70 They said: Pray for us unto thy Lord that He make clear to us what (cow) she is. Lo! cows are much alike to us; and Lo! if Allah wills, we may be led aright.
71 (Moses) answered: Lo! He saith: Verily she is a cow unyoked; she plougheth not the soil nor watereth the tilth; whole and without mark. They said: Now thou bringest the truth. So they sacrificed her, though almost they did not.
72 And (remember) when ye slew a man and disagreed concerning it and Allah brought forth that which ye were hiding.
73 And We said: Smite him with some of it. Thus Allah bringeth the dead to life and showeth you His portents so that ye may understand.[1]
74 Then, even after that, your hearts were hardened and became as rocks, or worse than rocks, for hardness. For indeed there are rocks from out which rivers gush, and indeed there are rocks which split asunder so that water floweth from them. And indeed there are rocks which fall down for the fear of Allah. Allah is not unaware of what ye do.
75 Have ye any hope that they will be true to you when a party of them used to listen to the Word of Allah, then used to change it, after they had understood it, knowingly?
76 And when they fall in with those who believe, they say: We believe. But when they go apart one with another they say: Prate ye to them of that which Allah hath disclosed to you that they may contend with you before your Lord concerning it? Have ye then no sense?
77 Are they then unaware that Allah knoweth that which they keep hidden and that which they proclaim?
78 Among them are unlettered folk who know the Scripture not except from hearsay. They but guess.
- ↑ The old commentators tell various stories by way of explaining vv. 72 and
73; one of them concerning a miracle that happened at Al-Madînah. For Maulvi Muhammad Ali's exposition of them as referring to the martyrdom of Jesus
Christ (on whom be peace) see the footnote to v. 72 in his translation.
