Passover is not about dead children

You may have heard people talking about how "bad" Passover is! They will tell you that "God kills children," and this is one of those times in which such happened. This is a myth! God never kills anyone! Most deaths are due to the devil or the person's fault! No, I am not victim -blaming here. It is merely a fact that many of the things that happen to us are somewhat caused by us, and, no, this is not victim -blaming. Western logic makes this difficult! Western logic demands that there be blame on somebody even if you cannot prove that what happened was even bad! Western logic is all about causes! Reality is not! Reality is about relationships! Think quantum! Causality doesn't exist there! And you can't call God guilty, because guilt implies truth, and you can't have truth without an Holy Book, but if you get rid of a Deity, then, you have no way to apply guilt, and also you have nobody to apply guilt to, since you are blaming God. And also, so you really believe that it is all that good to be so small and helpless? I do not say that what happened was good, but we live in a fallen world, where moral options are not always possible! So, instead of blaming God, you can weep for the loss of innocence, and the destruction of the world that brings such about! Passover remembers that!

Rapunzel

by the Grimm Brothers

---

There were once a man and a woman who had long in vain wished for a child. At length the woman hoped that God was about to grant her desire. These people had a little window at the back of their house from which a splendid garden could be seen, which was full of the most beautiful flowers and herbs. It was, however, surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared to go into it because it belonged to an enchantress, who had great power and was dreaded by all the world.
One day the woman was standing by this window and looking down into the garden, when she saw a bed which was planted with the most beautiful rampion - Rapunzel, and it looked so fresh and green that she longed for it, and had the greatest desire to eat some. This desire increased every day, and as she knew that she could not get any of it, she quite pined away, and began to look pale and miserable.
Then her husband was alarmed, and asked, "What ails you, dear wife?"
"Ah," she replied, "if I can't eat some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, I shall die."
The man, who loved her, thought, sooner than let your wife die, bring her some of the rampion yourself, let it cost what it will. At twilight, he clambered down over the wall into the garden of the enchantress, hastily clutched a handful of rampion, and took it to his wife. She at once made herself a salad of it, and ate it greedily. It tasted so good to her - so very good, that the next day she longed for it three times as much as before. If he was to have any rest, her husband must once more descend into the garden. In the gloom of evening, therefore, he let himself down again. But when he had clambered down the wall he was terribly afraid, for he saw the enchantress standing before him.
"How can you dare," said she with angry look, "descend into my garden and steal my rampion like a thief? You shall suffer for it."
"Ah," answered he, "let mercy take the place of justice, I only made up my mind to do it out of necessity. My wife saw your rampion from the window, and felt such a longing for it that she would have died if she had not got some to eat."
Then the enchantress allowed her anger to be softened, and said to him, "If the case be as you say, I will allow you to take away with you as much rampion as you will, only I make one condition, you must give me the child which your wife will bring into the world. It shall be well treated, and I will care for it like a mother."
The man in his terror consented to everything, and when the woman was brought to bed, the enchantress appeared at once, gave the child the name of Rapunzel, and took it away with her.
Rapunzel grew into the most beautiful child under the sun. When she was twelve years old, the enchantress shut her into a tower, which lay in a forest, and had neither stairs nor door, but quite at the top was a little window. When the enchantress wanted to go in, she placed herself beneath it and cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair!"

Rapunzel had magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold, and when she heard the voice of the enchantress she unfastened her braided tresses, wound them round one of the hooks of the window above, and then the hair fell twenty ells down, and the enchantress climbed up by it.
After a year or two, it came to pass that the king's son rode through the forest and passed by the tower. Then he heard a song, which was so charming that he stood still and listened. This was Rapunzel, who in her solitude passed her time in letting her sweet voice resound. The king's son wanted to climb up to her, and looked for the door of the tower, but none was to be found. He rode home, but the singing had so deeply touched his heart, that every day he went out into the forest and listened to it. Once when he was thus standing behind a tree, he saw that an enchantress came there, and he heard how she cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair!"

