A Critical Review of the Conventional Interpretation of Moses' Anger at Aaron

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor, University of Sciences and Teachings of the Holy Qur'an, Faculty of Qur'anic Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran. E-mail: narimani@Qur'an.ac.ir

Abstract

The multifaceted narrative of Prophet Moses and the Israelites (Banī Isrāʾīl) has been a subject of contemplation from various perspectives. A significant part of this narrative involves the confrontation of Moses and Aaron, where, as interpreted by exegetes, Moses reproached Aaron harshly. This event occurred following Moses' departure for his divine appointment and the Israelites' subsequent worship of the Golden Calf. During Moses’ ten-day delay, the Israelites insisted on adopting a tangible deity until his return. In response, Sāmirī crafted a golden calf that emitted sounds like a cow (Qur’an, 20:87-88). Aaron’s extensive efforts to dissuade the people from this sedition were futile (ibid, 7:150). Informed by God of the deviation of his people before his return, Moses returned in anger and confronted his brother Aaron, questioning him about this deviation. Interpreters suggest that this confrontation involved Moses physically seizing Aaron’s beard and head in anger.

Keywords

Main Subjects


The Holy Qur'an.
The Bible.
Al-Azharī, Muḥammad bin Aḥmad. (1992). Tahdhīb al-Lughah (2nd ed.). Dār al-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
Al-Barqī, Aḥmad bin Muḥammad. (1992). Al-Maḥāsin (2nd ed.). Qom: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah. [In Arabic]
Al-Farāhīdī, Khalīl bin Aḥmad. (1989). Kitāb al-ʿAyn (2nd ed.). Dār wa Maktabat al-Hilāl. [In Arabic]
Al-Kulaynī, Muḥammad bin Yaʿqūb. (1987). Al-Kāfī (4th ed.). Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah. [In Arabic]
Al-Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad bin ʿUmar. (1999). Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb (4th ed.). Dār al-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
Al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā, Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn. (1983). Tanzīh al-Anbiyāʾ. Al-Sharīf al-Raḍī. [In Arabic]
Al-Shawkānī, Muḥammad bin ʿAlī. (1994). Fatḥ al-Qadīr. Dār Ibn Kathīr and Dār al-Kalim al-Ṭayyib. [In Arabic]
Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad bin Jarīr. (1992). Jāmiʿ al-Bayān fi Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Dār al-Maʿrafah. [In Arabic]
Al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1973). Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr Qurʾān (3rd ed.) Al-Aʿlamī Foundation for Publications. [In Arabic]
Al-Ṭabrisī, Faḍl bin al-Ḥasan. (1993). Majmaʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān (3rd ed.). Nāṣir Khosrow. [In Arabic]
Al-Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn bin Muḥammad. (1997). Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn (3rd ed.). Murtaḍawī. [In Arabic]
Al-Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥassan. (n.d.). Al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Dār al-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
Al-Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd. (1987). Al-Kashshāf ʿan Haqāʾiq Ghawāmiḍ al-Tanzīl (3rd ed.). Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
Ḥaydar-zādeh, Nāṣir, & ʿAlī-Muḥammadī, Marḍīyah. (2019). "Evaluation of perspectives on the reason for Moses' angry confrontation with Aaron in the Qur'an". Research-Interpretation, 6(2): 45-76. [In Persian]
Ibn ʿĀshūr, Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir. (1999). Al-Taḥrīr wa-al-Tanwīr. Arab History Foundation. [In Arabic]
Ibn Bābiwayh al-Qummī, Muḥammad bin ʿAlī. (1993). Man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh (2nd ed.). Islamic Publications Office affiliated with the Qom Seminary Teachers' Society. [In Arabic]
Ibn Bābiwayh al-Qummī, Muḥammad bin ʿAlī. (1988). ʿIlal al-Sharāʾiʿ. Al-Aʿlamī Foundation for Publications. [In Arabic]
Ibn Durayd, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥassan (1987). Jamharat al-Lughah. Dār al-ʿIlm lil-Malāyīn. [In Arabic]
Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad bin Mukram (1414 AH). Arabic Language (3rd ed.). Dār al-Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir et al. (1995). Nemūnah Interpretation  (The Sample Commentary) (32nd ed.). Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah. [In Persian]
Nāderī Qahfarkhī, Ḥamīd. (2014). "Examining Ayatollah Maʿrifat's perspective on analyzing Moses' encounter with Aaron after the Israelites' calf-worship incident". Religion and Contemporary World, 1(1): 117-143. [In Persian]
Nāderī Qahfarkhī, Ḥamīd, & Bahjat-pūr, ʿAbd al-Karīm. (2013). "Examining Allamah Tabatabai's analysis of Aaron's questioning by Moses". New Religious Thought, 9(2): 27-46. [In Persian]
Narīmānī, Zuhrah, Iqbālī, Masʿūd, & Chihrī, Majīd. (2021). "Semantic re-identification of the words 'ghayẓ', 'ghaḍab', and 'sakhaṭ' in the Holy Qur'an with an interpretive approach". Qur'anic and Hadith Research, 54(1): 219-239. [In Persian] https://doi.org/10.22059/jqst.2021.322181.669740
Quṭb, Sayyid. (2004). Fī Zilāl al-Qurʾān (35th ed.) Dār al-Shurūq. [In Arabic]
Ṣādiqī Tihrānī, Muḥammad. (1986). Al-Furqān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān bi-al-Qurʾān wa-al-Sunnah (2nd ed.). Islamic Culture. [In Arabic]
Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. (2011). Manshūr-i Jāvīd (5th ed.). Imam Sadiq Institute. [In Persian]