Turn in Repentance to your Creator, then Slay Yourselves": The Levitical Election, Atonement and Classical Islamic Exegesis

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 tafsir. I will argue that the subtle changes in Muslim exegetes’ understanding of this aspect of the episode reflect important developments in early Islamic society, in particular the emergence of the accommodationist political ideology that would become one of the defining features of classical Sunnism.