وَجَعَلْنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ أَكِنَّةً أَن يَفْقَهُوهُ وَفِىٓ ءَاذَانِهِمْ وَقْرًا ۚ وَإِذَا ذَكَرْتَ رَبَّكَ فِى ٱلْقُرْءَانِ وَحْدَهُۥ وَلَّوْا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَدْبَـٰرِهِمْ نُفُورًا 46
Translations
And We have placed over their hearts coverings, lest they understand it, and in their ears deafness. And when you mention your Lord alone in the Qur’ān, they turn back in aversion.
Transliteration
Wa ja'alna 'ala qulubihim akinnatan ay yafqahuhu wa fi adhanihim waqra. Wa idha dhakarta rabbaka fil-Qur'ani wahdahu wa wallaw 'ala adbarihim nufura.
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah describes how Allah has sealed the hearts and deafened the ears of those who reject the Qur'an, preventing them from understanding its message. When the Oneness of Allah is mentioned in the Qur'an, they turn away in aversion and rejection. Classical scholars like Ibn Kathir explain that this sealing is both a consequence of their persistent disbelief and a divine response to their willful rejection—a punishment that mirrors their own choice to turn away from truth.
Revelation Context
This ayah occurs in the context of Surah Al-Isra, which addresses the rejection faced by the Prophet Muhammad and the disbelievers of Quraysh who stubbornly refused to accept the message of monotheism and the Qur'an despite its clarity. The surah reflects the Meccan period when opposition to the Prophet's message was intense, and this ayah specifically illustrates the spiritual blindness that results from deliberate rejection.
Related Hadiths
The concept is reinforced in Sahih Bukhari where the Prophet (ﷺ) stated that hearts become hardened through sin and distance from remembrance of Allah. Additionally, Sahih Muslim contains hadith about how hearts can become sealed (tabaa'a), referenced in context of those who persistently reject guidance.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches that the greatest barrier to faith is not intellectual incapacity but a hardened heart that willfully rejects truth; we must constantly guard our hearts against arrogance and stubbornness, and actively seek understanding of Allah's message with sincerity and openness.
Related Ayahs
وَٱخْفِضْ لَهُمَا جَنَاحَ ٱلذُّلِّ مِنَ ٱلرَّحْمَةِ وَقُل رَّبِّ ٱرْحَمْهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانِى صَغِيرًا
And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy and say, "My Lord, have mercy upon them as they brought me up [when I was] small."
وَإِن كَادُوا۟ لَيَفْتِنُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَوْحَيْنَآ إِلَيْكَ لِتَفْتَرِىَ عَلَيْنَا غَيْرَهُۥ ۖ وَإِذًا لَّٱتَّخَذُوكَ خَلِيلًا
And indeed, they were about to tempt you away from that which We revealed to you in order to [make] you invent about Us something else; and then they would have taken you as a friend.
ٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ ۚ وَلَلْـَٔاخِرَةُ أَكْبَرُ دَرَجَـٰتٍ وَأَكْبَرُ تَفْضِيلًا
Look how We have favored [in provision] some of them over others. But the Hereafter is greater in degrees [of difference] and greater in distinction.
قُل لَّئِنِ ٱجْتَمَعَتِ ٱلْإِنسُ وَٱلْجِنُّ عَلَىٰٓ أَن يَأْتُوا۟ بِمِثْلِ هَـٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانِ لَا يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِۦ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ ظَهِيرًا
Say, "If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’ān, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants."