Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:176
And if We had willed, we could have elevated him thereby, but he adhered [instead] to the earth and followed his own desire. So his example is like that of the dog: if you chase him, he pants, or if you leave him, he [still] pants. That is the example of the people who denied Our signs. So relate the stories that perhaps they will give thought.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word: وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَرَفَعْنَاهُ بِهَا وَلَكِنَّهُ أَخْلَدَ إِلَى الأَرْضِ وَاتَّبَعَ هَوَاهُ ("And had We willed, We would have raised him by them, but he inclined toward the earth and followed his desire." (7:176))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: And had We willed, We would have raised this man, to whom We had given Our signs, by Our signs that We had bestowed upon him = (but he inclined toward the earth), He says: he attached himself to the worldly life on earth and inclined toward it, and he preferred its enjoyment and lusts over the Hereafter = "and he followed his desire," and he cast off obedience to Allah from himself and acted in opposition to His command.
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And the story of this man whose account Allah described in this verse — despite all the disagreement among the scholars concerning his account and his affair — is as follows:-
15420 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Al-Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of his father: that he was asked about the verse: وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ الَّذِي آتَيْنَاهُ آيَاتِنَا فَانْسَلَخَ مِنْهَا ("And recite to them the account of the one to whom We gave Our signs, but he divested himself of them"). Then he related, on the authority of Sayyār, that there was a man called Balʿam, to whom prophethood had been given, and whose supplication was answered. He said: And Mūsā set out with the Children of Israel, heading toward the land in which Balʿam was — or he said: Syria (al-Shaʾm). He said: The people were seized with severe fear of him. He said: Then they came to Balʿam and said: Call upon Allah against this man and his army! He said: Until I consult my Lord — or: until I consult. He said: He consulted concerning cursing them, and it was said to him: Do not curse them, for they are My servants, and their prophet is among them! He said: Then he said to his people: I have consulted my Lord concerning cursing them, and it has been forbidden to me. He said: Then they offered him a gift and he accepted it. After that they came to him again and said: Curse them! He said: Until I consult! He consulted, but nothing was given back to him. He said: Then he said: I consulted, but nothing was given back to me! They said: If your Lord disliked that you should curse them, He would have forbidden it to you, as He forbade it to you the first time. He said: Then he began to curse them, but each time he cursed them, the curse flowed off his tongue against his own people; and when he wished to supplicate that victory be granted to his people, he supplicated that victory be granted to Mūsā and his army — or something of the sort, if Allah wills. He said: Then they said: We see that you supplicate only against us! He said: Nothing but this flows off my tongue, and even were I to supplicate against him, it would not be answered. But I will point you to a matter by which they may perhaps perish: Allah abhors fornication (zinā), and if they fall into fornication, they will perish, and I hope that Allah will cause them to perish. So send the women out against them, that they may go to meet them, for they are travelers, and perhaps they will commit fornication and perish. He said: They did so and sent out the women to meet them. He said: The king had a daughter, and he described her beauty in a manner that Allah knows best! He said: Then her father, or Balʿam, said: Do not give yourself to anyone except Mūsā! He said: And they fell into fornication. He said: Then the chief of one of the tribes of the Children of Israel came to her and desired her for himself. He said: She said: I give myself to no one except Mūsā! He said: He said: Verily, my standing is such-and-such, and my rank is such-and-such! He said: Then she sent to her father to consult him, and he said to her: Then give yourself to him. He said: Then a man from the descendants of Hārūn came to them with a lance, and he ran them both through. He said: Allah strengthened him with power, so that he skewered them both upon his lance and raised them up upon his lance. He said: The people saw them both — or as he related it. He said: And Allah sent the plague upon them. He said: By it seventy thousand of them died. He said: Abū al-Muʿtamir said: Sayyār related to me that Balʿam was riding upon a she-donkey of his, until, when he came to the shattered remnants — or he said: to a road between the shattered remnants — he began to beat her, but she did not advance. He said: She halted before him and said: For what do you beat me? Do you not see what is before you! He said: And behold, there was the devil (al-shayṭān) before him. He said: Then he dismounted and prostrated himself before him on the ground. Allah said: وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ الَّذِي آتَيْنَاهُ آيَاتِنَا فَانْسَلَخَ مِنْهَا فَأَتْبَعَهُ الشَّيْطَانُ فَكَانَ مِنَ الْغَاوِينَ ("And recite to them the account of the one to whom We gave Our signs, but he divested himself of them; then the devil made him follow, and he was among those who went astray") up to His word: لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ("that they may reflect"). He said: Sayyār related this to me, and I do not know whether perhaps something from the account of another has crept into it.
