Title: Did the Israelites Remorse over Worshiping the Calf or Not? Question: My question relates to so-called contradictions or errors of the Holy Quran. I have been presented with a number of them, and would be grateful if you can shed some light on some. Please review the following verses; 7:149. And the people of Moses made, in his absence, out of their ornaments, a calf - a lifeless body, producing a blowing sound. Did they not see that it spoke not to them, nor guided them to any way? They took it for worship and they were transgressors. 7:150. And when they were smitten with remorse and saw that they had indeed gone astray, they said, `If our Lord have not mercy on us and forgive us, we shall surely be of the losers.' 20: 92. They replied, `We shall not cease to worship it until Moses return to us.' Chap 7 states that the people were remorseful before Prophet Moses' return. While Chap 20 states they did not stop t worship till Prophet Moses returned. Can you please explain this? Jazak Allah Mashhood United Kingdom Answer: Before giving my explanation of the referred verses, I would like to stress that two or more verses can be said to be contradictory only when their contents are mutually exclusive in such a way that the implication of one completely refutes that of the other. In other words, two statements can be said to be contradictory only if both of these statements cannot hold true at the same time. Thus, 'all people are good and all people are bad' can be termed as contradictory statements because both parts of the statement cannot be true at the same time. However, 'some people are good and some people are bad' or 'there are good people and there are bad people' cannot be said to be contradictory, as both parts of these statements can hold true at the same time. Keeping the foregoing point in mind, it seems obvious that in the two cited verses, the Qur'an has highlighted two separate groups from among the Israelites who had strayed from the right path and had followed Samiriy in worshiping the golden calf. In the first set of verses (from Al-Aa`raaf ), the Qur'an has referred to a group of people who, after realizing their mistake, sought God's mercy and forgiveness and were, therefore, not subjected to the severe punishment which was the fate of the others. In contrast to the these people, the second set of verses refers to those from among the strayed Israelites, who, even after being reminded and admonished by their prophet, persisted in worshiping the calf. These were the people who were subjected to a severe punishment for their arrogance and transgression. Now, if both sets of people - those who sought forgiveness after realizing their mistake and those who persisted in committing the crime - could have coexisted, then there is no contradiction in the referred verses of the Qur'an. I hope this helps. Regards, Moiz Amjad January 27, 2003