”*** In this verse...

”*** In this verse, the Qur’ān informs that when the fire of the anger of Moses (as) quenched and he got the result he expected, he stretched his hand and took up the Tablets from the ground. The records of those Tablets were wholly guidance and mercy. That very guidance and mercy was for those who felt responsibility and were in awe of Allah and submitted to His command.

The verse says: “And when Moses’ anger calmed, he took up the Tablets, and in the inscriptions of them was guidance and mercy for those who are in awe of their Lord.

” Surah al-‘Araf – Verse 155 وَاخْتَارَ مُوسَى قَوْمَهُ سَبْعِينَ رَجُلاً لِمِيقَاتِنَا فَلَمَّآ أَخَذَتْهُمُ الرَّجْفَةُ قَالَ رَبِّ لَوْ شِئْتَ أَهْلَكْتَهُم مِن قَبْلُ وَإِيَّايَ أَتُهْلِكُنَا بِمَا فَعَلَ السُّفَهَآءُ مِنَّآ إِنْ هِيَ إلاَّ فِتْنَتُكَ تُضِلُّ بِهَا مَن تَشَآءُ وَتَهْدِي مَن تَشَآءُ أَنْتَ وَلِيُّنَا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الْغَافِرِينَ 155 ***.

“And Moses chose seventy men from his people for Our tryst, and when the earthquake overtook them,*** he said: ‘O’ Lord! had You pleased, You could have destroyed them and me before. Will You destroy us because of what the fools of us have done? It is naught but Your trial, wherebyYou cause to stray whomever You wish and guide whomever You wish.

You are our master, so forgive us and have mercy on us, for You are the best of the forgivers.” Once more, in this verse and the next one, the Qur’ān refers to a part of the story of Moses (as) when he, accompanying with a group of the Children of Israel, went to the tryst of Tūr. At first, the Qur’ān says: “And Moses chose seventy men from his people for Our tryst…” But when those men of the Children of Israel heard the word of the Lord, they demanded Moses (as) to ask Allah to show Himself.

At that time a great earthquake occurred and caused those people to pass away and Moses (as) fell down senseless. When he recovered his senses he said to the Lord that if He had wished He could have destroyed them and him before that. The verse says: “…and when the earthquake overtook them, he said: ‘O’ Lord! had You pleased, You could have destroyed them and me before. That is, Moses (as) meant how could he answer his people whose representatives became like that?

Then he said to the Lord that that undue request was the utterance of some fools of those people. Then he questioned Allah whether He destroyed them for what their fools had done.

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