Bismillāh.
وَٱتَّخَذَ قَوْمُ مُوسَىٰ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِۦ مِنْ حُلِيِّهِمْ عِجْلًۭا جَسَدًۭا لَّهُۥ خُوَارٌ ۚ أَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ أَنَّهُۥ لَا يُكَلِّمُهُمْ وَلَا يَهْدِيهِمْ سَبِيلًا ۘ ٱتَّخَذُوهُ وَكَانُوا۟ ظَـٰلِمِينَ
The people of Mūsā took up in his absence a calf [cast] from their ornaments—a body that gave out a lowing sound. Did they not regard that it did not speak to them, nor did it guide them in any way? They took it up [for worship] and they were wrongdoers.
Sūrat al-A‘r āf, No.7, Āyat 148
It was on the first of the month of Dhul Qa‘dah that Prophet Mūsā ‘alayhis-salām was summoned by Allah ‘azza wajall to the mountain of Tūr for thirty days to receive the Tawrāt. Whilst he was on the mountain, another ten days were added as a test for the Banū Isrā’īl. When the Prophet did not return to his people after thirty days, rumors spread that he had died. During the next ten days, the true beliefs of the Banū Isrā’īl were made apparent. As the Holy Qur’ān mentions in Sūrat Tāhā:
قَالَ فَإِنَّا قَدْ فَتَنَّا قَوْمَكَ مِنْ بَعْدِكَ وَأَضَلَّهُمُ السَّامِرِيُّ
He (Allah) said (to Mūsa), ‘We have indeed tested your people after you (left), and Sāmirī has led them astray.’ (Q20:85)
Who was Sāmirī?
Sāmirī was one of the leaders of the Bani Isrā’īl, and his birth name was Mikha. He was a goldsmith by profession, and heralded from the tribe of Samirah. He was a hypocrite who professed to be from the followers of Prophet Mūsa.
What did Sāmirī do?
The Banū Isrā’īl lived amongst the Egyptians for four centuries and idol worshipping was commonly practiced around them. They were sensory-oriented people and accorded value to physical objects, such as gold and physical ornaments. They had already once asked Prophet Mūsa (a) to make for them a physical deity after crossing the sea (Q7:138). In sermon 317 of Nahj al-Balāghah, Imam ‘Alī (a) highlights this characteristic of the Banū Isrā’īl. He said:
But you had not yet dried your feet after crossing the sea when you said to your Prophet: ‘Make for us a god as they have gods’
Given these tendencies, Sāmirī, the deceiver, fashioned a calf out of gold for them. He designed its interior so that when air entered from beneath it a sound would emerge from its mouth resembling the lowing of a cow. The word khuwār refers specifically to the sound made by a cow or calf. Some commentators suggest that Sāmiri installed tubes within the calf so that compressed air would pass through them and produce this sound. Others say he positioned the calf to face the wind in such a way that when air entered its specially designed mouth it created a similar effect.
The Divine Argument
Allah (swt) rebukes them saying: “Did they not see?”—that is, did they not realize that it could neither speak to them in a way that would benefit them nor repel harm, nor guide them to any path? They failed to understand one of the most important attributes of a deity, which is guiding people to the right path.
Allah exposes the fasād (invalidity) of their belief: something that neither speaks, benefits, harms, nor provides guidance is merely a lifeless object. How, then, could it be a god worthy of worship? The verse concludes by saying: “And they were wrongdoers, ” The Qur’ān considers their idolatry to be an act of injustice (zulm), and the people who practiced it are called the zālimīn (oppressors) in this verse. This means that they wronged themselves by turning away from the worship of God Almighty and indulging in the worship of the calf.
The Sāmirīs of Today
Allah (swt) does not mention Sāmirī in the Qur’ān by name, but only refers to him by his association to a group of people (the Sāmirah). The Qur’an is not just telling us about the Sāmirī of the time of Mūsā. It is warning us about the Sāmirī of our era. These are people who deviate others from the true religion by preying on their vulnerabilities. They make the materialistic world and different forms of falsehood enticing. They disguise falsehood with the garb of reality and lead many astray.
We pray to the Almighty to strengthen our faith so that we are not deviated by the Sāmirīs of today. We pray for the safety and victory of the Muslim Ummah through the hastening of Imam al-Hujjah ‘ajjallāhu farajah.
Sources: Āyatullāh Nāsir Makārim Shirāzī (Ed.), Tafsīr-e Namūneh; ‘Allāmah Muhammad Husayn Tabātabā’ī, Tafsīr al-Mīzān; Shaykh Tabarsī, Tafsīr Majma‘ al-Bayān; Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Tafsīr al-Kabīr; Sharīf al-Radī, Nahj al-Balāghah.