واذ قال موسى لقومه يا قوم انكم ظلمتم انفسكم باتخاذكم العجل فتوبوا الى باريكم فاقتلوا انفسكم ذالكم خير لكم عند باريكم فتاب عليكم انه هو التواب الرحيم ٥٤
And ˹remember˺ when Moses said to his people, “O my people! Surely you have wronged yourselves by worshipping the calf, so turn in repentance to your Creator and execute ˹the calf-worshippers among˺ yourselves. That is best for you in the sight of your Creator.” Then He accepted your repentance. Surely He is the Accepter of Repentance, Most Merciful.
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To whom is Moses' command "then kill one another (lit. yourselves)" addressed?
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Answer
Imām Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201) summarized the scholars' opinions in his book "Zād al-Masīr" as follows:
It was an address to all of them (to kill their own selves). [Al-Suddī]
It was an address to those who did not worship the calf to kill those who did worship. [Muqātil]
It was an address to the worshippers (of the calf) alone, commanding them to kill each other. [Abū Sulaymān al-Dimashqī]
What does the pronoun in "that will be better" refer to?