48وَلَقَد آتَينا موسىٰ وَهارونَ الفُرقانَ وَضِياءً وَذِكرًا لِلمُتَّقينَMuhammad AsadAND, INDEED, We vouchsafed unto Moses and Aaron [Our revelation as] the standard by which to discern the true from the false,1 and as a [guiding] light and a reminder for the God-consciousSee note 38 on 2:53. The reference to the revelation bestowed on the earlier prophets as "the standard by which to discern the true from the false" (al-furqan) has here a twofold implication: firstly, it alludes to the Qur'anic doctrine - explained in note 5 on 2:4 - of the historical continuity in all divine revelation, and, secondly, it stresses the fact that revelation - and revelation alone - provides an absolute criterion of all moral valuation. Since the Mosaic dispensation as such was binding on the children of Israel alone and remained valid only within a particular historical and cultural context, the term al-furqan relates here not to the Mosaic Law as such, but to the fundamental ethical truths contained in the Torah and common to all divine revelations.