Aaron of the Golden Calf as it is narrated in the Quran paints Aaron in a positive light. The Quran says that Aaron was entrusted the leadership of Israel while Moses was up on "Tur Sina’" (, Mount Sinai) for a period of forty days (Quran 7: 142). It adds that Aaron tried his best to stop the worship of the Golden Calf, which was built not by Aaron but by a wicked man by the name of 'As-Samiri' (Quran 19: 50). When Moses returned from Mount Sinai, he rebuked Aaron for allowing the worship of the idol, to which Aaron
Golden calf to Coogan, this episode is part of the Deuteronomistic history, written in the southern Kingdom of Judah, after the fall of the northern kingdom, which was biased against the northern kingdom. Coogan maintains that Jeroboam was merely presenting an alternative to the cherubim of the Temple in Jerusalem, and that calves did not indicate non-Yahwehistic worship. The documentary hypothesis can be used to further understand the layers of this narrative: it is plausible that the earliest story of the golden calf was preserved by E (Israel source) and originated in the Northern kingdom. When E and J (Judah source) were