The Quran

176

وَلَو شِئنا لَرَفَعناهُ بِها وَلٰكِنَّهُ أَخلَدَ إِلَى الأَرضِ وَاتَّبَعَ هَواهُ ۚ فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ الكَلبِ إِن تَحمِل عَلَيهِ يَلهَث أَو تَترُكهُ يَلهَث ۚ ذٰلِكَ مَثَلُ القَومِ الَّذينَ كَذَّبوا بِآياتِنا ۚ فَاقصُصِ القَصَصَ لَعَلَّهُم يَتَفَكَّرونَ

Muhammad Asad

Now had We so willed, We could indeed have exalted him by means of those [messages]: but he always clung to the earth and followed but his own desires. Thus, his parable is that of an [excited] dog: if thou approach him threateningly, he will pant with his tongue lolling; and if thou leave him alone, he will pant with his tongue lolling.¹ Such is the parable of those who are bent on giving the lie to Our messages. Tell [them], then, this story, so that they might take thought.

Because his attitudes are influenced only by what his earth-bound desires represent to him as his immediate "advantages" or "disadvantages", the type of man alluded to in this passage is always - whatever the outward circumstances - a prey to a conflict between his reason and his base urges and, thus, to inner disquiet and imaginary fears and cannot attain to that peace of mind which a believer achieves through his faith.