Note 98 — DICTIONARY OF ISLĀM. (continued 14)

The accusation from which God cleared his servant Moses, of which the Qurʾān makes mention, was occasioned by Korah. “Abu Aliah says it refers to Korah hiring a harlot to reproach Moses before all the people, upon which God struck her dumb, and destroyed Korah, which cleared Moses from the charge.”98 This is unquestionably an amplification of the following passage: “Moses heard, and fell on his face. What was it he heard? That they accused him of having to do with another man’s wife.”99 Others conceive the unjust charge from which Moses was cleared, to have been that of murdering Aaron on Mount Hor, because he and Eleazar only were present when Aaron died! That they had recourse to Jewish tradition, will appear from the subjoined extract: “The whole congregation saw that Aaron was dead; and when Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, the whole congregation gathered together, asking, Where is Aaron? But they said, He is dead. How can the Angel of Death touch a man, by whom he was resisted and restrained, as it is said, He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed? If ye bring him, it is well; if not, we will stone you. Moses prayed, Lord of the World, remove from me this suspicion! Then God opened and showed them Aaron’s body.” And to this the passage applies: “The whole congregation saw,” &c. (Numb. xx. 29, 75.) [MOSES.]