Then Rapunzel let down the braids of her hair, and the enchantress climbed up to her. "If that is the ladder by which one mounts, I too will try my fortune," said he, and the next day when it began to grow dark, he went to the tower and cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair!"

Immediately the hair fell down and the king's son climbed up. At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man, such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her. But the king's son began to talk to her quite like a friend, and told her that his heart had been so stirred that it had let him have no rest, and he had been forced to see her. Then Rapunzel lost her fear, and when he asked her if she would take him for her husband, and she saw that he was young and handsome, she thought, he will love me more than old dame gothel does. And she said yes, and laid her hand in his.
She said, "I will willingly go away with you, but I do not know how to get down. Bring with you a skein of silk every time that you come, and I will weave a ladder with it, and when that is ready I will descend, and you will take me on your horse."
They agreed that until that time he should come to her every evening, for the old woman came by day.
The enchantress remarked nothing of this, until once Rapunzel said to her, "Tell me, Dame Gothel, how it happens that you are so much heavier for me to draw up than the young king's son - he is with me in a moment."
"Ah! You wicked child," cried the enchantress. "What do I hear you say. I thought I had separated you from all the world, and yet you have deceived me."
In her anger she clutched Rapunzel's beautiful tresses, wrapped them twice round her left hand, seized a pair of scissors with the right, and snip, snap, they were cut off, and the lovely braids lay on the ground. And she was so pitiless that she took poor Rapunzel into a desert where she had to live in great grief and misery.
On the same day that she cast out Rapunzel, however, the enchantress fastened the braids of hair, which she had cut off, to the hook of the window, and when the king's son came and cried,

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
Let down your hair!"

she let the hair down. The king's son ascended, but instead of finding his dearest Rapunzel, he found the enchantress, who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks.
"Aha," she cried mockingly, "you would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest. The cat has got it, and will scratch out your eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to you. You will never see her again."
The king's son was beside himself with pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell pierced his eyes. Then he wandered quite blind about the forest, ate nothing but roots and berries, and did naught but lament and weep over the loss of his dearest wife.
Thus he roamed about in misery for some years, and at length came to the desert where Rapunzel, with the twins to which she had given birth, a boy and a girl, lived in wretchedness. He heard a voice, and it seemed so familiar to him that he went towards it, and when he approached, Rapunzel knew him and fell on his neck and wept. Two of her tears wetted his eyes and they grew clear again, and he could see with them as before. He led her to his kingdom where he was joyfully received, and they lived for a long time afterwards, happy and contented.

Barnabas 8

Barnabas 8:1
But what think ye meaneth the type, where the commandment is given
to Israel that those men, whose sins are full grown, offer an heifer
and slaughter and burn it, and then that the children take up the
ashes, and cast them into vessels, and twist the scarlet wool on a
tree (see here again is the type of the cross and the scarlet wool),
and the hyssop, and that this done the children should sprinkle the
people one by one, that they may be purified from their sins?

Barnabas 8:2
Understand ye how in all plainness it is spoken unto you; the calf is
Jesus, the men that offer it, being sinners, are they that offered
Him for the slaughter. After this it is no more men (who offer); the
glory is no more for sinners.

Barnabas 8:3
The children who sprinkle are they that preached unto us the
forgiveness of sins and the purification of our heart, they to whom,
being twelve in number for a testimony unto the tribes (for there are
twelve tribes of Israel), He gave authority over the Gospel, that
they should preach it.

Barnabas 8:4
But wherefore are the children that sprinkle three in number? For a
testimony unto Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, because these are mighty
before God.

Barnabas 8:5
Then there is the placing the wool on the tree. This means that the
kingdom of Jesus is on the cross, and that they who set their hope on
Him shall live for ever.

Barnabas 8:6
And why is there the wool and the hyssop at the same time? Because
in His kingdom there shall be evil and foul days, in which we shall
be saved; for he who suffers pain in the flesh is healed through the
foulness of the hyssop.

