THE PAINFUL PUNISHMENT OF SÄMARITAN

      When Moses returned to his people, he was full of anger and grief. He cast down the tablets on which the commandments were engraved, and seized his brother by the beard, and pulled his head towards himself, saying:ِ

      ``O, Aaron! When you saw them going wrong, what prevented you that you did not follow me? Did you too, disobey my order that I told you; act for me among my people, and put things aright, and do not follow the way of the mischief makers?'' (S 7:142)

      In other word, Moses said to his brother; why did he not stand firmly against the appearance of idolatry, and even fight with them, if it was necessary?

      Aaron who found his brother trembling with anger and grief, tried to calm him down that, he too, was the son of the same mother, though Moses addressed him, O, Aaron. He therefore said:ِ

      ``O, Son of Mother! Do not seize my beard, nor pull my head. The people weakened me, and went near to kill me. Let not the enemies rejoice over me, and count me not among the sinners. I was afraid of you to say, I sowed discord among the Israelites, and took no care of your word! In other word, my wrangle with them would have been the worst, and could turn differences to schism and separations.

ALI, THE AARON OF MOHAMMAD

      Our prophet repeatedly said throughout his life time of prophethood that; to him, Ali meant as AARON to Moses; with the exception that there would be no prophet after him.

      Any time in my life, that I came to read the above verses in the QURÄN, about the incident of Samaritan and Aaron, I could not avoid shedding bitter tears; because the verses remind me of Hazrat Imam Ali (AS), and his great sufferings and anguish after the death of our prophet. How was his certain rights and position usurped, and taken wrongfully by force, and through unjust Coup d' إtat; and so cruel that his wife FATIMA, the only daughter of our prophet was beaten, and his son, HAZRAT IMAM HUSSAIN (AS) was beheaded, and his Sacred Head was taken on the tip of a spear, from KARBALÄ to Syria, in order to be shown to YAZID, the dirty cruel Ommayid king who recently had succeeded his deceitful and Satan father. And soon will those who have oppressed know by what overturning they will be overturned.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

      We now return back to our commentary and the incident of Samaritan who led the Israelites astray:ِ

      Moses then turned to Samaritan angrily and asked him what had he to say about that?

      Samaritan who thought too much of himself, in answer to the Messenger of God said:ِ ``I saw what they saw not.''

      In other word, he meant that he had more insight than any body else, and could see something supernatural that the common people could not see it. He said so, but gave not a direct answer to the question that, why did he make that image for worship!? He gave an end to the argument by making it short, and saying:ِ ``I did that for the pleasure of my soul! And so my soul magnified the matter to me.''

      There are a few points here, that are worthy of more consideration:ِ

      1ِMoses certainly knew well that his brother Aaron was an innocent apostle of God. Therefore, by treating him so harshly, he wanted to show the Israelites how great, and how heinous a sin had they commiteted, that, even Aaron had to be taken to the court of justice and judgement.

      2ِCommentators differ in what Samaritan had seen that the other Israelites could not have seen it?

      One group of them say that, Samaritan saw Gabriel riding a horse when Pharaoh was drowned, and he took up some soil from the foot trace of the angel's horse, and cast the soil in the mouth of the golden calf, which began to low and moo!

      This view is hard to be grasped, and seems to be an Israelite Forgery.

      The next group of commentators think that, at first Samaritan had believed in some of the tenets of the Mosaic religion, but later he fell in doubt and renounced and became an apostate.

      However both of the two views have their own adherents but we are of opinion that the latter is nearer to truth.