Balaam

BALAAM.

There is said to be an allusion to Balaam in the Qur’an, Surah vii. 174: “Recite to them the story of him to whom we gave our signs, and he departed therefrom, and Satan followed him, and he was of these who were beguiled.”

The commentary of the Jalalain says that he was a learned man amongst the Israelites, who was requested by the Canaanites to curse Moses at the time when he was about to attack the Jabburun or “giants,” a tribe of the Canaanites. Balaam at first refused to do so but at last yielded, when valuable presents were made to him. (See Tafsiru ‘l-Ja1alain, p. 142.)

Based on Hughes, Dictionary of Islam