The children of Israel's worship of the calf
20-12-2005 | IslamWeb
Question:
When Prophet Moosaa, may Allaah exalt his mention, was in Egypt the first thing he did was do Da'wah to Pharaoh and ask him to allow Israeli's to go with him-20:47.During this time where Israeli's believers? If yes then why did the Israeli's did idol worship (cow) when Prophet Moosaa (Allaah's Mercy on him) went to receive the Torah? Why did he not preach to them in Egypt that they should not do (or did he) idol worship? Is there any Quranic evidence if he did preach?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
Saying that the first thing Moosaa (Moses) 
did with Pharaoh was that he asked him to let the children of did and asked Pharaoh to do, was to worship Allaah Alone and embrace Islam. Allaah Says (what means): {Has there reached you the story of Moses? When his Lord called to him in the sacred 
interpreted the last verse to mean 'Would you testify that 'La illaaha illa Allaah' None has the right to be worshipped but Allaah.' Besides, Imaam Al-Qurtubi
interpreted the verse to mean: 'To embrace Islam in order to purify yourself from sins.'
Nonetheless, Moosaa (Moses) also asked Pharaoh to let the children of
As regards whether or not the children of
At-Taahar Ibn 'Aashoor said in his Tafseer: "The children of Israel believed that they will meet their Lord before the Torah was revealed, but throughout the times and centuries, as they neighboured the Copts and were humiliated and far from their own country, in addition to being poor and enslaved, all this made them forget their religious knowledge; therefore they forgot that Allaah is watching them and committed mischief in the land until their situation became like that of those who did not believe that they will stand before Allaah [on the Day of Judgement]."
Imaam Ibn Katheer interpreted the Saying of Allaah (which means): {And We wanted to confer favour upon those who were oppressed in the land.}[Quran 28:5], to mean: 'They were at that time the best of the people of their era.'
With regard to why they worshipped the calf, the reason was because of their ignorance and because the Saamiri had misled them, as Allaah Says (what means): {… and the Saamiri has led them astray.}[Quran 20:85], Allaah further Says (what means): {They took it (the calf) [for worship], and they were wrongdoers.}[Quran 7:148]. In another verse Allaah Says (what means): {And their hearts absorbed [the worship of] the calf because of their disbelief.}[Quran 2:93]. Ash-Shawkaani interpreted the above verse saying: 'It means that this was due to their disbelief as a punishment and a humiliation to them.' That was because when Allaah ordered them to act upon what was revealed in the Torah, they said: {"We hear and disobey."}[Quran 2:93]. To conclude they were afflicted by the worship of the calf because of their disobedience and sins, and due to their objection to the Commandments of Allaah after he saved them from Pharaoh.
Concerning your question "Why Moosaa (Moses) did not admonish them…?", the answer is that they worshipped the calf after they left Egypt, and Moosaa (Moses) did not know that they would worship the calf, and he did not know about this until Allaah informed him about it when he came to the time and place appointed to him by Allaah. So, when he returned to them, he severely rebuked and condemned them for this act and burnt the calf.
Allaah Knows best.