35:23 Faatir (The Originator)

{ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُسْمِعُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ } سماع فهم وقبول، لأنه تعالى هو الهادي الموفق { وَمَا أَنْتَ بِمُسْمِعٍ مَنْ فِي الْقُبُورِ } أي: أموات القلوب، أو كما أن دعاءك لا يفيد سكان القبور شيئا، كذلك لا يفيد المعرض المعاند شيئا، ولكن وظيفتك النذارة، وإبلاغ ما أرسلت به، قبل منك أم لا.

"إن أنت إلا نذير" أي إنما عليك البلاغ والإنذار والله يضل من يشاء ويهدي من يشاء.

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 Allah 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 Allah knows best.

You are but a warner to them.

At the beginning of the verse: وَمَا أَنتَ بِمُسْمِعٍ مَّن فِي الْقُبُورِ‌ (And you cannot make hear those who are in the graves - 22.), disbelievers have been likened to the dead and believers, to the living. In congruence to this, the expression: (those in the graves) here means the disbelievers. The sense is that 'the way you cannot make the dead hear you, you can also not make these living disbelievers hear you.'

This verse has itself clarified it that, at this place, making someone hear means the kind of listening that is going to be useful, effective and beneficial. Otherwise, the effort to make disbelievers listen, in the absolute sense, has remained an exercise in futility since ever. It has even been a matter of common observation that a call was beamed at them, and they did listen to it. Therefore, the verse means that 'the way you cannot bring the dead to the right path by making them hear the Divine Word because they have shifted from the avenue of deeds in the world to the arena of recompense in the Hereafter where, even if they confess to their faith, it will not be deemed as trustworthy, similar to that is the condition of the disbelievers. This proves that the negation of making the ( dead hear referred to in this verse means a particular listening that is beneficial, something because of which the listener forsakes the false and takes to the true. From this presentation, it becomes clear that the present verse has nothing to do with the issue of the ability of the dead to hear. Whether or not the dead hear the living is a different issue in its own place. A detailed discussion about it has appeared in the commentary on Surah Ar-Rum and Surah An-Naml (Ma’ ariful-Qur’ an, Volume VI).