إِنَّ شَرَّ ٱلدَّوَآبِّ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلصُّمُّ ٱلْبُكْمُ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ … يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱسْتَجِيبُوا۟ لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ وَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ ٱلْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِۦ
"The worst of living creatures in God's sight are the deaf and the dumb who do not use their reason… O you who believe! Answer God and the Messenger when He calls you to what gives you life. And know that God comes between a person and his heart."
ٱلصُّمُّ ٱلْبُكْم — the deaf and the dumb. The same triad was treated in al-Baqara 2/18 (ṣummun bukmun ʿumyun).
And the difference here is worth recording: in al-Baqara there were three organs (ear, tongue, eye); in al-Anfāl there are two, and one record is added: alladhīna lā yaʿqilūn. That is: the defect is not in the organ but in the reasoning.
I record this as an observation: the verse does not enumerate the content of the call — it states its function. And in al-ʿAnkabūt 29/64 (wa inna'd-dāra'l-ākhirata la-hiya'l-ḥayawān) the redefinition of the word "life" was treated. The two verses are in the same field: one names the real life, the other the call that leads to it.
ح-و-ل is the root: to come in between, to block; to change state. The root was treated in al-Kahf 18/108 (lā yabghūna ʿanhā ḥiwalā).
| Explanation | Sense |
|---|---|
| 1 | That He comes between a person and what is in his heart and can do what He wills |
| 2 | That a person does not own his own heart — that the heart can change independently of him |
| 3 | That by death one is separated from one's desires |
And where the sentence stands is worth recording: it comes immediately after the command to answer the call. I give this as my own reading: the need for haste is grounded in the fact that the heart's present state is not permanent.
وَٱتَّقُوا۟ فِتْنَةً لَّا تُصِيبَنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ مِنكُمْ خَآصَّةً (25) — "guard yourselves against a trial that will not strike only those among you who do wrong."
I record this as an observation: the verse states that the outcome will not remain personal. And this does not contradict the principle of burden treated in the index (Fāṭir 35/18: no one carries another's burden) — there the reckoning in the hereafter is being spoken of, here the outcome in this world. I record this distinction.