Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 88 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:88

وَقَالُوا۟ قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌۢ ۚ بَل لَّعَنَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَقَلِيلًا مَّا يُؤْمِنُونَ

“And they said, "Our hearts are wrapped."[33] But, [in fact], Allāh has cursed them for their disbelief, so little is it that they believe.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They said their hearts were wrapped against the truth; the reply: the distance came from their own disbelief, so little do they believe.

A reflection

'Religion just isn't how I'm made'

At a family barbecue, a cousin waves away a conversation about God with a friendly shrug. 'Some people are wired for religion. I'm not. Never have been.' It sounds humble, even honest. It also closes the door.

The ayah records a similar sentence: 'Our hearts are ghulf.' The word, the lexicons say, means wrapped as in a sheath. A sword in its scabbard is aghlaf, and so is a bow in its case. A heart called aghlaf is one sheathed, so that nothing reaches it. Several early authorities glossed their words simply: our hearts do not understand.

A classical scholar of the heart explains what lay beneath the sentence. They were offering it as an excuse. Allah, they implied, had made their hearts closed. So how could the proof stand against them? They were not to blame.

The ayah refuses the excuse in one word: bal, 'rather'. 'Rather, Allah has distanced them for their disbelief.' The same scholar explains. Allah did not create their hearts wrapped and then command them to believe. They chose disbelief and preferred it, and the sealing followed as its consequence. Another ayah makes the same point: 'Rather, Allah has sealed them because of their disbelief' (4:155).

The Prophet ﷺ said that every child is born upon the fiṭra, the natural disposition towards truth (Sahih al-Bukhari). No one arrives sheathed. A later commentator says hearts were created able to reflect rightly and reach the truth.

So the cousin's sentence deserves a gentle reply. Perhaps you are not 'wired' against faith. Perhaps no one ever helped you, or you never really looked. That is not a fixed fact about you. It is a door you have not yet opened, and the handle is still on your side.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.