Page 54 - Islam and Buddhism

From this account, we see that

the Children of Israel, acting in igno-
rance, wanted a god they could see
with their eyes, before which they
could bow down and perhaps per-
form elaborate ceremonies. This indi-
cates they did not conceive of, much

less appreciate, God's might.
Although Moses explained the truth
to them, as soon as he left them, they
made themselves an idol—a great
perversion. In the Qur'an (7: 148-149),
God tells us that immediately after,
regret overcame them:

After he left, Moses's people
adopted a calf made from their
ornaments, a form which made a
lowing sound. Did they not see
that it could not speak to them or
guide them to any way? They
adopted it, and so they were
wrongdoers.
When they took full stock of
what they had done and saw they

had been misled, they said, "If
our Lord does not have mercy on
us and forgive us, we will cer-
tainly be among the lost."
But to those who had made the
calf into a god, God gave this answer
(Qur'an, 7: 152):

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