15421 - Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Al-Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of his father, saying: And there reached me the account of a man from the People of the Book who related: that Mūsā asked Allah to seal him (Balʿam) and to make him one of the inhabitants of the Fire. He said: Allah did so. He said: It was reported to me that Mūsā killed him thereafter.
15422 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Sālim Abū al-Naḍr, who related: that when Mūsā descended into the land of the Children of Canaan from the land of Syria — [and Balʿam was at Bāliʿa, a village of the villages of al-Balqāʾ. When Mūsā descended with the Children of Israel at that place] — the people of Balʿam came to Balʿam and said to him: O Balʿam, verily this Mūsā ibn ʿImrān has come with the Children of Israel to drive us out of our land, to kill us, and to hand it over to the Children of Israel and settle them in it. We are your people, and we have no abode, and you are a man whose supplication is answered. So go out and call upon Allah against them! He said: Woe to you! The prophet of Allah is with him, and the angels and the believers — how could I go to supplicate against them, while I know of Allah what I know?! They said: We have no abode! And they did not cease softening him and beseeching him, until they led him into temptation and he succumbed. Then he rode upon a she-donkey of his, heading toward the mountain from which he could look down upon the camp of the Children of Israel. That is the mountain of Ḥusbān. When he had ridden a little way upon it, she lay down beneath him. Then he dismounted from her and beat her, until, when he had driven her to the utmost, she rose and he rode upon her again. But she had not gone far with him before she lay down beneath him again. He did the same to her, and she rose and he rode upon her, but she had not gone far with him before she lay down beneath him again. Then he beat her, and when he had driven her to the utmost, Allah gave her leave, and she spoke to him as a proof against him, saying: Woe to you, O Balʿam! Where are you going? Do you not see the angels before me, who are driving me back from this road of mine? Are you going to the prophet of Allah and the believers to supplicate against them! But he did not cease beating her, and Allah released her road to her when he did that to her. He said: Then she went forth until she brought him to the summit of the mountain of Ḥusbān, looking down upon the camp of Mūsā and the Children of Israel. Then he began to supplicate against them, but each time he wished to invoke something against them, his tongue was turned with it toward his own people, and each time he wished to invoke something good for his people, his tongue was turned toward the Children of Israel. He said: Then his people said to him: Do you know, O Balʿam, what you are doing? You are supplicating for them and against us! He said: That is something over which I have no power; this is something over which Allah has prevailed. He said: Then his tongue came out and fell upon his chest. He said to them: Now the worldly life and the Hereafter have departed from me, and nothing remains but cunning and deceit. So I will scheme and deceive for you. Make the women beautiful, give them merchandise, and then send them to the camp to sell it there. Command them that no woman withhold herself from a man who desires her, for if one of them commits fornication, that will rid you of them! They did so, and when the women entered the camp, a woman of the Canaanites, named "Kasbā, daughter of Ṣūr," the chief of her people, passed by a man of the notables of the Children of Israel, namely Zimrī ibn Shalūm, the chief of the tribe of Shamʿūn ibn Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm. He stood up toward her and took her by the hand when her beauty pleased him, and brought her along until he stood with her before Mūsā — peace be upon him — and said: I suspect you are going to say that this woman is forbidden to you? He said: Indeed, she is forbidden to you, do not approach her! He said: By Allah, in this we will not obey you! And he entered his tent with her and had intercourse with her. Then Allah sent the plague upon the Children of Israel. And Finḥāṣ ibn al-ʿAyzār ibn Hārūn was the one charged with the affair of Mūsā, and he was a man who had been given a tall stature and strength in grasping. He was absent when Zimrī ibn Shalūm did what he did. Then he came, while the plague was raging among the Children of Israel, and he was informed of the