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This article will explore why Allah mentions “lying with the forelock” when we speak with our mouths. In ayahs 15-16 of Surah Al-Alaq, Allah also mentions punishing the "liar and sinner" by hanging him from their forelock hairs or forelock. This is not just random punishment; in fact, nothing in the Quran is random. Some of you may think it’s because we make decisions with our head/brain, and that is correct, but why specifically the forehead and why not the top of the head? As I said, nothing in the Quran is random; we just need to understand. This is what we will explore and understand how humans come to the current understanding of what we know about this part of the brain.
An anatomist named Richard Owen, in 1868, first named this part of the brain and called it the frontal lobe. He was researching and comparing human and animal brains at that time. So he tossed this name because he thought this part of the brain was near the front of the head.
In the early years of the 1900s, a Scottish neurologist was researching how the brain reacts to different stimuli. Different parts of the human brain react to different types of situations by sending electrical signals across. However, this part is “Electrically silent” to external stimuli. Thus, he named it prefrontal. This name later became popular based on the accurate scientific data behind it.
To understand the functioning of the prefrontal cortex, we need to go back to 1848 and look into a very famous case. The case, as we have it, is currently documented as follows. A person by the name of Phineas P. Gage was working on a railroad, and in a blast accident, an iron rod pierced through his head. The rod entered from his cheek and exited from the top of his head, the forelock. He was rushed to the hospital and was alive there for 14 days, but the prefrontal part of his brain was crushed by the rod.
During these 14 days, the doctors concluded that his personality, social behavior, and decision-making were all gone. The friends who visited him said, “He is not the same person”. However, he could talk and function.
Later in the 20th century, this case became an influence for many studies. The researchers found many interesting functions of this Prefrontal Cortex (نَّاصِيَةِ). This part of the brain plays a role in executive functions like planning, attention, and memory as well.
Now that we understand that this part of the brain is crucial for decision-making and planning. This would make it easier for us to understand where the lies and decisions of committing a sin is coming from. The mouth/tongue is used just as a tool, but the decisions come from the prefrontal cortex. Who else could have known this 1400 years ago except for Allah?
كَلَّا لَئِن لَّمْ يَنتَهِ لَنَسْفَعًۢا بِٱلنَّاصِيَةِ ١٥
But no! If he does not desist, we will certainly drag him by the forelock—
نَاصِيَةٍۢ كَـٰذِبَةٍ خَاطِئَةٍۢ ١٦
a lying, sinful forelock.
