Ṭā ḥā is then chased from the land by Pharaoh. After escaping, Moses leaves his people to confer with God. During his absence, his people are led awry by al-Samiri, and begin to worship a golden calf instead of God. Upon his return, Moses is furious. He exiles al-Samiri, and chastises his brother Aaron for allowing the people to worship anything other than the one true God. Samiri's provokation of Moses's disciples to worship a lowly calf beside the Almighty, clearly refuted God's grace as well as Moses and Aaron's preaching. Hence, Samiri's defiance that is quite similar to Iblis' or Satan's
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