[CIS 6.1–2 (2010) 101–150] Comparative Islamic Studies (print) ISSN 1740-7125 doi: 10.1558/cis.v6i1–2.101 Comparative Islamic Studies (online) ISSN 1743-1638 “Turn in Repentance to your Creator, then Slay Yourselves”: The Levitical Election, Atonement, and Secession in Early and Classical Islamic Exegesis1 Michael E. Pregill Elon University, Elon, NC
[email protected] In memory of Thomas Sizgorich ABSTR A CT The quranic retelling of the Golden Calf story found at 2:51–54 contains a unique allusion to what is arguably one of the most important elements in the biblical precursor in Exodus, the so-called Levitical election. This paper will explore the interpretation of Moses’ puzzling command to the Israelite idolaters to “slay yourselves” in early and classical tafsīr. I will argue that the subtle changes in Muslim exegetes’ understanding of this aspect of the episode reflect important developments in early Islamic soci- ety, in particular the emergence of the accommodationist political ideol- ogy that would become one of the defining features of classical Sunnism. Keywords Biblical stories in Islam, Exodus in Islam, Golden Calf in Islam, Quran, sectarianism, Tafsīr, violence 1. ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������I delivered an early draft of this paper at the Society of Biblical Literature meet- ing in Boston in 2008, on a panel I organized entitled “The Muslim Bible: Islamic Visions of Israel’s History.” I thank the attendees and my fellow panelists for their helpful comments and questions.