وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسٰى لِقَوْمِه۪ يَا قَوْمِ إِنَّكُمْ ظَلَمْتُمْ أَنْفُسَكُمْ بِاتِّخَاذِكُمُ الْعِجْلَ فَتُوبُۤوا إِلٰى بَارِئِكُمْ فَاقْتُلُۤوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ
“And when Moses said to his people: O my people, assuredly you have wronged yourselves by adopting the (golden) calf as deity; so turn in repentance to your All-Holy Creator (Who is absolutely above having any partners), and kill (amongst) yourselves (those who have committed that great offense,) thus purifying yourselves of this tremendous sin.” (Al-Baqarah 2:54)
The expression of “kill yourselves” in the verse has been interpreted as “kill each other” or “you who do not adopt the golden calf as deity, kill those who adopt the calf as deity.” Nonetheless, it can also be interpreted this way: “Since you violated the religious, social, and intellectual unity and brought about an atmosphere of fighting in your community, so then fight each oth-er.” Or, “Kill your own selves or egos in order to revive your spiritual being.” In Sufi interpretation, it may mean, “die on account of your egos by killing your tempting feelings such as lust, anger, and so on, in order to attain a spiritual revival.”
On the other side, whatever was meant by the statement of “kill your-selves,” calling almost each individual to a purification as a kind of atone-ment for one’s sins is quite meaningful in the sense that it reminded the transgressors of their infidelity and misguidance explicitly and all sinful of their sins implicitly, directing both to repentance.
Additionally, since this kind of ruin and severe trials, that is the wor-ship of the golden calf and the punishment thereof, happened within a community as an internal corruption and tribulation and was therefore more tragic, it is also meaningful that the verb faqtulū (kill) was used in-stead of qātilū (fight with others). This preference points to the inner suf-ferings, self-trials, and internal clashes which they would suffer.