account. Then he took his lance — which was entirely of iron — and entered his (Zimrī's) tent, while those two were lying together, and he ran them both through with his lance. Then he went out with them both, raising them up to the sky, while he had gripped the lance by his forearm and braced his elbow against his side, and he rested the lance against his jaws — and he was the firstborn of al-ʿAyzār — and he began to say: O Allah, thus do we deal with whoever disobeys You! Then the plague was lifted, and they calculated how many of the Children of Israel had perished in the plague between the time that Zimrī took that woman and the time that Finḥāṣ killed him, and they found that seventy thousand of them had perished — and whoever makes the number smaller says: twenty thousand — in one hour of the day. For that reason the Children of Israel give to the descendants of Finḥāṣ ibn al-ʿAyzār ibn Hārūn, from every sacrificial animal that they slaughter, the stomach, the foreleg, and the jaw, on account of his bracing the lance against his side, his gripping it by his forearm, and his resting it against his jaws — as well as the firstborn of all their possessions and their own persons, because he was the firstborn of al-ʿAyzār. And concerning Balʿam ibn Bāʿūr, Allah revealed to Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace: وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ الَّذِي آتَيْنَاهُ آيَاتِنَا فَانْسَلَخَ مِنْهَا ("And recite to them the account of the one to whom We gave Our signs, but he divested himself of them"), namely Balʿam, فَأَتْبَعَهُ الشَّيْطَانُ فَكَانَ مِنَ الْغَاوِينَ ("then the devil made him follow, and he was among those who went astray"), … up to His word: لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ("that they may reflect").
15423 - Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, saying: A man of the Children of Israel, named Balʿam, set out and came to the tyrants (the giants), and said: Do not be afraid of the Children of Israel, for when you go out to fight them, I will supplicate against them and they will perish. Then Yūshaʿ went out with the people to fight the tyrants. And Balʿam went out with the tyrants upon his she-donkey, with the intention of cursing the Children of Israel. But each time he wished to supplicate against the Children of Israel, he supplicated against the tyrants, so that the tyrants said: You are supplicating against us! And he said: I meant the Children of Israel. When he reached the city gate, an angel seized the tail of the she-donkey and held her back, and he began to drive her forward but she did not move. When he beat her much, she spoke and said: You have intercourse with me by night and ride me by day? Woe is me on account of you! If I were able to go out, I would go out, but this angel holds me back. And concerning Balʿam Allah says: وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ الَّذِي آتَيْنَاهُ آيَاتِنَا ("And recite to them the account of the one to whom We gave Our signs") … the verse.
15424 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: A man related to me who heard ʿIkrima say: A woman of theirs said: Point out Mūsā to me, and I will tempt him! He said: Then she perfumed herself and passed by a man who resembled Mūsā, and he had intercourse with her. Then the son of Hārūn was brought and informed, and he took a sword and stabbed it into his (the man's) private part until he brought it out, and he brought it out from her as well. Then he raised them both up until the people saw them, and it was realized that it was not Mūsā. For that reason the family of Hārūn were given precedence over the family of Mūsā at the sacrifice with the withers, the upper arm, and the thigh. He said: That is "the one to whom We gave Our signs, but he divested himself of them," namely Balʿam.
* * *
The exegetes disagreed concerning the explanation of His word: (And had We willed, We would have raised him by them).
Some of them said: its meaning is: We would have raised him through his knowledge of them.
* Mention of who said that:
15425 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said: (And had We willed, We would have raised him by them), Allah the Exalted would have raised him through his knowledge.
* * *
Others said: its meaning is: We would have removed from him the state into which he fell, namely disbelief in Allah, through Our signs.
* Mention of who said that:
15426 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning Allah's word: (And had We willed, We would have raised him by them): We would have turned it away from him.
