Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 73 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:73

وَٱلَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِّرُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِ رَبِّهِمْ لَمْ يَخِرُّوا۟ عَلَيْهَا صُمًّا وَعُمْيَانًا

“And those who, when reminded of the verses of their Lord, do not fall upon them deaf and blind.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The servants of the Merciful do fall upon the ayat, eagerly, but never like a stoppered flask: their ears and eyes stay open.

A reflection

The warning is for the eager listener

On a first reading, this ayah seems to praise people who do not ignore the Quran. They do not fall on it deaf and blind. Most believers read it with quiet relief. I do not ignore it; I listen; I attend. This ayah is about someone else.

One commentary reads the grammar more sharply. The negation, it says, does not deny the falling. It denies the deafness and blindness. Compare 'Zayd never meets me greeting me': the meeting happens; the greeting is what is missing. So these servants do fall upon the ayat. They lean in, eager to hear them, turning towards whoever recites them. What is absent is the deafness. They fall on them with ears that take in and eyes that observe.

And the contrast the commentary draws is uncomfortable. It is not with people who ignore the Quran. It is with people who also lean in, also show great keenness, also turn towards the reciter, and are still deaf and blind. They take none of it in. The commentary names hypocrites and their like.

An early preacher put it in one line. How many a man recites this ayah, and falls on it deaf and blind.

A man has attended a weekly study circle for nine years. He has four hundred voice notes of the talks saved on his phone. He is always early and sits near the front. He has never changed one habit because of anything he heard there. He is not ignoring the Quran. He is falling on it, eagerly, with the stopper in.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.