Barnabas 8:7
Now to us indeed it is manifest that these things so befell for this
reason, but to them they were dark, because they heard not the voice
of the Lord.

modern art copied from wikipedia

Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophy of the art produced during that era.^[1] The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of experimentation.^[2] Modern artists experimented with new ways of seeing and with fresh ideas about the nature of materials and functions of art. A tendency away from the narrative, which was characteristic for the traditional arts, toward abstraction is characteristic of much modern art. More recent artistic production is often called contemporary art or postmodern art.

Modern art begins with the heritage of painters like Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec all of whom were essential for the development of modern art. At the beginning of the 20th century Henri Matisse and several other young artists including the pre-cubists Georges Braque, André Derain, Raoul Dufy, Jean Metzinger and Maurice de Vlaminck revolutionized the Paris art world with "wild", multi-colored, expressive landscapes and figure paintings that the critics called Fauvism. Matisse's two versions of The Dance signified a key point in his career and in the development of modern painting.^[3] It reflected Matisse's incipient fascination with primitive art: the intense warm color of the figures against the cool blue-green background and the rhythmical succession of the dancing nudes convey the feelings of emotional liberation and hedonism.

tomorrow will be kinder google translated

A black cloud is behind me and now looks forward
Wonder why i am going to end
Sorrow squeezes my shoulder
And the problem follows my heart
But I know the present will not last
And tomorrow will be more friendly

[chorus]
Tomorrow will be friendly
Yeah, I've seen it before
A bright day is coming
Yes, tomorrow will be more friendly

[Section 2]
I shed many tears today.
And the pain of my heart
There's a sad sight around me
I don't know where to start
But the skin is warm
The stars all fell
The wind was blowing, but I know it now
This morning will be happier

[Choir]

Baruch 5 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

5 Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem,
    and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.
2 Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God;
    put on your head the diadem of the glory of the Everlasting;
3 for God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven.
4 For God will give you evermore the name,
    “Righteous Peace, Godly Glory.”

5 Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height;
    look toward the east,
and see your children gathered from west and east
    at the word of the Holy One,
    rejoicing that God has remembered them.
6 For they went out from you on foot,
    led away by their enemies;
but God will bring them back to you,
    carried in glory, as on a royal throne.
7 For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low
    and the valleys filled up, to make level ground,
    so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.
8 The woods and every fragrant tree
    have shaded Israel at God’s command.
9 For God will lead Israel with joy,
    in the light of his glory,
    with the mercy and righteousness that come from him.

Baruch 4 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

4 She is the book of the commandments of God,
    the law that endures forever.
All who hold her fast will live,
    and those who forsake her will die.
2 Turn, O Jacob, and take her;
    walk toward the shining of her light.
3 Do not give your glory to another,
    or your advantages to an alien people.
4 Happy are we, O Israel,
    for we know what is pleasing to God.

Encouragement for Israel

5 Take courage, my people,
    who perpetuate Israel’s name!
6 It was not for destruction
    that you were sold to the nations,
but you were handed over to your enemies
    because you angered God.
7 For you provoked the one who made you
    by sacrificing to demons and not to God.
8 You forgot the everlasting God, who brought you up,
    and you grieved Jerusalem, who reared you.
9 For she saw the wrath that came upon you from God,
    and she said:
Listen, you neighbors of Zion,
    God has brought great sorrow upon me;
10 for I have seen the exile of my sons and daughters,
    which the Everlasting brought upon them.
11 With joy I nurtured them,
    but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow.
12 Let no one rejoice over me, a widow
    and bereaved of many;
I was left desolate because of the sins of my children,
    because they turned away from the law of God.
13 They had no regard for his statutes;
    they did not walk in the ways of God’s commandments,
    or tread the paths his righteousness showed them.
14 Let the neighbors of Zion come;
    remember the capture of my sons and daughters,
    which the Everlasting brought upon them.
15 For he brought a distant nation against them,
    a nation ruthless and of a strange language,
which had no respect for the aged
    and no pity for a child.
16 They led away the widow’s beloved sons,
    and bereaved the lonely woman of her daughters.

