And when Moses said to his people, 'God commands you to sacrifice a cow', that is the animal soul, the sacrifice of which constitutes the suppression of its capricious nature, which is its lifeblood, and its being prevented from acts specific to her, by means of the knife blade of spiritual discipline; they said, 'Do you take us in mockeryḍ', scorning us and thinking little of us so that we might obey you and become disposed to you, as was the case with Pharaoh: Thus did he persuade his people and they obeyed him [Q. 43:54]. He said, 'I take refuge with God lest I should be one of the ignorant': to scorn, to mock and to seek hegemony over [people] is are the acts of the ignorant.
