http://www.tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=30&tid=40512
The Disbelievers are
like the Dead, Deaf and Blind
Allah says, `just as you
are not able to make the dead hear in their graves, or to make your words reach
the deaf who cannot hear and who still turn away from you, so too you cannot
guide the blind to the truth and bring them back from their misguidance.' That
is a matter which rests with Allah, for by His power He can make the dead hear
the voices of the living if He wills. He guides whom He wills and sends astray
whom He wills, and no one but He has the power to do this. Allah says:
[إِن
تُسْمِعُ إِلاَّ
مَن يُؤْمِنُ بِـَايَـتِنَا
فَهُم مُّسْلِمُونَ]
(you can make to hear only
those who believe in Our Ayat, and have submitted (to Allah in Islam).) means,
those who are humble and who respond and obey. These are the ones who will
listen to the truth and follow it; this is the state of the believers; the
former (being deaf and blind) is the state of the disbelievers, as Allah says:
[إِنَّمَا
يَسْتَجِيبُ الَّذِينَ
يَسْمَعُونَ وَالْمَوْتَى
يَبْعَثُهُمُ
اللَّهُ ثُمَّ
إِلَيْهِ يُرْجَعُونَ
]
(It is only those who
listen will respond, but as for the dead, Allah will raise them up, then to Him
they will be returned.) (6:36) `A'ishah, the Mother of the faithful, may Allah
be pleased with her, used this Ayah --
[إِنَّكَ
لاَ تُسْمِعُ الْمَوْتَى]
(So verily, you cannot
make the dead to hear) as evidence against `Abdullah bin `Umar when he reported
that the Prophet had addressed the slain disbelievers who had been thrown into
a dry well three days after the battle of Badr, rebuking and reprimanding them,
until `Umar said, "O Messenger of Allah, are you addressing people who are
dead bodies'' He said:
«وَالَّذِي
نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ
مَا أَنْتُمْ بِأَسْمَعَ
لِمَا أَقُولُ
مِنْهُمْ، وَلَكِنْ
لَا يُجِيبُون»
(By the One in Whose Hand
is my soul, you do not hear what I say any better than they do, but they cannot
respond.) s`A'ishah interpreted this event to mean that the Prophet was making
the point that now they would know that what he had been telling them was true.
Qatadah said: "Allah brought them back to life for him so that they could
hear what he said by way of rebuke and vengeance.''
[اللَّهُ
الَّذِى خَلَقَكُمْ
مِّن ضَعْفٍ ثُمَّ
جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ
ضَعْفٍ قُوَّةٍ
ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن
بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ
ضَعْفاً وَشَيْبَةً
يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ
وَهُوَ الْعَلِيمُ
الْقَدِيرُ ]
(54. Allah is He Who
created you in weakness, then gave you strength after weakness, then after
strength gave (you) weakness and grey hair. He creates what He wills. And He is
the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful.)
http://tafsir.com/default.asp?sid=35&tid=43033
The Believer and the
Disbeliever are not equal
Allah says that these
antonyms are clearly not equal, the blind and the seeing are not equal, there is
a difference and a huge gap between them. Darkness and light are not equal,
neither are shade and the sun's heat. By the same token, the living and the
dead are not equal. This is the parable Allah makes of the believers who are
the living, and the disbelievers who are the dead. This is like the Ayat:
[أَوَمَن
كَانَ مَيْتًا
فَأَحْيَيْنَـهُ
وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ
نُورًا يَمْشِي
بِهِ فِى النَّاسِ
كَمَن مَّثَلُهُ
فِي الظُّلُمَـتِ
لَيْسَ بِخَارِجٍ
مِّنْهَا كَذَلِكَ]
(Is he who was dead and We
gave him life and set for him a light (of belief) whereby he can walk amongst
men -- like him who is in the (depths of) darkness from which he can never come
out) (6:122),
[مَثَلُ
الْفَرِيقَيْنِ
كَالاٌّعْمَى
وَالاٌّصَمِّ
وَالْبَصِيرِ
وَالسَّمِيعِ
هَلْ يَسْتَوِيَانِ
مَثَلاً]
(The parable of the two parties is as that of the blind and the
deaf and the seer and the hearer. Are they equal when compared) (11:24) The
believer sees and hears, and walks in the light upon a straight path in this
world and the Hereafter, until he comes to settle in Gardens (Paradise) wherein
is shade and springs. The disbeliever is blind and deaf, walking in darkness
from which he cannot escape, he is lost in his misguidance in this world and
the Hereafter, until he ends up in fierce hot wind and boiling water, and
shadow of black smoke, neither cool nor good.