15427 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid: (And had We willed, We would have raised him by them): We would have turned it away from him.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the statements concerning the explanation of this is that one say: Allah kept the account general with His word: (And had We willed, We would have raised him by them), namely that had He willed, He would have raised him through His signs that He had given him. And "raising" encompasses many meanings: among them the raising in rank with Him, among them the raising in worldly honor and its marks of esteem, and among them the raising in good repute and high praise. And it is permissible that Allah intended all of this: that had He willed, He would have raised him and bestowed all of that upon him, by granting him success to act according to His signs that He had given him. And since that is permissible, the correct position concerning it is that none of it be singled out (restricted to one meaning), since there is no indication for a specific meaning, neither from a transmitted report nor from the intellect. And as for His word: (by them — bi-hā), Ibn Zayd said concerning it the same as what we said.
15428 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: (And had We willed, We would have raised him by them): through those signs. And as for His word: (but he inclined toward the earth), the exegetes said concerning it approximately what we say concerning it.
* Mention of who said that:
15429 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: My father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Abū al-Haytham, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: (but he inclined toward the earth), that means: he leaned upon the earth.
15430 - … he said: Yaḥyā ibn Ādam related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: (but he inclined toward the earth), he said: he inclined toward the earth.
15431 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "akhlada" (inclined): he settled at rest (attached himself).
15432 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Tumayla related to us, on the authority of Abū Ḥamza, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Mujāhid and ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: Among the Children of Israel there was Balʿam ibn Bāʿir, to whom a book had been given, but he inclined toward the desires of the earth, its enjoyments and possessions, and he derived no benefit from what the book brought.
15433 - Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (but he inclined toward the earth and followed his desire), as for (he inclined toward the earth): he followed the worldly life and leaned upon it. Abū Jaʿfar said: The original meaning of "al-ikhlād" in the language of the Arabs is: sluggishness and remaining. One says: "fulān akhlada bi-l-makān" (so-and-so remained at the place), when he stayed there, and "akhlada nafsahu ilā al-makān" (he settled himself at the place), when he came there from another place. To that belongs the saying of Zuhayr:
"To whom belong the dwellings that I visited in the highland, like the writing upon the stone of the abiding watercourse" —
by which he means the abiding (al-muqīm). And to that belongs the saying of Mālik ibn Nuwayra:
"With sons of a tribe from the lineages of Mālik and ʿAmr ibn Yarbūʿ; they remained and stayed abiding."
And some of the scholars of Basra said that the meaning of His word "akhlada" is: he held fast, lingered, and tarried. And "al-mukhlid" is also: the one whose graying comes late among men = and among the riding beasts: that whose incisors remain until the canine teeth appear.
* * *
And as for His word: (and followed his desire), Ibn Zayd said in its explanation the following:
15434 - Yūnus related this to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: (and followed his desire), he said: his desire was with the people.
* * *
The explanation of His word: فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ الْكَلْبِ إِنْ تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْهِ يَلْهَثْ أَوْ تَتْرُكْهُ يَلْهَثْ ("His likeness is as the likeness of the dog: if you drive it off, it pants, or if you leave it alone, it pants." (7:176))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: The likeness of this man to whom We gave Our signs, but he divested himself of them, is as the likeness of the dog that pants, whether you drive it away or leave it alone.
* * *
Then the exegetes disagreed concerning the reason why Allah made his likeness as that of the dog.
Some of them said: He likened him to it in the panting, on account of his neglecting to act according to the Book of Allah and His signs that He had given him, and on account of his aversion to the admonitions of Allah — an aversion like that of one to whom Allah had given nothing of that. He, exalted be His praise, said concerning it: since his state was the same — whether he was admonished by the signs of Allah that He had given him, or not admonished — in the sense that he was not admonished by them and did not abandon his disbelief therein, his likeness is the likeness of the dog whose state in its panting is the same, whether it is driven off or not, since in no case does it abandon the panting.
