A man was killed among the Children of Israel, and they began blaming one another for it. Musa told them: Allah commands you to slaughter a cow.
They said: are you mocking us? Musa said: I seek refuge in Allah from being one of the ignorant.
Any cow would have done. But they kept asking: what kind? — neither old nor young, in between. What colour? — bright yellow, pleasing to those who see it. Make it clearer, all cows look alike to us! — one not trained to plough the land or water the fields, sound, without blemish.
With every question the task grew harder. At last they found such a cow and slaughtered it — though they nearly did not.
Then, by Allah's command, the dead man was struck with part of the cow, and Allah brought him to life to reveal the killer.