[إِنَّ
اللَّهَ يُسْمِعُ
مَن يَشَآءُ]
(Verily, Allah makes whom He wills to hear,) means. He guides
them to listen to the proof and accept it and adhere it.
[وَمَآ
أَنتَ بِمُسْمِعٍ
مَّن فِى الْقُبُورِ]
(but you cannot make hear those who are in graves.) means, `just
as the dead cannot benefit from guidance and the call to truth after they have
died as disbelievers and ended up in the graves, so too you cannot help these
idolators who are decreed to be doomed, and you cannot guide them.'
[إِنْ
أَنتَ إِلاَّ نَذِيرٌ
]
You are only a warner
means, all you have to do is to convey the Message and warn them, and Alla0h
leaves astray whomsoever He wills and guides whomsoever He wills.
[إِنَّا
أَرْسَلْنَـكَ
بِالْحَقِّ بَشِيرًا
وَنَذِيرًا]
(Verily, We have sent you with the truth, a bearer of glad
tidings and a warner.) means, a bearer of glad tidings to the believers and a
warner to the disbelievers.
[وَإِن
مِّنْ أُمَّةٍ
إِلاَّ خَلاَ فِيهَا
نَذِيرٌ]
(And there never was a nation but a warner had passed among
them.) means, there was never any nation among the sons of Adam but Allah sent
warners to them, and left them with no excuse. This is like the Ayat:
[إِنَّمَآ
أَنتَ مُنذِرٌ
وَلِكُلِّ قَوْمٍ
هَادٍ]
(You are only a warner, and to every people there is a guide)
(13:7).
[وَلَقَدْ
بَعَثْنَا فِى
كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ
رَّسُولاً أَنِ
اعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ
وَاجْتَنِبُواْ
الْطَّـغُوتَ
فَمِنْهُم مَّنْ
هَدَى اللَّهُ
وَمِنْهُمْ مَّنْ
حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِ
الضَّلَـلَةُ]
(And verily, We have sent among every Ummah a Messenger
(proclaiming): "Worship Allah, and avoid all false deities.'' Then of them
were some whom Allah guided and of them were some upon whom the straying was
justified) (16:36). And there are many similar Ayat.
[وَإِن
يُكَذِّبُوكَ
فَقَدْ كَذَّبَ
الَّذِينَ مِن
قَبْلِهِمْ جَآءَتْهُمْ
رُسُلُهُم بِالْبَيِّنَـتِ]
(And if they deny you, those before them also denied. Their
Messengers came to them with clear signs,) means, clear miracles and definitive
proofs.
[وَبِالزُّبُرِ]
(and with the Scriptures,) means, the Books.
[وَبِالْكِتَـبِ
الْمُنِيرِ]
(and with the Book giving light.) means, clear and obvious.
[ثُمَّ
أَخَذْتُ الَّذِينَ
كَفَرُواْ]
(Then I took hold of those who disbelieved,) means, `despite all
of this, they denied the Messengers and the Message they brought, so I seized
them, i.e., with My punishment.'
[فَكَيْفَ
كَانَ نَكِيرِ]
and how terrible was My
denial! means, how great and intense and terrible do you think My punishment
was؟ And Alla0h knows best.
[أَلَمْ
تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ
أنَزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَآءِ
مَآءً فَأَخْرَجْنَا
بِهِ ثَمَرَاتٍ
مُّخْتَلِفاً
أَلْوَانُهَا
وَمِنَ الْجِبَالِ
جُدَدٌ بِيضٌ وَحُمْرٌ
مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَنُهَا
وَغَرَابِيبُ
سُودٌ - وَمِنَ
النَّاسِ وَالدَّوَآبِّ
وَالاٌّنْعَـمِ
مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَنُهُ
كَذَلِكَ إِنَّمَا
يَخْشَى اللَّهَ
مِنْ عِبَادِهِ
الْعُلَمَاءُ
إِنَّ اللَّهَ
عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ
]
(27. See you not that Allah sends down water from the sky, and
We produce therewith fruits of various colors, and among the mountains are
Judad, white and red, of varying colors and (others) Gharabib black.) (28. And
likewise, men and moving creature and cattle are of various colors. It is only
those among His servants who have knowledge that fear Allah. Verily, Allah is
Almighty, Oft-Forgiving.)