And when this was a place of wonder for those who deviate from the path after this clear explanation, he said in response to one who seemed to ask: 'Why do they not believe?' detailing his words: 'And if We had willed, We would have raised him by it' [Al-A'raf: 176]. 'Whomever Allah guides' means: He creates guidance in the heart of the greatest King, with whom no one has any command. 'So he is the guided one' means: no one else.

And when it was in the context of proving that most of creation is doomed due to sin and breaking the covenant, he specified 'the guided one' in reference to the word: 'Whoever' and gathered the misguided in reference to its meaning, saying: 'And whoever He leads astray, those are' meaning: the distant and detested ones, specifically, no one else. 'The losers' as there is no action for anyone else at all. And the verse is from the excellence of what has passed, and how beautiful it concludes with loss in admonishing those who forsake the Hereafter by turning to the fleeting profits and possessions of this world, then following it with the warning of Hellfire for those who are the most lost of them.

{"translation": "The mention of the story of Bil'am from the Torah - it is said in the fourth book of it, after recounting their battle with Sihon, the king of the Amorites: And the Moabites were greatly afraid of the people (p-163); because they saw it as a great people. The Moabites were disturbed, and their hearts trembled with fear of the Children of Israel. And the king of Moab said to the elders of Midian: Know that this assembly is grazing our land, and it does not leave anyone except that it destroys him. It grazes everyone around us just as the bull grazes the grass of the earth. The king of the Moabites at that time was Balak son of Zippor. He sent messengers to Bil'am son of Beor, the soothsayer who interpreted dreams, who used to dwell by the riverbank near the land of the Ammonites, to call him to him for assistance. He said: I inform you that a people has come out from the land of Egypt, and it has covered the face of the earth entirely. They have come down to our mountains, so I ask you to come and curse this people because they are stronger and more powerful than us. Perhaps we can fight them and drive them out of the land, for I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed. The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian went with them, bringing gifts and rewards. They came to Bil'am and said to him the words of Balak. He said to them: Stay here tonight, and I will inform you of what the Lord says. So the nobles of Moab stayed with Bil'am. And the angel of the Lord came to Bil'am and said to him: Who are the people that have come to you? Bil'am said to the angel: Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, has sent to me, saying: A people has come out from the land of Egypt, and it has filled the face of the earth. Come to us to curse it, perhaps I can fight it and drive it out. And the angel of the Lord said to Bil'am: Do not go with the people and do not curse the people; for they are blessed. Bil'am said in the morning to the nobles of Balak: Go back to your master, for the Lord has refused to allow me to go with you. The nobles of Moab rose and went to Balak and said to him: Bil'am refuses to come with us. Balak sent again more numerous and more honorable messengers than the first. They came to Bil'am and said to him: Thus says Balak son of Zippor: Do not refuse to come to me, for I will greatly honor you and reward you very much. Whatever you say to me, I will do. Come, therefore, curse this people for me. Bil'am replied to the messengers of Balak: If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of my Lord and my God, nor could I turn aside from a small or great word of His. You also stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me. And the word of God came to Bil'am at night and said to him: If these people have come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word that I speak to you shall you do. So Bil'am rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the nobles of Moab. And the angel of the Lord stood in the way as an adversary to him. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way and went into the field. So Bil'am struck the donkey to turn her back to the way. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pushed herself against the wall and crushed Bil'am's foot against the wall. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. And when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Bil'am. So Bil'am's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. And the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Bil'am: What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times? And Bil'am said to the donkey: Because you have mocked me; I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you. And the donkey said to Bil'am: Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden ever since I became yours to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you? And he said: No. Then the Lord opened Bil'am's eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand, and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. And the angel of the Lord said to him: Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to be an adversary because your way is perverse before me. The donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely I would have killed you by now and let her live. And Bil'am said to the angel of the Lord: I have sinned, for I did not know you stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases you, I will turn back. And the angel of the Lord said to Bil'am: Go with the men, but only the word that I speak to you, that you shall speak. So Bil'am went with the princes of Balak. Now when Balak heard that Bil'am was coming, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, which is on the border of the Arnon, which is in the extreme of the border. And Balak said to Bil'am: Did I not earnestly send to you, calling for you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you? And Bil'am said to Balak: Look, I have come to you. Now have I any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak. Then Balak said to Bil'am: Stand here by your burnt offerings while I go over there. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me, I will tell you. So he went to the desolate height. And God met Bil'am, and he said to him: I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram. Then the Lord put a word in Bil'am's mouth and said: Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak. So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offerings, he and all the princes of Moab. And he took up his oracle and said: Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east. Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel. How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. There! A people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his. Then Balak said to Bil'am: What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully! So he answered and said: Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth? Then Balak said to him: Please come with me to another place from which you may see them. You shall see only the outer part of them and shall not see them all. Curse them for me from there. So he brought him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Then he said to Balak: Stand here by your burnt offerings while I meet the Lord over there. Then the Lord met Bil'am and put a word in his mouth and said: Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak. So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offerings, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him: What has the Lord spoken? Then he took up his oracle and said: Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox. For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, Oh, what God has done! Look, a people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion; it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain. Then Balak said to Bil'am: Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all! So Bil'am answered and said to Balak: Did I not tell you, saying, All that the Lord speaks, that I must do? Then Balak said to Bil'am: Please come, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there. So Balak took Bil'am to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland. Then he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on the altar. And Bil'am said to Balak: Stand here by your burnt offerings while I meet the Lord over there. And the Lord met Bil'am and put a word in his mouth and said: Go back to Balak, and say to him. So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offerings, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him: What has the Lord spoken? Then he took up his oracle and said: Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox. For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, Oh, what God has done! Look, a people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion; it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain. Then Balak said to Bil'am: Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all! So Bil'am answered and said to Balak: Did I not tell you, saying, All that the Lord speaks, that I must do? Then Balak said to Bil'am: Please come, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there. So Balak took Bil'am to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland. Then he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on the altar. And Bil'am said to Balak: Stand here by your burnt offerings while I meet the Lord over there. And the Lord met Bil'am and put a word in his mouth and said: Go back to Balak, and say to him. So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offerings, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him: What has the Lord spoken? Then he took up his oracle and said: Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox. For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, Oh, what God has done! Look, a people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion; it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain. Then Balak said to Bil'am: Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all! So Bil'am answered and said to Balak: Did I not tell you, saying, All that the Lord speaks, that I must do? Then Balak said to Bil'am: Please come, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there. So Balak took Bil'am to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland. Then he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on the altar. And Bil'am said to Balak: Stand here by your burnt offerings while I meet the Lord over there. And the Lord met Bil'am and put a word in his mouth and said: Go back to Balak, and say to him. So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offerings, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him: What has the Lord spoken? Then he took up his oracle and said: Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox. For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, Oh, what God has done! Look, a people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion; it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain. Then Balak said to Bil'am: Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all! So Bil'am answered and said to Balak: Did I not tell you, saying, All that the Lord speaks, that I must do? Then Balak said to Bil'am: Please come, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there. So Balak took Bil'am to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland. Then he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on the altar. And Bil'am said to Balak: Stand here by your burnt offerings while I meet the Lord over there. And the Lord met Bil'am and put a word in his mouth and said: Go back to Balak, and say to him. So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offerings, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him: What has the Lord spoken? Then he took up his oracle and said: Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox. For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, Oh, what God has done! Look, a people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion; it shall not lie down until it devours the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain. Then Balak said to Bil'am: Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all! So Bil'am answered and said to Balak: Did I not tell you, saying, All that the Lord speaks, that I must do? Then Balak said to Bil'am: Please come, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you curse them for me from there. So Balak took Bil'am to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland. Then he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on the altar. And Bil'am said to Balak: Stand here by your burnt offerings while I meet the Lord over there. And the Lord met Bil'am and put a word in his mouth and said: Go back to Balak, and say to him. So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offerings, and the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him: What has the Lord spoken? Then he took up his oracle and said: Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, son of Zippor! God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and said to him: "Make it difficult for the people of Midian and destroy them as they made it difficult for you and harmed you." Then He said: "Then the Lord spoke to Moses and said to him: 'I am certainly going to take vengeance on the Midianites for what they did against the Children of Israel. Then you will take retribution against your people.'" Then Moses said to the people: "A group among you should arm themselves for battle to take vengeance for the Lord against the Midianites, and let them be twelve thousand." So Moses selected a thousand from each tribe of the Children of Israel, twelve thousand warriors, and sent them. He appointed their leader Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, and with him were the vessels of the sanctuary and horns to blow with. They advanced against Midian as the Lord commanded Moses and killed every male in it. They also killed the kings of Midian along with the slain. And they killed Balaam, the son of Beor, with them in battle. The Children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and plundered their livestock and seized all their animals and destroyed all their villages where they lived. They brought what they had plundered to Moses. And Moses and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. And Moses was angry with the leaders of the priests and the leaders of the thousands and the hundreds who came to him from the battle and said to them: "Why have you kept the females alive? They were indeed a snare for the Children of Israel by the words of Balaam and his counsel. They caused them to sin and rebel against the Lord in the matter of Peor - and in the Septuagint version: 'For indeed these were a thing for the Children of Israel by the people of Balaam to distance themselves and to take lightly the word of the Lord because of Peor.' - So the wrath of the Lord fell upon the congregation of the Lord [and in another version: and death prevailed over the congregation of the Lord] suddenly. Therefore, kill now every male among the children and every woman who has known a man intimately, kill her. But keep alive all the young girls who have not known a man intimately. And as for you, remain outside the camp for seven days - until the end of what has passed recently in the burdens.