By Imaam Muhammad al-Ameen ash-Shanqeetee

As for those people, they do not submit and yield to their Lord and they don't even know the difference between His goodness towards them and Satan's evildoing while he is their greatest enemy! They don't seek (their Lord's) reward that is the greatest of benefits and they don't protect themselves from (His) punishment which is the worst of harms and destruction!

Muhammad al-Ameen ash-Shanqeetee (d1393H), may Allaah have mercy on him, said in his tafseer concerning this verse:

"They don't understand the truth with their intellects, they are nothing but the likes of cattle. They are like camels, cows and sheep with regards to their inability to hear the truth or comprehend it. Rather, they are more astray than cattle; in other words they are farther away than cattle in their understanding of the truth and its comprehension.

az-Zamakhsharee said (in his tafseer):

'So if you say: How were they made to be more astray than the cattle?

I say: Because cattle submit and yield to their masters that feed them and attend to them. Cattle know those who do good to them and those who do not. They seek that which is beneficial for them and avoid that which is harmful for them. They find and are guided to their places of grazing and drink. As for those people, they do not submit and yield to their Lord and they don't even know the difference between His goodness towards them and Satan's evildoing while he is their greatest enemy! They don't seek (their Lord's) reward that is the greatest of benefits and they don't protect themselves from (His) punishment which is the worst of harms and destruction!...'"

Ash-Shanqeetee then continues by saying:

"If you have known what this verse is referring to then know that Allaah has explained it in more than one place (in the Qur`aan), like His saying in Sooratul-A'araaf (8:179) and His saying in Sooratul-Baqarah (2:171)."

That is the end of what he said concerning this issue and Allaah knows best.