17 But I, how can I help you?
18 For he who brought these calamities upon you
    will deliver you from the hand of your enemies.
19 Go, my children, go;
    for I have been left desolate.
20 I have taken off the robe of peace
    and put on sackcloth for my supplication;
    I will cry to the Everlasting all my days.

21 Take courage, my children, cry to God,
    and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy.
22 For I have put my hope in the Everlasting to save you,
    and joy has come to me from the Holy One,
because of the mercy that will soon come to you
    from your everlasting savior.[a]
23 For I sent you out with sorrow and weeping,
    but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness forever.
24 For as the neighbors of Zion have now seen your capture,
    so they soon will see your salvation by God,
which will come to you with great glory
    and with the splendor of the Everlasting.
25 My children, endure with patience the wrath that has come upon you from God.
Your enemy has overtaken you,
    but you will soon see their destruction
    and will tread upon their necks.
26 My pampered children have traveled rough roads;
    they were taken away like a flock carried off by the enemy.

27 Take courage, my children, and cry to God,
    for you will be remembered by the one who brought this upon you.
28 For just as you were disposed to go astray from God,
    return with tenfold zeal to seek him.
29 For the one who brought these calamities upon you
    will bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.

Jerusalem Is Assured of Help

30 Take courage, O Jerusalem,
    for the one who named you will comfort you.
31 Wretched will be those who mistreated you
    and who rejoiced at your fall.
32 Wretched will be the cities that your children served as slaves;
    wretched will be the city that received your offspring.
33 For just as she rejoiced at your fall
    and was glad for your ruin,
    so she will be grieved at her own desolation.
34 I will take away her pride in her great population,
    and her insolence will be turned to grief.
35 For fire will come upon her from the Everlasting for many days,
    and for a long time she will be inhabited by demons.

36 Look toward the east, O Jerusalem,
    and see the joy that is coming to you from God.
37 Look, your children are coming, whom you sent away;
    they are coming, gathered from east and west,
at the word of the Holy One,
    rejoicing in the glory of God.

musa copied from the bbc

Moses in Islam

Moses is an important prophet in the Muslim faith as well as in Judaism and Christianity. Muslims call him Musa.

The Muslim story of Moses

A hundred years after the death of the Prophet Joseph, the rulers of Egypt passed a decree that a son born to an Israelite parent would be put to death; only daughters would be spared to serve the followers of Pharaoh. This was a 'dreadful torment' inflicted on Israelites.

During this dreaded era, Moses was born; his mother was, however, commanded by God not to cast the child into the river on birth, but to suckle him till such time as she felt that there was real danger to his life.

For about three months she reared him and then she put him in a box and lay it in the river. God promised her that her child would be safe, that he would soon be restored to her, and that he would be made 'one of our apostles'.

The box was carried by the River Nile to the banks close to the palace of Pharaoh. A servant of Pharaoh who was passing by picked up the box and took the child to the Queen. Pharaoh was informed, and he ordered that the child be put to death.

But the Queen, who was childless, was enchanted by the baby. She said, God had made him 'such a lovely child that the beholder could not but love him'. She beseeched Pharaoh to spare his life. 'Let us adopt him. He will be raised in our palace and would never know that he was an Israelite. He will be one of us and will, in fact, be useful in our fight against the Israelites.'

Pharaoh relented. The Queen took to Moses as a mother would to her own new-born son. But the baby was restless and cried incessantly; no nurse was able to feed him.

Moses' mother, who felt utterly bereft without her child, had asked ten-year-old daughter to follow the course of her brother's journey in the box, and to keep a watch on him. The little girl did as she was told. She entered the palace after the baby was taken there and managed to get close to the Queen, eventually gaining her confidence.

As the child became weak through lack of nourishment, she talked to the Queen of a 'particular' nurse who might be able to suckle the child, to feed him with great affection and to bring him up. 'Thus', says Allah in the Quran, 'We restored Moses to his mother, so that her eyes might be cooled and she would cease to grieve and would know that Allah's promise was fulfilled.'

