Al-A'raaf (The Heights)

176. “And had We willed, We would certainly have exalted him thereby, but he clung to the earth and followed his lust. So his parable is like the parable of a dog; if you attack it, it lulls out its tongue, or if you leave it, it lulls out its tongue. Such is the parable of the people who belied Our Signs. Therefore, relate (unto them) the stories, that they may ponder.”

The previous subject has been completed in this expressive verse. It implies that if Allah had wished, He could have forcedly kept him alongside the path of right with an exalted rank, by the way of those holy verses and practical sciences. The verse says:

“And had We willed, We would certainly have exalted him thereby…”

But it is certain that forcedly keeping persons alongside the path of truth does not agree with Allah’s way of treatment, which is the custom of choice and free will, and it is not the sign of personality and greatness of a person. So, immediately next to it, the Qur’ān, implying that Allah left him to himself, adds:

“…but he clung to the earth and followed his lust.”

Then, the Qur’ān resembles this person to a dog which, like some thirsty animals, often draws its tongue out of its mouth. The verse says:

“…So his parable is like the parable of a dog; if you attack it, it lulls out its tongue…”

As a result of attaching the intense lust and clanging to the pleasures of the material world, such a person may get a state of unlimited and endless thirst that he always goes after mammonism. This state, in him, is like the state of a rabid dog that, because of its sickness, it has a false thirst and it never drinks to satiety.

Then, the Qur’ān implies that this parable is not allocated to this particular person, but it is for all those who reject the verses of Allah. The verse says:

“…Such is the parable of the people who belied Our Signs…”

This story should be told for them, maybe they think about it and then they take a correct way for themselves. The verse continues saying:

“…Therefore, relate (unto them) the stories, that they may ponder.”

Bal‘am Ba‘ura, a Mammonish Scholar, Gone Astray!

A great deal of Islamic narrations and statements, as was pointed out before, indicate that the person referred to in this verse had been a man by the name of Bal‘am-Bā‘ūrā who lived at the time of Moses (as).

He was counted as one of the well known scholars of the Children of Israel, so that Moses used of him as an effective and strong preacher. He became so exalted in this way that his prayers before Allah were answered.

But, as a result of accepting the promises of Pharaoh and inclining to him, he went astray, thus far that he joined the camp of the opponents of Moses (as), and therefore, he lost all his spiritual ranks.