7. Al-A'raaf

And remember when your Lord took from the Children of Adam from their loins min zuhūrihim is an inclusive substitution for the preceding clause min banī Ādama ‘from the Children of Adam’ with the same preposition min ‘from’ their seed by bringing forth one from the loins of the other all from the loins of Adam offspring after offspring in the way that they multiply looking like small ants at the valley of Na‘mān on the Day of ‘Arafa because of their multitude. God set up proofs of His Lordship for them and endowed them with the faculty of reason and made them testify against themselves saying ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said ‘Yea indeed You are our Lord we testify’ to this and this taking of testimony is lest they should say in both instances read third person yaqūlū ‘they say’ or second person taqūlū ‘you say’ on the Day of Resurrection ‘Truly of this Oneness of God we were unaware’ not knowing it!

Or lest you should say ‘It is merely that our fathers were idolaters before that is before our time and we were descendants of theirs and so we followed their example. Will You then destroy us chastise us for that which those who follow falsehood did?’ from among our forefathers by their establishing idolatry? The meaning is they cannot use such arguments when they have been made to testify before their very selves to God’s Oneness. To effect this reminder by the tongue of the bearer of the miracle Muhammad (s) equally serves as a reminder for every soul to remember this within itself.

Thus We detail the signs We explain them even as We have explained the covenant that they might reflect on them and that they might revert from their disbelief.

And recite O Muhammad (s) to them that is the Jews the tidings the tale of him to whom We gave Our signs but he cast them off emerging in his disbelief in the same way that a snake emerges from its shed skin he rebelled in disbelief this was Bal‘am b. Bā‘ūrā’ a scholar from among the Children of Israel who had been given some knowledge of the Scriptures and who was asked by them to invoke God against Moses. And when he did the invocation turned against him and his tongue fell out onto his chest and Satan pursued him catching up with him and so he became his comrade and he became of the perverse.

And had We willed We would have raised him up to the ranks of the scholars thereby by facilitating his way to good deeds; but he was disposed to at peace in the earth — that is this world — and inclined to it and followed his whims by calling others to them and so We abased him. Therefore his likeness his description is as the likeness of a dog if you attack it by driving it away or curbing it it lolls its tongue out and if you leave it it lolls its tongue out and no other animal is like it in this way both conditional sentences constitute a circumstantial qualifier that is to say it has its tongue lolling out despicably in all circumstances. The purpose here is to point out the similarity between the one who follows his whims and a dog in terms of condition and vileness judging by the contextualising fā’ of fa-mathaluhu ‘therefore his likeness’ which relates what comes after it to what came before it in the way of ‘inclining towards this world and following whims’ and judging by God’s saying That likeness is the likeness of those people who deny Our signs. So recount the tale to the Jews that they might reflect upon it and so believe.

Evil as an example are the people evil is the example of the people who denied Our signs and were wont to wrong themselves through denial.

He whom God guides he is guided and he whom He sends astray — truly they are the losers.

And We have indeed urged unto Hell many of the jinn and mankind having hearts wherewith they do not understand the truth and having eyes wherewith they do not perceive the proofs of God’s power with a perception that entails reflection and having ears wherewith they do not hear the signs or the admonitions in a way so as to reflect and take heed. These they are like cattle in their failure to understand perceive or listen — nay rather they are further astray than cattle because at least they cattle seek what is beneficial to them and stay away from what is harmful to them these individuals on the other hand are proceeding towards the Fire out of sheer obstinacy. These — they are the heedless.

And to God belong the ninety nine Most Beautiful Names — mentioned in hadīth — al-husnā is the feminine for al-ahsan so invoke name Him by them and leave those who blaspheme His Names yulhidūn ‘they blaspheme’ from fourth form alhada or first form lahada meaning ‘those who incline away from the truth’ by deriving from them names for their gods as in the case of al-Lāt from Allāh ‘God’ al-‘Uzzā from al-‘Azīz ‘Mighty’ and Manāt from al-Mannān ‘Lord of Favours’. They will be requited in the Hereafter the requital for what they did — this was revealed before the command to fight them.