Moses grew up in Pharaoh's household under the benevolent care of the Queen. When he reached manhood, Allah 'gave him the power of knowledge and judgement'. Once, while on a visit to the city, he saw two men fighting; one was an Israelite, the other an Egyptian. The Israelite asked Moses for help, so Moses came to the rescue and struck the Egyptian forcefully. The Egyptian collapsed and died instantly.

Moses was most perturbed and asked God for forgiveness, saying, 'I shall never come to the help of those committing wrong.' The next morning, the man he had helped again called out for assistance. Moses realized that he was a quarrelsome person and rushed to lay his hands on him. 'Do you intend to kill me as you had killed the man yesterday?' the man shouted. 'Do you wish to become a tyrant in the land?'

Moses prayed to the Lord. 'Oh, my Lord, saave me from such people who are given to wrongdoing.' Then a man came running and informed Moses that Pharaoh's chiefs were planning to hang Moses and advised him to run away.

So Moses left Egypt in the direction of Madyan, praying to the Lord to guide him to the right path. On reaching the waters of Madyan, he saw a number of men drawing water for their animals, while two women stood by quietly, holding back their animals. Moses asked them why they were waiting.

They replied, 'We cannot water our animals until the men have left; that is our misfortune. Our father could not come to draw water for our animals as he is too old.' Moses drew water for both of them, and the women were grateful for his help. One of them went home and informed her father of what Moses had done. The father asked her to fetch Moses so that he might pay him the wages for the work.

Moses told the old man the circumstances under which he had had to leave Egypt. 'Have no fear any more,' he assured Moses, 'It is good you have escaped from those wicked people.' He was impressed by Moses and offered one of his daughters in marriage, provided Moses promised to live with them for eight years, or even longer if he so wished. Moses agreed and started his life in Madyan.

After eight years, Moses left with his wife and family. On their journey he saw a fire in the direction of Mount Tur. He made his family halt there, while he ran towards the fire hoping to obtain some information about the neighborhood, or at least get a burning firebrand to keep his family warm.

When Moses reached the spot he heard a voice from above the trees on the right side of the sacred valley. 'What have you in your right hand?' the voice said. Bewildered, Moses replied: 'It is my staff, with which I bring down the leaves for my sheep and do many other things.'

The voice spoke again: O Moses, I am the Lord of the Universe. Cast down your staff and listen to me. [20:19]

Moses threw it down, and there before his eyes it became a writhing serpent. The Lord spoke again: Draw near it and fear not: now seize the serpent and do not be afraid. It will become a staff again. [20:21]

Moses did as he was told. God then asked him to place his right hand into his bosom and to bring it out again; it was shining white and without any stain. God then blessed him with supreme revelations and commanded him to go to Pharaoh and his people and to preach to them the Oneness of God and the glory of righteous conduct.

Moses prayed to God: Oh my Lord, enlarge my heart and strengthen me by curing my speech so that people may understand what I say. Also lighten my burden by assigning Aaron, my brother, to assist me. [20:25-32]

The Lord granted his prayer and asked him to proceed with His Signs: Go, you, O Moses and your brother, with Our Signs to Pharaoh. Speak gently to him but make him see the truth and fear Us. [20:43-44]

Moses and Aaron told the Lord that Pharaoh might subject them to violence, as Moses was wanted by his chiefs for killing one of their men.

The Lord assured them not to have any fear in their hearts: I am with you; I hear and see everything. Tell Pharaoh that you are My messengers. Ask him to let the Israelites be with you, and to torture them no more. [20:46-47]

Armed with the divine mission and the Book that was sent down to him which was to be the 'means of enlightenment to the people and a guidance and mercy to mankind', Moses left for Egypt with Aaron. They first went to the people and asked them to worship the true God. Moses showed them His Signs, but the people dismissed these as 'nothing but false magic' and laughed at him.

He asked them to sacrifice a cow as an offering to God. 'What sort of cow?' they asked him in jest. Moses told them that God wanted a cow which was neither young nor old but of middle age. 'What about its color?' they asked. Moses said it should be deep and bright yellow. There were several cows of this color, they told Moses.

