The story of the yellow cow took place during the prophethood of Musa AS. Bani Israel were trying to start a new life away from Pharaoh’s oppressive regime, but their tribalism, quarrelsome nature and distrust of each other led to several disputes. They also held on to their love of money, gold, and were at the same time filled with stinginess, jealousy and envy.
Many accounts of Bani Israel are contained in Jewish scriptures. The rule of interpretation is that if the scriptures contradict or are inconsistent with Islam, they are to be rejected entirely. If there is an Islamic version of the same incident (from the Qur’an and Sunnah), then the Islamic version takes priority. If the Jewish scriptures do not contradict Islam, and there is no corresponding account in Islamic literature, the rule is that we should neither accept nor reject it.
In this story, parts of it which relate to the owner of the cow, are from the Israeli traditions (riwayat). However, we have only included the Israeli text which as also been referred to and endorsed by Muslim scholars. We are to neither reject nor accept such information, but we are allowed to take the benefit of the lessons they teach us. Apart from where we have indicated, the rest of the story is from the Qur’an and Sunnah.
According to riwayat, the story begins with a righteous but poor man, whose sole prized possession was a beautiful cow. The cow was very unique, it was unblemished and was yellow in colour. Before he died, the man entrusted the cow to his son. After his father died, the son took care of his mother, who, before she died, left specific instructions that the cow was not to be used for any form of labour. She also instructed that the cow was not to be sold to anyone unless the payment was for a certain amount of money.
The pious son was obedient, and did exactly as his parents bade him even though the request was a strange one. He knew that there was a hidden wisdom behind his parents’ instructions. He took good care of the cow, and did not allow her to be used as a beast of burden, which was a rare way to treat cattle during this time.
Meanwhile, there lived a wealthy man amongst Bani Israel. He had a few nephews who would inherit his wealth when he died. One day, someone murdered him, and his body was found lying on the road (or in another version, at the door of one of his own brothers).
The discovery of his body created an uproar. They disputed the identity of the killer, and this murder created a lot of suspicion and distrust within the community. His nephew, the murderer, also participated in these heated debates on finding a solution, and pretended to weep and suffer grief at the death of his uncle.
It was crucial for keeping the peace within Bani Israel that the murderer was identified. However, there were no clues. The Israelites disputed and debated until one of them suggested that they consult Musa AS on how to solve this problem. The dead man’s nephew, the murderer, pretended to be innocent and approached Musa AS for help.
Musa AS said: “By Allah! Anyone who knows anything about this murdered man, he should let us know.” Yet, no one volunteered any information, and of course, the murderer simply kept quiet and played along with this drama.
Then, they asked Musa AS to ask his Lord for a solution. It is noted here that the phrase used by Bani Israel throughout these conversations, as set out in the Qur’an, is “your Lord” instead of “our Lord”, which was an indication that many of Bani Israel still disbelieved in Allah. This is despite all the miracles that they had witnessed, both in Egypt and during their exodus, where those fleeing Egypt with Musa AS were saved when the Red Sea parted and allowed them a dry road. Even though Allah had caused them to triumph over the Pharaoh’s regime, they were stubborn in recognizing their Lord. They had also forgotten how Allah had made twelve springs materialize from the parched desert sands in order to supply each tribe of Bani Israel with fresh water. They had forgotten how Allah provided Bani Israel with food from unknown origins without them having to work for it.
At the same time, whenever a dispute arose, they would remember Musa’s AS piety, and ask him to obtain divine help on their behalf. When the issue had been settled, they would continue in their denial of Allah and revert to their previous disbelief.
Musa AS asked Allah, and he was commanded by Allah to command his people to slaughter a cow. This announcement was met with incredulity by Bani Israel and they accused him of making fun of them. This was not the first time that they challenged the command of Allah. Instead of cursing them, Musa AS prayed for refuge from the ignorance of his people.
And (remember) when Musa said to his people: “Verily, Allah commands you that you slaughter a cow.” They said, “Do you make fun of us?” He said, “I take Allah’s Refuge from being among Al-Jahilun (the ignorant or the foolish).” (Al Qur’an 2:67)
Had they slaughtered the cow immediately, the command of Allah would have been fulfilled and the matter would have been brought to rest. However, for various reasons – delay tactics, stinginess, disbelief in Allah – they did not obey Allah immediately. Instead, they asked multiple questions, apparently to ascertain that they would slaughter the cow with the correct characteristics. Therefore, even though Allah had made it easy for them by not specifying any particular cow:
They said, “Call upon your Lord for us that He may make plain to us what it is!” (Al Qur’an 2:68)
Musa AS sought the command from Allah and:
“[Musa] said, ‘[Allah] says, ‘It is a cow which is neither old nor virgin, but median between that,’ so do what you are commanded.” (Al Qur’an 2:68)
This condition was not difficult to comply with, as the description of the cow was still so general that it would have been easy to find a cow of matching description. Yet, unwilling to obey, Bani Israel continued with their loathsome questioning and this time, asked for the colour of the cow. Therefore, Musa AS had to ask Allah again for his command.
They said, “Call upon your Lord to show us what is her colour.” He said, “He says, ‘It is a yellow cow, bright in color – pleasing to the observers.'” (Al Qur’an 2:69)
Bani Israel, with their arrogance, stubbornness and hard heartedness, still dragged their feet, refused to comply with Allah’s orders, and demanded a further description:
“Call upon your Lord for us to make plain to us what it is. Verily, to us all cows are alike. And surely, if Allah wills, we will be guided.” (Al Qur’an 2:70)
This time, because of the extent of their stubbornness and their clear and direct insolence towards Allah, Allah rewarded them by stipulating exceptionally difficult conditions:
He said, “He says, ‘It is a cow neither trained to plow the earth nor to irrigate the field, one free from fault with no spot upon her.’ ” (Al Qur’an 2:71)
With the description narrowed down to such a degree of specificity, Bani Israel was now placed in a tricky situation. Where was one to find a cow that had not worked all its life within that community, and on top of that, free from defects or blemishes? It was virtually impossible.
According to riwayat, the only cow fulfilling the detailed criteria set by Allah was that belonging to the son of the pious parents. Remembering his mother’s instructions, the boy refused to sell the cow at the normal market price. The Israelites negotiated hard with him, but the boy refused to budge. Some reports say that eventually, the Israelites were forced to agree to ten times the cow’s weight in gold. As a punishment for their stubborn attitudes, those involved now had to dig deep into their pocket, and collect jewellery from their women, for the staggering payment of this cow.
Even then, there was a high degree of reluctance to slaughter the cow. Bani Israel was still on the verge of disobeying Allah, as the following verse reveals:
they slaughtered it though they were near to not doing it. (Al Qur’an 2:71)
Once the cow was slaughtered, Musa AS instructed them with the command of Allah to strike the dead man with a piece of meat from the cow. When they struck the murder victim, he was resurrected by Allah the Almighty. According to riwayat, Musa AS asked him who his murderer was. The murder victim identified his murderer, and then became lifeless again.
This was a sign from Allah on how easily He can give life after death.
Thus Allah brings the dead to life and shows you His Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) so that you may understand} i.e. as you witnessed the revival of that dead man by the Command of Allah the Almighty, He can do the same to all the dead people when He wishes to. (Al Qur’an 31:28)
Lessons Learnt
Allah Will Take Care of the Believers
The lesson that we can learn from the owner of the yellow cow is that if we are pious and trust in Allah, Allah will take care of us and our family, even in the next generation. The boy in this story obeyed his pious parents, acknowledging that their advice to him must have contained some higher wisdom. In return for his parent’s piety and also his own obedience, Allah rewarded him abundantly by making his cow the only cow that matched the description of the heifer needed by Bani Israel.
Immediate Obedience to Allah
If we believe in Allah it is our obligation to obey as soon as possible, without excuses. If we keep disobeying, delaying, making excuses or playing games with Allah, a sickness will enter our hearts. The hypocrisy will increase and the hearts will be hardened.
Instead of obeying a relatively simple order, Bani Israel inflicted difficulty on themselves and behaved with complete contempt toward Allah and His messenger. Every time they were sent a sign from Allah, they would deny it, delay and dispute. This is why Allah made the final description of the cow almost impossible to comply with.
Of this attitude, Allah has warned that the hardening of the heart can lead one’s heart to be more impenetrable than stone:
Then your hearts became hardened after that, being like stones or even harder. For indeed, there are stones from which rivers burst forth, and there are some of them that split open and water comes out, and there are some of them that fall down for fear of Allah . And Allah is not unaware of what you do. (Al Qur’an 2:74)
We should question ourselves today where we are as an individual and nation. Do we rush to obey Allah, or do we drag our feet until a calamity occurs? Even then, how do we deal with the calamity, and how are our attitudes after the issue has passed?
Bani Israel denied all the signs of Allah, except when trouble struck and they needed Allah’s help. This behaviour is no different from those of us who have no place for Allah in our daily lives, and deny and disobey Him on so many levels. Yet, when a situation arises, we hurry to a righteous and pious man to ask him to pray for us or to beg Allah to solve the problem. After the solution has been reached, we then continue with our previous ways.
The Qur’an is targeted at the believers, so why does Allah describe Bani Israel’s behaviour in so much depth to us? It is to warn us, the Muslims, not to imitate their behaviour: hypocrisy, lack of faith, arrogance and disobedience. If our behaviour resembles that of the Bani Israel described in this story, then we are no better than them, at it would be apparent that we have learnt nothing from the Qur’an. May Allah save us from having these characteristics and to continue obeying Him in all matters, large and small, ameen.
