Tâ Hâ
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[20:85]
Said He: "Then [know that], verily, in thy absence We have put thy people to a test, and the Samaritan has led them astray."

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* v.85 : The designation as-sāmirī is undoubtedly an adjectival noun denoting the person’s descent or origin. According to one of the explanations advanced by Tabarī and Zamakhsharī, it signifies “a man of the Jewish clan of the Sāmirah,” i.e., the ethnic and religious group designated in later times as the Samaritans (a small remnant of whom is still living in Nablus, in Palestine). Since that sect as such did not yet exist at the time of Moses, it is possible that – as Ibn ‘Abbās maintained (Rāzī) – the person in question was one of the many Egyptians who had been converted to the faith of Moses and joined the Israelites on their exodus from Egypt (cf. note 92 on 7:124): in which case the designation sāmirī might be connected with the ancient Egyptian shemer, “a foreigner” or “stranger.” This surmise is strengthened by his introduction of the worship of the golden calf, undoubtedly an echo of the Egyptian cult of Apis (see note 113 on 7:148). In any case, it is not impossible that the latter-day Samaritans descended – or were reputed to descend – from this personality, whether of Hebrew or of Egyptian origin; this might partly explain the persistent antagonism between them and the rest of the Israelite community.