Surah 20:85
"He said, ‘Surely We have tempted your people after you (left them), and al-Sāmirī has led them astray.’"
The Golden Calf Event
Supporting Verses
Surah 20:90 → "Certainly Aaron had said to them before, ‘My people! You are only being tempted by it. Surely your Lord is the Merciful, so follow me and obey my command!’"
Surah 20:91 → "They said, ‘We shall continue (to be) devoted to it until Moses returns to us.’"
Surah 20:92 → "He said, ‘Aaron! What prevented you, when you saw them going astray,"
Opposing Verses
Surah 7:149 → "But when they stumbled and saw that they had gone astray, they said, ‘If indeed our Lord does not have compassion on us, and does not forgive us, we shall indeed be among the losers.’"
Surah 7:150 → "When Moses returned to his people, in anger (and) grief, he said, ‘Evil is what you have done as my successors, after I (left you). Have you sought to hurry the command of your Lord?’ And he cast (down) the Tablets, and seized his brother’s head, dragging him toward himself. He said, ‘Son of my mother! Surely the people thought me weak, and nearly killed me. So do not let (my) enemies gloat over me, and do not place me among the people who are evildoers.’"
Surah 7:151 → "He said, ‘My Lord, forgive me and my brother, and cause us to enter into Your mercy, (for) You are the most compassionate of the compassionate.’"
Does the Quran state that the Israelites repented for worshipping the calf before Moses returned, and was Aaron to blame? Some verses state the Israelites refused to repent until Moses returned and Aaron explicitly told them they were being tempted, while other verses state the Israelites repented before Moses returned, yet Moses seized Aaron upon his return and Aaron asked for forgiveness.