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qāla baṣurtu bi-mā lam yabṣurū bihī fa-qabaḍtu qabḍatan min ʾathari r-rasūli fa-nabadhtuhā wa-ka-dhālika sawwalat lī nafsī
He said, ‘I saw what they did not see. I took a handful [of dust] from the messenger’s trail and threw it. That is how my soul prompted me.’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Ta Ha – Verses 95 - 97
95. “(Moses) said: ‘What then was your object, O Samiri?’”
96. “He said: ‘I perceived what they did not perceive, so I took a handful of dust from the messenger’s track, then I threw it (into the Calf); thus my self prompted me’.”
97. “(Moses) said: ‘Depart then! Verily your share (of punishment) in this life will be that you will say: ‘Touch (me) not’; and surely there is a tryst for you (in Hereafter) which never will fail, and (now) look at your god to whose worship you kept (so long); we will certainly burn it, then we will certainly scatter (the ashes of) it broadcast in the sea’.”
The Qur’anic phrase /basurtubih/ is usually used in the sense of the Arabic word /basirat/, the plural of which is /basa’ir/ with the meaning of ‘perceive, understand’, not in the sense of /basar/ (the eye) the plural of which is /absar/ (the eyes).2 It has been recorded in the book entitled ‘’Ihtijaj’, by Tabarsi, that when Hadrat Ali-ibn-Abitalib (as) opened the city of Basrah, people gathered around him in order to hear his words. Among those people Ali (as) saw Hassan Basri busy writing down something.
Imam Amir-ul-mu’mineen Ali (as), with a loud voice, addressed him and said:
“What are you doing?”
He answered he was writing down his statements so that he could repeat them for others. Imam Ali (as) said:
“O people! Beware that there is a Samiri in any nation, and you are, O Hassan! the Samiri of this community. You take the tracks of the Messenger of Allah from me and mix them with your carnal desire and your own interpretation of them by your personal opinion, then you will create a new school and invite people to it.” 3
According to the commentary books of Al-Mizan Al-Furqan, and Nimunah, the purpose of Samiri from saying /qabadtu qabdatan min’aar-ir-rasul/ is:
‘I took some of the tracks of Moses (as) and believed in them, then I left them and built the Calf’.
Thus, the phrase recited. /basurtu bi ma lam yabsuru/ means: ‘I found a design for fulfilling this accomplishment that others were neglectful of it.’ This meaning is more fitting with the abovementioned tradition. However, Moses (as), after finishing his debate with his brother, Aaron, and exonerating him, paid to summoning Samiri to judgment! He said to him why he performed that action and what his motive was. The verse says:
In answer to this question, the verse says:
Samiri added that he took something from the tracks of the messenger of Allah, Moses, and then he drew them toward the creed of idolatry. The verse continues saying:
It is evident that the reply and excuse of Samiri in answer to Moses (as) was by no means acceptable. Therefore, Moses (as) issued the judgment of condemnation of Samiri in that court. He decreed three commandments upon him and his Calf. The verse says:
Thus, by means of a decisive command, Moses (as) banished Samiri from the society and sent him to an absolute retreat. The second punishment of Samiri was that Moses (as) notified him of his retribution in the Hereafter. As the verse in this regard remarks, Moses (as) said:
His third punishment was that: Moses (as) told Samiri:
To conclude, there is a tradition cited in the commentary books of Majma‘-ul-Bayan and Safi which indicates that Moses (as) had intended to get Samiri be killed, but Allah revealed him that since Samiri was a generous man he would relinquish killing him. Therefore, by saying:
Moses (as) banished him from the society of the Children of Israel. The Qur’anic term /la misas/ is used in the sense of ‘to be involved in a disease that no one should touch him at all’. At last, Samiri got an infliction of a psychical disease so that he used to run away from people, and whenever a person went nigh to him, he often shouted ‘Depart then!’4
Footnotes