Tafsir of Al-A'raf 7:177

This is an initiation [of a statement] meant to elucidate the utter ugliness of the deniers, following the preceding declaration. "Sā’a" (ساء) carries the same meaning as "Bi’sa" (بئس — how evil is/what an evil...), its subject is implicit, and "Mathalan" (مَثَلًا) is a term of specification (tamyīz) clarifying it. One may dispense with bringing the pronoun [to represent the subject] when the specifier is mentioned in a generic or plural form, or otherwise. Originally, the verb implies a single object, and the specific subject of this censure is His saying, Exalted is He: {الَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا} (those who denied our signs).

Since it is necessary for the agent, the specifier, and the specific subject to refer to the same entity, and since the "parable" (mathal) is distinct from the "people" (qawm), it is necessary to posit that something has been omitted from the specific subject—either an implied noun or the specifier itself. That is: "Evil is the parable of the people," or "Evil are the people of the parable of the people."

In the Shihābī annotations, it is mentioned that it has been read with "Mathalu" (مَثَلُ) as a genitive construction (idāfa) for the "people," and as "Muthla" (مُثْلَى) (in the sense of an exclamation of wonder), with the construction following the pattern of "Fu‘ila" (فُعِلَ) like Qudhu (قُضُ). In the reading "Mathalu-l-qawmi" (مَثَلُ الْقَوْمِ), the latter is the agent, meaning: "How evil they are!" The relative pronoun (alladhīna) is in the genitive position as an adjective for the "people." Or, it may be [read] in the sense of "Bi’sa," where "Mathal" is the agent and the relative pronoun is the specific subject in the nominative position, based on an implied added term, i.e., "The parable of those who..." etc.

Abū Hayyān posited a specifier for this reading, but al-Samīn refuted this, arguing that there is no need for a specifier when the agent is explicit; some even considered the combination of the two to be a grammatical necessity. There are three schools of thought regarding this: total prohibition, total permissibility, and a nuanced view—if the [specifier] is distinct [from the agent], it is permissible (e.g., Ni‘ma-r-rajulu shujā‘an Zayd), otherwise it is prohibited. Some consider the specific subject to be omitted, though there is disagreement regarding its existence.

The repetition of "the people" (al-qawm) described by the relative clause—despite the sufficiency of a pronoun, such as saying "Sā’a mathalan mathaluhum" (Evil is the parable of them)—is to signify that the center of the evil lies within the realm of the relative clause, and to connect it to His saying, Exalted is He: {وَأَنْفُسَهُمْ كَانُوا يَظْلِمُونَ}. This is either conjoined to "denied," entering with it into the ruling of the relative clause, meaning they combined two ugly things: denial and the injustice toward their own souls in particular; or it is detached from it, meaning: "And they did not wrong anyone except their own selves," for the evil consequences [of their deeds] do not bypass them.

Regardless of which, there is an allusion here that their denial of the signs includes wronging themselves through them, and that this [meaning] is also considered in the restriction (qasr) derived from the fronting [of the object]. Al-Tībī, al-Qutb, and others explicitly stated that the sentence, upon the interpretation of it being detached, is a tailing remark (tadhyīl) and an affirmation of the preceding sentence. The words of some suggest that the fronting of the object in the first interpretation is to maintain the rhythmic ending of the verse, and in the second, to signify specialization—indicating that the cause of their wronging themselves is the denial. This contains a subtlety, as is not hidden.

Furthermore, these verses strike the "evil scholars" with three heavy blows. Our master al-Tībī (may Allah perfume his resting place) mentioned that whoever reflects upon this parable and the other parables cited in the Revelation regarding the polytheists and the idols—such as the house of the spider or the fly—will realize that the "evil scholars" are worse and uglier than that. How lamentable is the parable for them, and how wretched is their obsession with the world, its wealth, and its prestige; their leaning toward its pleasures and lusts; and their following of the soul that commands evil, loosening its reins toward its desires—may Allah protect us and the Muslims from that.

It is reported from our master, Shaykh al-Islām Shihāb al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī, that he wrote to Imām Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (may Allah cover them both with His pleasure): "Whoever is appointed in this time to spread knowledge, the favor of Allah upon him is immense. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the alert and the astute among the people of religion to support him with righteous supplication, so that Allah may purify the source of his knowledge of the realities of piety, and its origin from the impurities of desire. For a single drop of desire muddies a sea of knowledge. The inclinations of desire, embedded in the souls and accompanying them from their origin in the lower world, when they mingle with knowledge, drag it down from many aspects. But when the sources and origins of knowledge are purified from desire, the Words of Allah support it—the words of which, even if the sea were ink, would not be exhausted—and knowledge remains in the fullness of its power."

This is the rank of those who are firmly rooted in knowledge, not those who merely adopt its appearance. They are the inheritors of the Prophets, peace be upon them. Their works turned upon their knowledge, and knowledge and action alternated within them until their actions were purified, refined, and became secret intimate conversations and spiritual dialogues. Actions took the form of knowledge because of their refinement, and knowledge took the form of actions because of their strength and their infiltration into the innate dispositions.

In following desire, there is a clinging to the earth; the Almighty said: {وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَرَفَعْنَاهُ بِهَا وَلَكِنَّهُ أَخْلَدَ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ وَاتَّبَعَ هَوَاهُ}. Therefore, cleansing the light of thought from the vices of imaginations and the pledge to illusions—which have bequeathed small minds and the appeasement of shallow souls—is the affair of the fully-grown men. Their pure souls accompany the Highest Assembly and roam the fields of sanctity. So, purity! Purity from the trial of the world's debris! And flight! Flight from finding delight in the gaze of creation and their beliefs! For those are the killing fields of the base. The seeker of the Highest Companion is spoken to and addressed; divine definitions descend upon him according to the place of his knowledge regarding the form of the trial and the eradication of the roots of the trial through sincere resort, frequent entry into the sanctuary of divine proximity, immersion with every breath into the seas of the eye of certainty (‘ayn al-yaqīn), and washing the remnants of the proofs of demonstration with the light of direct vision (‘iyān). For demonstration is for the intellects, not for the secrets—to the end of what he said. What a sermon from a wise man, and what advice from a close friend! We ask Allah, Exalted is He, to guide us to what it points toward.