Surah Fatir, Ayah 26

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),

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).

It is a fact that the expectations one has of light are not applicable to darkness. What one gets from the shade cannot be derived from sunlight. The same is the case with man. Among human beings, some have vision and some are blind. A man with eyes immediately sees his way and recognizes it. But one who is blind will simply go on groping in the dark. Similarly, with regard to insight there are two types of people, —one consisting of the living and the other consisting of the dead. The living man is one who sees things in depth—who tears apart the deceptive veil of words and grasps hidden meanings—who goes beyond superficial matters and tries to understand the inner reality—who assesses intrinsic values and not outward appearances—whose eyes are concentrated on real facts and not on irrelevant hair-splitting theories—who, after knowing the Truth, submits to it—he is the one who is alive. He is one who has been fortunate enough in this world to accept the Truth. Those whose behaviour is the very reverse of this are dead. They never come anywhere near accepting the Truth in this world of trial. They remain deaf to the call for Truth, until after death, when they go to God to face the result of their blindness.