* Mention of who said that:
15435 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (as the likeness of the dog: if you drive it off, it pants), he said: you drive it away; it is the likeness of the one who reads the Book but does not act according to it.
15436 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said: Mujāhid said: (His likeness is as the likeness of the dog: if you drive it off, it pants), he said: you drive it away with your riding beast and your foot = "it pants," he said: it is the likeness of the one who reads the Book but does not act according to what is in it = Ibn Jurayj said: the dog is cut off from heart, it has no heart; if you drive it off it pants, or if you leave it alone it pants. He said: it is the likeness of the one who abandons guidance; he has no heart, his heart is cut off.
15437 - Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of one of them: (His likeness is as the likeness of the dog: if you drive it off, it pants, or if you leave it alone, it pants), that is the disbeliever (kāfir); he is astray, whether you admonish him or do not admonish him.
15438 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (His likeness is as the likeness of the dog): if you lay upon him wisdom, he does not bear it, and if he is left alone, he does not guide himself to the good, like the dog: if it lies down it pants, and if it is driven off it pants.
15439 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: My father related to me, saying: My uncle related to me, saying: My father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: Allah gave him His signs, but he let them go, and Allah made his likeness as the likeness of the dog: "if you drive it off, it pants, or if you leave it alone, it pants."
15440 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ الَّذِي آتَيْنَاهُ آيَاتِنَا فَانْسَلَخَ مِنْهَا فَأَتْبَعَهُ الشَّيْطَانُ ("And recite to them the account of the one to whom We gave Our signs, but he divested himself of them; then the devil made him follow"), the verse — this is a likeness that Allah set for the one to whom guidance was offered, but who refused to accept it and abandoned it. He said: And al-Ḥasan used to say: it is the hypocrite (munāfiq) = "And had We willed, We would have raised him by them, but he inclined toward the earth and followed his desire; his likeness is as the likeness of the dog: if you drive it off, it pants, or if you leave it alone, it pants" — he said: this is the likeness of the disbeliever with the dead heart.
* * *
Others said: He, exalted be His praise, likened him to the dog precisely because he panted as the dog pants.
* Mention of who said that:
15441 - Mūsā related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (His likeness is as the likeness of the dog: if you drive it off, it pants, or if you leave it alone, it pants), and Balʿam panted as the dog pants. And as for "if you drive it off": that is: you drive it off hard.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the two explanations concerning it is the explanation of the one who said: it is precisely a likeness for his neglecting to act according to the signs of Allah that He had given him, and its meaning is: whether he was admonished or not admonished, he did not desist from that in which he was, namely his resistance to the command of his Lord — just as it is the same whether one drives the dog off and chases it away, or leaves it alone and does not chase it, in the sense that it does not abandon the panting in either state.
And we said only that this is the more correct of the two statements, on account of the indication of His word, the Exalted: ذَلِكَ مَثَلُ الْقَوْمِ الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا ("That is the likeness of the people who denied Our signs"), by which He made that the likeness of those who denied His signs. And we know that panting does not lie in the natural disposition of every denier for whom the abandonment of the return (to Allah) has been decreed through his denial of Allah's signs, and that this is only a likeness that Allah set for them. From that it is known that it is a likeness for the one whose attribute Allah described in this verse, just as it is a likeness for the rest of the deniers of Allah's signs.
The explanation of His word: ذَلِكَ مَثَلُ الْقَوْمِ الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا فَاقْصُصِ الْقَصَصَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ (176) ("That is the likeness of the people who denied Our signs; so relate the stories, that they may reflect." (7:176))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: This likeness that I set for this man to whom We gave Our signs, but he divested himself of them, is the likeness of the people who denied Our proofs, Our signs, and Our indications, and who walked therein in the way of this man who divested himself of Our signs, which We had given him, in his neglecting to act according to what We had bestowed upon him thereof.
