Cow of the Israelites
The Cow of the Children of Israel refers to the slaughtering of a cow to revive a murdered man from among the Children of Israel so that he could identify his murderer, a matter over which they had disputed. By God's command, a part of the cow was struck against the corpse of the murdered person, and he was revived to identify his murderer. This story is mentioned in the Qur'an 2, in verses 67 to 73.[1] and is considered a miracle to prove the Resurrection and the reviving of the dead.[2] A similar account of this incident exists in the Torah, where, to discover the murderer, the elders of the city sacrifice a heifer and wash their hands over it to seek exoneration from the sin of murder.[3] Some exegetes consider this biblical account related to the story of the cow of the Israelites.[4]
Exegetes have written that a wealthy elderly man among the Children of Israel was killed by some of his relatives out of greed for his inheritance.[5] They then threw his body near one of the tribes and raised a cry for vengeance,[6] demanding his blood money (diyah) so that the murder would not be blamed on that tribe.[7] A dispute arose,[8] and they went to Prophet Moses (a) to solve it.
Prophet Moses (a) ordered a cow to be slaughtered and a part of it to be struck against the murdered man so that he would come back to life and identify the murderer.[9] The Israelites initially thought Prophet Moses (a) was mocking them,[10] but they eventually bought the cow,[11] and after slaughtering it, the murdered man revived[12] and identified his murderer.[13] This event is mentioned in the Qur'an as a miracle from God[14] and a sign of the resurrection of the dead.[15]
The Children of Israel repeatedly asked about the characteristics of the cow, and these requests and God's responses were repeated several times.[16] For this reason, this story is considered an example of the Children of Israel's quibbling, as the Qur'an refers to it.[17] Due to the repeated questions of the Children of Israel, this cow was described in several stages with these characteristics: neither old and decrepit, nor very young,[18] a solid yellow whose color delights the beholders,[19] neither tamed for plowing nor drawing water for agriculture, free from any defect, and with no other color mixed into it.[20]
Notes
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, pp. 59, 301.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 1, p. 199.
- ↑ Torah, Deuteronomy 21:1-9.
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 1, p. 200.
- ↑ Mughniyya, Tafsīr al-kāshif, vol. 1, p. 126.
- ↑ Ṭabrisī, Tafsīr jawāmiʿ al-jāmiʿ, vol. 1, p. 52.
- ↑ Mughniyya, Tafsīr al-kāshif, vol. 1, p. 126.
- ↑ Qur'an 2:72.
- ↑ Ḥusaynī Shīrāzī, Tabyīn al-Qurʾān, p. 20; Fayḍ Kāshānī, Tafsīr al-ṣāfī, vol. 1, p. 139.
- ↑ Qur'an 2:67.
- ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 3, p. 544.
- ↑ Qur'an 2:73.
- ↑ Fakhr al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb, vol. 3, p. 544.
- ↑ Faḍl Allāh, Tafsīr min waḥy al-Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 84.
- ↑ Qur'an 2:73.
- ↑ Qur'an 2:68-71.
- ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 1, p. 301.
- ↑ Qur'an 2:68.
- ↑ Qur'an 2:69.
- ↑ Qur'an 2:71.
References
- Faḍl Allāh, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Tafsīr min waḥy al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-Malāk li-l-Ṭibāʿa wa al-Nashr, 1419 AH.
- Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad b. ʿUmar. Mafātīḥ al-ghayb. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1420 AH.
- Fayḍ Kāshānī, Mullā Muḥsin. Tafsīr al-ṣāfī. Edited by Ḥusayn Aʿlamī. Tehran: Intishārāt-i al-Ṣadr, 1415 AH.
- Ḥusaynī Shīrāzī, Sayyid Muḥammad. Tabyīn al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Dār al-ʿUlūm, 1423 AH.
- Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1374 Sh.
- Mughniyya, Muḥammad Jawād. Tafsīr al-kāshif. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1424 AH.
- Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1417 AH.
- Ṭabarsī, Faḍl b. Ḥasan al-. Tafsīr jawāmiʿ al-jāmiʿ. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Dānishgāh-i Tihrān, Mudīriyyat-i Ḥawza-yi ʿIlmiyya, 1377 Sh.
- Torah.