He clarified that it should be a cow that was neither yoked nor had ploughed any field; further, it was to be of sound mind and wholesome body. The people then realized what Moses meant; he wanted them to kill the golden cow that they and their forefathers had been worshipping. They asked Moses first to approach Pharaoh, their King, and if he agreed, they too would follow him.

Moses approached Pharaoh and appealed to him to give up his arrogance and high and mighty ways and to bow before the Lord, who was indeed the ruler of the world. Purify yourself, O Pharaoh, so that I may guide you to the right path. [29:18]

Pharaoh was furious and asked Moses who was this God of his, whose messenger he claimed to be. Moses replied: Our Lord is the one who creates all things; He gives them form and then guides them. [20:50]

Pharaoh enquired about the generations that had passed away. Knowledge of them, Moses said, was with God alone. He then asked Pharaoh to look around and see the variety of God's creations -- the rain, the wind, the cattle and the plants, all were the signs of His supremacy. Pharaoh asked Moses whether he had any proof of his prophethood. Moses threw down his staff and it became a live serpent. He then drew his hand out of the pocket of his cloak, and it shone with dazzling brightness.

Pharaoh's chiefs said Moses was no more than a magician; they told Pharaoh: 'Call the best of magicians from our cities to counter his magic'. Moses agreed to face them, and the Festival Day was fixed for the event. Two of the best magicians confronted Moses. They threw their ropes and staves at Moses, which turned into serpents and coiled around him.

Moses prayed to his Lord for help. The Lord told him not to lose nerve, and commanded: Throw your staff down and it will swallow everything which they have faked here; theirs are only magic tricks, what you have is real. No magician ever thrives, whatever he may do or wherever he may go. [20:69]

Moses threw his staff on the ground and it turned into a bigger serpent which swallowed all the other serpents. The magicians were wonderstruck and at once prostrated themselves, declaring that they believed in the God of Moses and Aaron.

Pharaoh thundered with rage: 'How dare you do so without my leave?' He warned them that he would cut off their hands and feet on alternate sides and crucify them on the trunks of palm trees if they did not desist from following Moses.

The magicians showed no fear and told Pharaoh that he could do what he liked with them but they would not retract from the clear path shown by Moses. They believed that his God was superior to Pharaoh. They asked for the forgiveness of the Lord for the sins of sorcery that Pharaoh had compelled them to commit.

Pharaoh grew more furious, and decided to wipe out every trace of the teachings of Moses. He issued a proclamation: O my people, I am the sovereign of Egypt; even rivers flow beneath my feet. Are you to listen to a man who cannot even speak properly? If he is really the Almighty's messenger, why is he not loaded with gold or attended upon by angels? [43:51-53]

Moses warned him that, if he disobeyed his call, 'we have been told by Allah that a grievous punishment awaits you.' But Pharaoh and his men paid no heed to Moses' warning.

Thus they were struck by the plague and other diseases; they begged Moses to save them from the scourge. But no sooner were they cured than they went back to the worship of Pharaoh. Two of Pharaoh's chiefs, Qaran and Haman, behaved particularly abominably; greed for wealth and lust for power blinded their vision.

With the passage of time, the attitude of Pharaoh towards Moses worsened: he denounced him publicly and tortured his followers. He declared that there was no other god except he. He told Haman: 'Build me a high tower, so that I may go to the top and find out who this God of Moses is.'

He ordered his chiefs to show no mercy to Israelites; they should be driven out of Egypt. A reign of terror was unleashed. As a result, many of Moses' people left him, while only a few remained as his followers. But Moses was not dismayed; he remained steadfast in the pursuit of his faith.

Then God came to Moses' rescue. He was told to gather his followers and take them through the midst of the seas, on a path that would be specially carved for them by God. Pharaoh and his men, fully armed, attempted to pursue them along the same path. As soon as Pharaoh and his men set foot on the path, however, it vanished, and they were drowned in the raging seas.