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And as for His word: (so relate the stories), He says to His prophet Muḥammad — may Allah bless him and grant him peace: Relate, O Muḥammad, these stories that I have told you = of the account of the one to whom We gave Our signs, and the accounts of the communities whose accounts I have told you in this sūra, and whose account and the account of their like I have related to you, and what befell them of Our punishment, and what descended upon them when they denied Our messengers, of Our retribution = to your people of QurAysh, and to those who are with you of the Jews of the Children of Israel, that they may reflect upon it, take heed, and turn to Our obedience, so that there not befall them the like of what befell their predecessors of punishments and exemplary chastisements; and that the Jews of the Children of Israel may consider it, so that they may know the truth of your affair and the soundness of your prophethood — since the account of "the one to whom We gave Our signs" belonged to their hidden knowledge and their preserved accounts, which none knew except their scribes and those among them who read and studied the books. And in your knowledge of that — while you are unlettered, neither writing nor reading, neither studying the books nor having sat with the scholars — lies the clear proof for you against them, that you are a messenger of Allah, and that you did not learn what you know of that, while your state is the state in which you are, except through revelation from heaven.
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And in this vein Abū al-Naḍr used to speak.
15442 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad, on the authority of Sālim Abū al-Naḍr: (so relate the stories, that they may reflect), namely the Children of Israel, since you have brought them the account of what was among them and what they concealed from you = "that they may reflect," so that they may acknowledge that none could bring this account of what has passed among them except a prophet to whom the account comes from heaven.
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Footnotes:
(93) See the earlier narration no. 15416. (94) In the printed edition: "Balʿamā," with declension of the foreign name. (95) The second form "uʾāmir" with hamza is the eloquent linguistic form. The first, "uwāmir" with wāw through omission of the hamza, is not eloquent, but this report has been transmitted with it. See the following note. (96) In the printed edition: "fa-āmara ʿalayhim"; I have adhered to what is in the manuscript. "Wāmara" is equivalent to "āmara," but it is a non-recommended linguistic form. See the previous note. (97) In the printed edition: "innī āmartu," with omission of "qad" and with "wāmartu" made into "āmartu"; I have followed the manuscript, as explained before and hereafter. (98) The editor tampered with this sentence by addition, distortion, and omission, and thus made it: "He said: until I consult my Lord, and he consulted, but He commanded him nothing." I have established the correct from the manuscript: "uwāmir" and "wāmara," all as before, with the wāw. And his word "fa-lam yaḥur ilayhi shayʾ" means: nothing was given back to him. "Ḥāra ilayhi yaḥūru ḥawran": it returned to him; from that "ḥāwarahu muḥāwaratan ḥiwāran" in speech. And one says "aḥāra ʿalayhi jawābahu," "aḥartu lahu jawāban," and "mā aḥāra bi-kalimatin." (99) In the printed edition likewise made into: "qad wāmartu fa-lam yaʾmurnī bi-shayʾ"; see the previous note. (100) In the printed edition: "fī al-marra al-ūlā," with the addition of "fī"; what is in the manuscript is better. (101) In the printed edition: "li-tastaqbilahum," with omission of the fāʾ and the nūn. (102) In the printed edition: "tastaqbiluhum"; I have adhered to what is in the manuscript. (103) In the printed edition: "makkinīhi," differing from what is in the manuscript. (104) In the manuscript "wa-rafaʿahumā" has dropped out; the correct is what is in the printed edition and in Ibn Kathīr. (105) In the printed edition and in the tafsīr of Ibn Kathīr: "… atā al-maʿlūlā = or he said: a road from al-maʿlūlā," which has no meaning. In the