, square, like the head of a man, marble or kedhdhán.[291]) Accordingly he struck it; and there gushed out from it twelve fountains, according to the number of the tribes, all men (each tribe of them) knowing their drinking-place. And We said unto them, Eat ye and drink of the supply of God, and commit not evil in the earth, acting corruptly.
(ii. 57.)
Remember also when We obtained your bond that ye would do according to that which is contained in the Law, and had lifted up over you the mountain [namely Mount Sinai], pulled it up by the roots and raised it over you when ye had refused to accept the Law, and We said, Receive that which We have given you, with resolution, and remember that which is contained in it, to do according thereto: peradventure ye will fear the Fire, or acts of disobedience.—Then ye turned back after that; and had it not been for the grace of God towards you and His mercy, ye had certainly been of those who perish. And ye know those of you who transgressed on the Sabbath, by catching fish, when We had forbidden them to do so (and they were the people of Eyleh[292],) and We said unto them, Be ye apes, driven away from the society of men.—Thereupon they became such, and they perished after three days.—And We made it (namely that punishment) an example unto those who were contemporary with them and those who came after them, and a warning to the pious.