An-Naml · Makki · ayah 80 of 93

An-Naml 27:80

إِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ وَلَا تُسْمِعُ ٱلصُّمَّ ٱلدُّعَآءَ إِذَا وَلَّوْا۟ مُدْبِرِينَ

“Indeed, you will not make the dead hear, nor will you make the deaf hear the call when they have turned their backs retreating.”

Saheeh International

Essence

You cannot force hearing on a closed heart that has turned away; your part is the call, and the hearing belongs to Allah.

A reflection

Your task is the call, not the hearing

This ayah sounds harsh until you hear who it is addressed to. It speaks to the Prophet ﷺ, grieving over people who would not listen. One classical scholar put its point plainly. You cannot make hear the one Allah has not willed to hear. What you were given power over is the warning you were charged with, not the hearing.

That is a release, not a rebuke. Picture a father whose grown son stopped praying years ago. Every Friday he sends one short, kind message: a line of Quran, a memory, a 'thinking of you'. There is rarely a reply. Some weeks he wonders whether to stop. This ayah tells him the sending is his. The opening of the heart is Allah's. He can keep calling, and keep praying, without carrying a weight that was never placed on him.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.