Benefit:
“It is not befitting to resemble a Muslim to a dog or a donkey, and this is prevalent on the tongues of the people a lot, and specifically in Egypt, he said one time: “Do a protest”, and during this protest they were saying: “Sīsī in the hearts O people is like sixty dogs”, ya’nī they don’t have with them in numbers less than fifty, it’s fifty and upwards, they say so and so is the son of seventy dogs, if they exaggerate they say the son of seventy dogs, the point of benefit is that it is present a lot, the saying dog, and this one is a donkey, and this is a lot, even with us amongst the children and with that one, and it is against what is more appropriate, do not liken to a dog, do not liken to a donkey, do not liken the child to this, because she (Ā’ishah) said:
عَدَلْتُمُونَا بِالْكَلْبِ وَالْحِمَارِ
“You have made us equal to the dog and the donkey” And in Muslim,
عَدَلْتُمُونَا بِالْكَلْابِ وَالْحِمَيرِ
“You have made us equal to the dogs and donkeys”
And Allāh degraded a people and made them equal to the dogs and donkeys;
وَٱتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ ٱلَّذِىٓ ءَاتَيْنَٰهُ ءَايَٰتِنَا فَٱنسَلَخَ مِنْهَا فَأَتْبَعَهُ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ فَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلْغَاوِينَ ○ وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَرَفَعْنَٰهُ بِهَا وَلَٰكِنَّهُۥٓ أَخْلَدَ إِلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱتَّبَعَ هَوَىٰهُۚ فَمَثَلُهُۥ كَمَثَلِ ٱلْكَلْبِ إِن تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْهِ يَلْهَثْ أَوْ تَتْرُكْهُ يَلْهَثۚ
“And recite to them the story of him to whom We gave Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), but he threw them away, so Shaitān (Satan) followed him up, and he became of those who went astray. And had We willed, We would surely have elevated him therewith but he clung to the earth and followed his own vain desire. So his description is the description of a dog: if you drive him away, he lolls his tongue out, or if you leave him alone, he (still) lolls his tongue out.” [Al-A’rāf, 175-76]
Is this in the form of praise or blame? Severe blame;
إِن تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْهِ يَلْهَثْ أَوْ تَتْرُكْهُ يَلْهَثۚ
“If you drive him away, he lolls his tongue out, or if you leave him alone, he (still) lolls his tongue out.” [Al-A’rāf, 176]
العائد في هبته كالكلب يقيئ ثم يعود في قيئه
“The one who takes back his gift is like a dog who eats his own vomit.” [Muslim]
This is in the form of blameworthiness and prohibition of this action, we do not have a bad parable, this is a bad parable;
مَثَلُ ٱلَّذِينَ حُمِّلُوا۟ ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةَ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَحْمِلُوهَا كَمَثَلِ ٱلْحِمَارِ يَحْمِلُ أَسْفَارًۢاۚ
“The likeness of those who were entrusted with the (obligation of the) Taurat (Torah) (i.e. to obey its commandments and to practise its legal laws), but who subsequently failed in those (obligations), is as the likeness of a donkey who carries huge burdens of books (but understands nothing from them).” [Al-Jumu’ah, 5]
A donkey carries books, it carries for you huge books, what does it benefit, it would die of hunger whilst it (the books) are still on it’s back, it doesn’t benefit from them for food or drink, like those that carry the Tawrāh, they didn’t act according to it so they didn’t benefit from it like a donkey carrying books, Asfār are huge books, and this is a bad parable for them, verily the benefit is humans not resembling animals, whether it is dispicable animals like the dog or other than it, and with some people likening to a horse or a bull or a camel is not degrading like so and so MashaAllāh it’s as if he is a bull, and like so they make resemblance, they do not mean by that degrading him, and cursing his actual state, but verily he has resembled a human who has intellect with and animal which has no intellect, the Prophet ﷺ forbade resembling the animals even in their actions, from the pecking of the rooster, the sitting of the dog, descending of the camel, do not go down (in Salāh) as the camel goes down, even in their actions while wrestling, while doing this, or racing, all of this they learned it from the movements of the animals, these boxers and wrestlers, they took it from the movements of the animals, and this is an opposition.”
Answered by: Shaykh, the Allamah, the Trustworthy Advisor, Abu Abdirrahman Yahya bin Ali Al-Hajuri – may Allah preserve him
Translated by: Abu ‘Abdillāh ‘Omar bin Yahya Al-‘Akawi
Source: https://t.me/sh_yahia_duroos/7714