manuscript: "al-ʿulūl" and "bayna al-ʿulūl"; I have corrected its reading as established, because when the army of Mūsā was struck by the punishment and seventy thousand of them perished, whoever of them remained became shattered remnants (fulūl). This is what I consider most probable. (106) In the printed edition: "wa-lā tataqaddam," as in Ibn Kathīr; I have adhered to what is in the manuscript. (107) Narration 15420 — "Al-Muʿtamir" is al-Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān ibn Ṭarkhān al-Taymī, the well-known imam, mentioned repeatedly before. His father is Sulaymān ibn Ṭarkhān al-Taymī, known as al-Taymī, with the kunya Abū al-Muʿtamir, mentioned repeatedly before. And "Sayyār" from whom he transmits is Sayyār ibn Salāma, Abū al-Minhāl al-Riyāḥī, the well-known trustworthy transmitter, before under no. 5478. This report was transmitted by Ibn Kathīr in his tafsīr 3:595, 596, and by al-Suyūṭī in al-Durr al-manthūr 3:147, abridged. (108) In the printed edition: "fa-balaghanī"; I have adhered to what is in the manuscript. (109) The addition between brackets comes from the Taʾrīkh of al-Ṭabarī. (110) In the printed edition: "wa-dʿu" with the wāw; I have adhered to what is in the manuscript and the Taʾrīkh. (111) In the printed edition: "yarfaʿūnahu," and in the Taʾrīkh: "yarfiqūnahu"; the correct is what is established, derived from "al-riqqa," which is mercy and compassion — i.e., they did not cease working on him so that his heart would have compassion upon them. (112) In the printed edition: "jabal Ḥassān," and in the manuscript "Ḥassān" without diacritical points; I have established what corresponds to the spelling in the Taʾrīkh, where it is so recorded; I have found no mention of it in the geographical dictionaries. (113) In the Taʾrīkh: "fa-mā sāra ʿalayhā ghayra qalīlin ḥattā rabaḍat bihi" (when he had not ridden far upon her, she lay down beneath him). (114) "Al-idhlāq": that exhaustion drives him to the utmost, until he becomes restless and tormented. In the narration about Māʿiz: "that he — may Allah bless him and grant him peace — commanded that he be stoned, and when the stones had driven him to the utmost, he leapt up and fled" — i.e., they drove him to the utmost until he became restless. (115) In the printed edition: "amā tarā al-malāʾikata turuddunī"; in the manuscript: "alā tarā al-malāʾikata alā turaddunī ʿan wajhī"; I have established what is in the Taʾrīkh. (116) In the printed edition: "fa-ḍarabahā"; the correct comes from the manuscript and the Taʾrīkh. (117) In the printed edition: "fa-anṭalaqat bihi ḥattā idhā ashrafat ʿalā raʾsi …"; in the manuscript "bihi" has dropped out of the whole sentence; I have established what is in the Taʾrīkh, even though there it reads "ʿalā jabal Ḥusbān" without "raʾs." See "Ḥusbān" in note 1, for in the printed edition it stood here as there. (118) In the printed edition: "wa-lā yadʿū … bi-sharr"; I have established what is in the manuscript and the Taʾrīkh. (119) "Indalaʿa lisānuhu": it came out of the mouth, hung slack, and fell upon the depression of the chin like the tongue of a dog. In another report about Balʿam: "that Allah cursed him, whereupon his tongue protruded, its tip fell upon his chest, and it remained so." (120) In the Taʾrīkh: "the chief of her people and the sons of her father, of whoever of them was in Madyan — he was their foremost — passed by a man …" (121) In the printed edition: "lā uṭīʿuka"; I have established what is in the manuscript and the Taʾrīkh. (122) In the manuscript and the Taʾrīkh: "yaḥūs" with the undotted ḥāʾ. From their expression: "taraktu fulānan yaḥūs banī fulān wa-yajūsuhum" (also with jīm) — he penetrates among them, seeks them out, and tramples them. And "the wolf yaḥūs the sheep": he penetrates among them and scatters them. In the printed edition: "yajūs" with the jīm. (123) In the Taʾrīkh: "ʿalayhimā al-qubba" (the tent over them both). (124) In the Taʾrīkh and the manuscript: "liḥyatihi"; the correct is what is in the printed edition, as the proof of it will follow hereafter from the giving by the Children of Israel of "the jaws" (al-liḥā) to the descendants of Finḥāṣ. (125) In the printed edition: "al-fashsha"; I have