Israelites then settled in a secure habitation provided with all amenities and comforts. After some time, Moses, accompanied by seventy of his followers, ascended to the heavens to see God, leaving his people in the charge of his brother, Aaron. He bade Aaron to have no dealings with evil-doers and to perform his task with 'an honest heart'. Moses had what the Quran describes as 'a communion with God for thirty nights'. Subsequently, ten more nights were added, to make forty nights in all, which was the appointed time of communication with the Lord.

When Moses came to the appointed place, the Lord blessed him. Moses prayed: 'O my Lord, let me look at You.' The Lord said, 'You cannot see Me when I manifest My glory. But look upon the mountain; if it stays firm in its place, then you shall see Me. Now turn towards it.' And in an instant the mountain crumbled and became dust. Seeing this, Moses fell down in a swoon. [7:143]

When Moses recovered, God enquired: 'Why have you come in such haste to Us?' 'My people have taken to the path shown by You, my Lord,' he replied. 'I have come to seek Your blessings.' 'In your absence your people have gone astray,' God told him. 'They have been misled by a person called al-Samiri.'

Moses was grief-stricken. He begged God to forgive his followers and not to destroy them for their betrayal. God granted his wish and gave him tablets of stone bearing precepts that his people were to follow in order to achieve the best, both on earth and in the hereafter.

Moses returned to earth with a heavy heart and found that, under the guidance of al-Samiri, his followers had begin to worship the image of a calf made out of their ornaments. More in sorrow than in anger, he chided them and asked why they had broken their pledge to him. They said that al-Samiri had asked them to throw their ornaments into a fire, out of which had come an effigy of a golden calf which made a lowing sound.

They were misled by this and began to worship the calf, believing that it was the God of Moses. Moses asked them if they were so naive to think that the calf had life? It could neither hear nor speak, nor do any good or harm to them. Aaron had warned them of the wrong they were doing, but they had insisted that until Moses returned they would continue to worship the calf.

Moses threw down the tablets, telling his people that they were not worthy of them. He dragged Aaron by the hair and asked him why he had flouted his command and not prevented his people from being misled. Aaron replied that the people had become so rebellious that they would have killed him had he tried to restrain them. Besides, he did not want to create a division in their ranks.

Moses asked God to forgive Aaron, and then turned to al-Samiri. 'Begone,' said Moses. 'You will remain an untouchable all your life, and hell shall be your destination.' Taking the effigy of the calf in his hands, Moses consigned it to the fire, which soon reduced it to ashes.

He told the Israelites that he had been chosen as the messenger; God had said to him: O Moses! I have chosen you in preference to others, and entrusted you with the mission to convey My words as contained in My revelations to all the people around, and to join the ranks of these who are grateful to Me. [7:144]

God imparted knowledge to Moses for the good of Israelites, and inscribed on the tablets 'detailed precepts' of faith in His oneness and the code of righteous conduct. In the tablets We have ordained laws concerning all matters, and We command you to hold to them firmly and be among those who are faithful to the best of the precepts they contain. [7:145]

Moses warned his people that those who repudiated God's Signs and the judgment to come were bound to meet their doom; no one would be able to save them then. He also asked them to remember the grace of God, because of which prophets were raised among them and were made rulers. No other people in the world had had such benevolence from the Lord. God had assigned Palestine to them, and so Moses called on his followers to enter this holy land.

They hesitated and told Moses: 'How can we? The land is inhabited by a mighty people. Until they leave, we cannot possibly enter it.' However, two among them, who were brave and God-fearing, volunteered. Moses asked God for his direction.

He answered: To those who have defied your command, O Moses! this land is proscribed for forty years. They will wander around the world but will have no home of their own. You need not sorrow over them, for that is the fate of rebellious people. [5:29]

The Israelites were divided into twelve tribes: The Lord commanded Moses to strike the rock with his staff. No sooner was this done than twelve springs gushed forth. Each group then took its own spring to drink, and to each the Lord gave shades of cloud as cover and manna and quail to eat, and all other good things. But the unbelievers rebelled and did not follow the command; they only harmed themselves. The Lord is, indeed, above all harm. [7:160]