Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of The Glorious Koran. An Explanatory Translation (1930)
91. They said: We shall by no means cease to be its votaries till Moses return unto us.
92. He (Moses) said: O Aaron! What held thee back when thou didst see them gone astray,
93. That thou followedst me not? Hast thou then disobeyed my order?
94. He said: O son of my mother! Clutch not my beard nor my head! I feared lest thou shouldst say: Thou hast caused division among the Children of Israel, and hast not waited for my word.
95. (Moses) said: And what hast thou to say, O Sâmiri?
96. He said: I perceived what they perceive not, so I seized a handful from the footsteps of the messenger, and then threw it in. Thus my soul commended to me.1
97. (Moses) said: Then go! And lo! in this life it is for thee to say: Touch me not! and lo! there is for thee a tryst thou canst not break. Now look upon thy god of which thou hast remained a votary. Verily we will burn it and will scatter its dust over the sea.
98. Your God is only Allah, than Whom there is no other God. He embraceth all things in His knowledge.
99. Thus relate We unto thee (Muhammad) some tidings of that which happened of old, and We have given thee from Our presence a Reminder.
100. Whoso turneth away from it, he verily will bear a burden on the Day of Resurrection,
101. Abiding under it — an evil burden for them on the Day of Resurrection,
1 The explanation usually given is that As-Sâmiri had seen the angel Gabriel pass by, and had taken some of the dust which he had hallowed, and thrown it into the image of the calf, thus giving it a semblance of life. Others say that As-Sâmiri was an adept of the Egyptian idolatry who had believed for a little while and halfheartedly in the God of Moses.
