Ṭāhā 20:94

Qāla ya'bna umma lā taʾkhudh bi-liḥyatī wa lā bi-raʾsī, innī khashītu an taqūla farraqta bayna banī isrāʾīla wa lam tarqub qawlī

"He said: 'Son of my mother! Do not take hold of my beard, nor of my head. I feared that you would say, "You have divided the Children of Israel and have not kept my word."'"

The first word of the answer must be recorded: ya'bna umma — "son of my mother".

A point of word order: Aaron is Moses's full brother; he could have said yā akhī (my brother). He chooses an address that names the mother's side.

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the address itself: the word touches the softest place in the brotherhood. And this is the first word of an answer given to an angry man.

And a link within the sūra must be recorded: in the thirty-eighth and fortieth verses Moses was reminded of his own mother (awḥaynā ilā ummika, fa-rajaʿnāka ilā ummik). The address Aaron chooses is a reference back to that mother. This is an overlap that can be verified from the text; it is not a claim about intent but a countable connection.

The concreteness of the scene must be recorded: the verse gives the event not as a description but from inside a sentence.

What happened is not told directly; it is understood from Aaron's words. The same event is told from another vantage at al-Aʿrāf 7/150 (wa akhadha bi-raʾsi akhīhi yajurruhu ilayh).

The root ل-ح-ي: the jaw, the jawbone; liḥya — the beard.

I record this as an observation: the text does not cover over a prophet's actual conduct in a moment of anger. The same honesty was recorded at al-Qaṣaṣ on 28/14-21 and at Maryam on 19/23; I rely on those treatments.

And two parts of the body are named: the beard and the head. Both are places where honour resides in Arab culture — and both are places the other side's hand can reach.

Aaron's answer is not an excuse but an account of a choice, and its structure must be recorded.

That is, Aaron says he chose between two evils: either he would intervene harshly with the people and bring on division, or he would wait for Moses's return.

The root ر-ق-ب: to keep watch, to crane the neck and look. Raqaba — the neck. Arqaba is to watch and to watch over — whence murāqaba. And lam tarqub qawlī means "you did not keep watch over my word".

I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the two items of the answer: Aaron does not plead his own safety or his lack of authority. He says that he was caught between two responsibilities. And the ninetieth verse has already told the reader that he did not merely wait — that he spoke and warned.

And at al-Qaṣaṣ on 28/34 the quality asked for in Aaron was yuṣaddiqunī (that he may confirm me); at Ṭāhā 20/32 what was asked was ashrikhu fī amrī (make him a partner in my task). The question in the ninety-third verse uses precisely that word (a-fa-ʿaṣayta amrī). This is a connection that can be verified within the sūra.

What the scene records is not a family quarrel but a conflict of responsibilities.

Two responsibilities are set side by side: turning a community back from a wrong, and holding that community together. And the text records that the two do not always run the same way.

The verse imposes no preference — it gives Moses's question and Aaron's answer both as they stand. And Moses's next move is to turn to the Sāmirī (95); no answer given to Aaron is recorded. I record this as an observation.