for he was never elevated by it; instead, it became a burden upon him. Had he not been a scholar at all, it would have been better for him and his punishment would have been lighter.
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The Almighty then pointed out the baseness of his ambition: he chose what is low and paltry over what is lofty and noble.
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His choice of the lower was not a fleeting notion or passing thought; it was an act of ikh lād (settling) to the earth, a wholehearted leaning toward everything in it. The root meaning of ikh lād is constant adherence, as though it were said: he clung permanently to inclining toward the earth. From this comes the expression, “So-and-so akhlada in such-and-such a place,” meaning he took up permanent residence there. Mālik ibn Nuwayra said:
“With the sons of a clan from the tribes of Mālik …
and ʿAmr son of Yarbuʿ—they stayed on and settled down.”He expressed the man’s attachment to the world as ikh lād to the earth because “the world” is the earth, what it contains, and what is extracted from it of ornaments and goods.
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He turned away from divine guidance and followed his own desire, making that desire the leader he imitates and obeys.
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He likened him to the dog—the vilest of creatures in aspiration, the lowest in spirit, the stingiest, and the most voracious; hence it is called kalb.
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He likened the man’s panting after the world—his inability to abstain from it, his agitation at losing it, and his eagerness to obtain it—to the dog’s panting whether it is left alone or driven away. Likewise this man: if you leave him, he pants after the world; and if you admonish and restrain him, he still pants. The panting never leaves him in any circumstance, just as the dog’s panting never ceases.