established what is in the manuscript and the Taʾrīkh. "Al-qibba" (with kasra on the qāf and light fatḥa on the bāʾ) is a part of the rumen; "al-ḥifth" (with fatḥa then kasra) is the part with the folds of the rumen, and "al-qibba" beside it, which has no folds. (126) His word "wa-l-bikr" is connected to his word "tuʿṭā banī Isrāʾīl … al-qibba …". (127) Narration 15422 — Ibn Jarīr transmitted it in his Taʾrīkh 1:226, 227. (128) "Fa-yahlikūn" has dropped out of the manuscript and the printed edition, but it is established in the earlier narration 15411 and in the Taʾrīkh. (129) Narration 15423 — before under no. 15411, and it is in the Taʾrīkh 1:227, 228. (130) In the printed edition "wa-akhrajahu" has been omitted from the text; it is in the manuscript. Nevertheless I doubt the whole expression. Had he said "min duburihā" (from her backside), the sentence would somewhat fit and the image would become somewhat clear. (131) In the printed edition: "bi-aktuf wa-l-ʿaḍud"; in the manuscript: "bi-l-kitāb"; presumably the correct is what I have read: "al-katid," which is the place where the shoulder blades meet. And Allah knows best which of these is correct. (132) In the printed edition: "la-rafaʿnā ʿanhu bihā"; I do not know where he got that from, and I have established what is in the manuscript: "la-dafaʿnā" with the dāl. (133) In the printed edition: "la-rafaʿnā ʿanhu"; I have established what is in the manuscript. (134) Narration 15432 — before abridged under no. 15414. (135) This last explanation you will find in no language dictionary; so record it. (136) His dīwān: 268, and the Lisān (under khld), the beginning of his poem about Sinān ibn Abī Ḥāritha al-Murrī. In the printed edition it stood: "ghashītuhā bi-l-gharqad"; the correct is what is in the manuscript and the dīwān. The editor of the printed edition merely followed what was in the Lisān and erred through its error. "Al-fadfad" is the place with roughness and elevation, or it is the flat land. "Al-waḥy" is the writing. His word "ḥajar al-masīl" (stone of the watercourse), because that is the hardest of the stones, so that the writing upon it lasts longest, while the stream strikes it on account of its abidingness and gnaws at it, so that the writing disappears. He likened the traces of the dwellings to the remnant of the writing upon a rock visited by the stream, which effaces the freshness of what is written upon it. (137) Al-Aṣmaʿiyyāt: 323, from his poem that he uttered on the day of Mukhaṭṭaṭ, and before it, and it is the beginning of the poem: "Even though I was not present on the day of Mukhaṭṭaṭ, / the horsemen have brought word of what I love …" — followed by further verses. (138) (139) Majāz al-Qurʾān of Abū ʿUbayda 1:233; then Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1:399. (140) In the printed edition: "kāna ibn Zayd qāla …," which is very poor; he did not properly understand the reading of the manuscript. (141) "Munqaṭiʿ" has dropped out of the manuscript; it is in the remaining sources as in the printed edition. (142) Narration 15437 — "Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā" is Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā. And "Ibn Thawr" is Muḥammad ibn Thawr; in the printed edition and the manuscript it stood "Ibn Tawba," which is undoubtedly an error. This is rather an abridgment of the isnād that occurred repeatedly before, last under no. 15410. And it seems that by his word "on the authority of one of them" he means al-Kalbī, and for that reason he left him unnamed. (143) In the printed edition and the manuscript: "min takdhīb"; what I have established I consider most plausible in the context. (144) The sentence structure is: "annahu li-lladhī waṣafa Allāhu ṣifatahu … mathal," the predicate of "anna." (145) In the printed edition: "alladhī qaṣaṣtuhu"; I have established what is in the manuscript. (146) In the printed edition: "wa-qaṣaṣtu nabāʾahum," differing from what is in the manuscript, as in the previous note. (147) The sentence structure is: "fa-aqṣuṣ yā Muḥammad hādhā al-qaṣaṣ alladhī iqtaṣaṣtuhu ʿalayka … ʿalā qawmika min QurAysh". (148) See the explanation of "al-qaṣaṣ" before, p. 7, note 1, and the sources there.
