فَإِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ وَلَا تُسْمِعُ ٱلصُّمَّ ٱلدُّعَآءَ إِذَا وَلَّوْا۟ مُدْبِرِينَ · وَمَآ أَنتَ بِهَٰدِ ٱلْعُمْىِ عَن ضَلَٰلَتِهِمْ إِن تُسْمِعُ إِلَّا مَن يُؤْمِنُ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا فَهُم مُّسْلِمُونَ
Fa-innaka lā tusmiʿu'l-mawtā wa lā tusmiʿu'ṣ-ṣumma'd-duʿāʾa idhā wallaw mudbirīn · Wa mā anta bi-hādi'l-ʿumyi ʿan ḍalālatihim, in tusmiʿu illā man yuʾminu bi-āyātinā fa-hum muslimūn
"You cannot make the dead hear; nor can you make the deaf hear the call when they turn their backs and go. Nor are you one to turn the blind from their straying and set them on the way. You can make none hear but those who believe in Our signs; they are the ones who have submitted."
These two verses are part of a line treated in several places in the series, and I rely on those treatments:
| Place | Expression |
|---|---|
| Fāṭir 35/22 | Wa mā anta bi-musmiʿin man fi'l-qubūr — you cannot make those in the graves hear |
| al-Zumar 39/19 | A-fa-anta tunqidhu man fi'n-nār |
| al-Zumar 39/41 | Wa mā anta ʿalayhim bi-wakīl |
| al-Aḥqāf 46/35 | Balāgh — the limit of conveying |
| Fāṭir 35/8 | Fa-lā tadhhab nafsuka ʿalayhim ḥasarāt |
It was recorded in Fāṭir that this limit is repeated several times across that sūra. I do not repeat it here.
| Order | Who | What he cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al-Mawtā — the dead | Hearing — not at all |
| 2 | Al-Ṣumm — the deaf | Hearing — and an added condition: idhā wallaw mudbirīn |
| 3 | Al-ʿUmy — the blind | Finding the way |
And the added condition in the second item is worth recording, and I give this as my own reading: no condition is set for the dead or for the blind. One is set for the deaf: idhā wallaw mudbirīn — "when they turn their backs and go".
That is, deafness by itself is not counted sufficient; what is mentioned is being deaf and moving away. The lexicographers generally explain this note thus: a deaf person face to face can understand by signs; if he has turned his back, that channel too is closed. I transmit this explanation as it has been transmitted — and the word order supports it.
I record this as my own reading: what the verse shuts off is not a sense but a turning towards. And this overlaps with the thirtieth verse of the sūra: what was commanded there was aqim wajhaka — to set the face straight. What is recounted here is the one who has turned his face away.
Another stage of this line was treated at Fuṣṣilat 41/4-5: there the verb aʿraḍa (he turned away) came before the outcome lā yasmaʿūn (they do not hear) — that is, the not-hearing was the consequence of the turning away. al-Rūm 30/52 keeps the same order: first wallaw mudbirīn, then the failure to make them hear. The two sūras build the same sequence.
إِن تُسْمِعُ إِلَّا مَن يُؤْمِنُ — negation + exception. In Arabic this structure conveys restriction (ḥaṣr). And the same limitation had occurred with different words at Fāṭir 35/18 (innamā tundhiru'lladhīna yakhshawna rabbahum bi'l-ghayb): the effect of the warning is attached to a condition, and the condition is on the side of the one addressed.