The Golden Calf at Sinai

A bare granite valley at the foot of the great mountain of Sinai. The camp of the Bani Isra'il is set out on the valley floor, black goat-hair tents in regular rows. The mountain rises behind, the high peak shrouded in cloud where Musa (peace be upon him) has gone to receive the Tawrat.

At the centre of the camp, on a low platform of stacked stones, a small bronze image of a calf, newly cast, surrounded by a crowd of the Bani Isra'il in plain travel dress, depicted from behind. The Sunni qisas tradition (Ibn Kathir on Q 20:85) records the calf was cast by al-Samiri, a member of the camp who collected the gold of the Egyptian ornaments the Bani Isra'il had carried out, melted them, and shaped the calf in a hollow form that lowed when the wind passed through it (Q 20:88, fa-akhraja lahum 'ijlan jasadan lahu khuwarun).

On the side of the camp, the prophet Harun (peace be upon him), Musa's (peace be upon him) brother left in charge, is admonishing the elders, who do not respond. The Qur'an: 'And Harun had said to them before: O my people, you have only been tested by it; surely your Lord is the Most Merciful' (Q 20:90). Harun (peace be upon him) is not depicted in identifiable form.

The Qur'anic narrative of the golden calf is the foundational lapse of the Bani Isra'il into shirk on the very threshold of the revelation of the Tawrat. The narrative is central to the Sunni reading of the moral history of the Bani Isra'il. On his return Musa (peace be upon him) broke the tablets in his anger, took the calf, burned it, and scattered its ashes on the water (Q 20:97). The Sunni tafsir (Ibn Kathir, al-Tabari) treats the episode as a warning against the seduction of the gold of the world.

The light is the daytime light of the granite valley, the bright Sinai sun. The dating is by anchor: the time of Musa (peace be upon him), during the forty days of his absence at the mountain (Q 7:142, Q 20:86).

The narrative: Q 20:83-98 (the principal Qur'anic passage), Q 7:148-156, Q 2:51-54. The Sunni qisas: Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya'; al-Tha'labi; al-Tabari.

The Qur'an, Surat Ta-Ha 20:83-98, Surat al-A'raf 7:148-156, Surat al-Baqara 2:51-54: The principal Qur'anic passages on the golden calf at Sinai.

Ibn Kathir, Qisas al-Anbiya' and Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim: Standard Sunni stories of the prophets and Qur'anic commentary; the chapter on the calf preserves the narrative.

al-Tabari, Tarikh and Jami' al-Bayan: Standard Sunni history and tafsir.