Moses in Islam Mercy. Meanwhile, in his absence, a man named Samiri had created a Golden Calf, proclaiming it to be the God of Moses. The people began to worship it. Aaron attempted to guide them away from the Golden Calf, but the Israelites refused to do so until Moses had returned. Moses, having thus received the scriptures for his people, was informed by God that the Israelites had been tested in his absence and they had gone astray by worshiping the Golden Calf. Moses came down from the mountain and returned to his people. The Quran states that Moses, in his anger,
Golden calf believe until they had witnessed God with their sight. As punishment, God struck the delegates with lightning and killed them with a violent earthquake. Moses prayed to God for their forgiveness. God forgave and resurrected them and they continued on their journey. In the Islamic view, the calf-worshipers' sin had been shirk (), the sin of idolatry or polytheism. Shirk is the deification or worship of anyone or anything other than Allah, or more literally the establishment of "partners" placed beside God, a most serious and unforgivable sin, with the calf-worshipers' being ultimately forgiven being a mark of special forbearance