What! saw they not that it returned them no answer, and could neither hurt nor help them?
And Aaron had before said to them, "O my people! by this calf are ye only proved: surely your Lord is the God of Mercy: follow me therefore and obey my bidding."
They said, "We will not cease devotion to it, till Moses come back to us."
He said, "O Aaron! when thou sawest that they had gone astray, what hindered thee from following me? Hast thou then disobeyed my command?"
He said, "O Son of my mother! seize me not by my beard, nor by my head: indeed I feared lest thou shouldst say,
Thou hast rent the children of Isreal asunder, and hast not observed my orders."'
He said, "And what was thy motive, O Samiri?" He said, "I saw what they saw not: so I took a handful of dust from the track21 of the messenger of God, and flung it into the calf, for so my soul prompted me."
He said, "Begone then: verily thy doom even in this life shall be to say, 'Touch me not.'22 And there is a threat against thee, which thou shalt not escape hereafter. Now look at thy god to which thou hast continued so devoted: we will surely burn it and reduce it to ashes, which we will cast into the sea.
Your God is God, beside whom there is no God: In his knowledge he embraceth all things."
Thus do We recite to thee histories of what passed of old; and from ourself have we given thee admonition.