Muhammad · Madani · ayah 16 of 38

Muhammad 47:16

وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَسْتَمِعُ إِلَيْكَ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا خَرَجُوا۟ مِنْ عِندِكَ قَالُوا۟ لِلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْعِلْمَ مَاذَا قَالَ ءَانِفًا ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ طَبَعَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَٱتَّبَعُوٓا۟ أَهْوَآءَهُمْ

“And among them, [O Muḥammad], are those who listen to you, until when they depart from you, they say to those who were given knowledge,[1499] "What has he said just now?" Those are the ones of whom Allāh has sealed over their hearts and who have followed their [own] desires.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They sat in the same room as the Prophet ﷺ, heard every word, and walked out asking what he had just said.

A reflection

Three kinds of listener

The ayah describes people who "listen to you". They are physically present. They hear the sounds. Then they walk out and ask the people who were really listening: what did he say just now?

One early teacher, quoted in a classical commentary, summed up what the ayah reveals. People are of three kinds. One listens and acts. One listens and is heedless. One listens and abandons it. He added a picture: two men enter the same gathering. One understands from Allah and benefits from what he hears. The other does not understand, and gains nothing.

Another commentary describes them precisely. They would sit with the Messenger ﷺ and hear his words, and grasp nothing of them. Not from lack of intelligence, a third commentary adds, but from contempt: they did not lend him their ears.

Picture a weekly team briefing. The manager runs through a new safety procedure for the warehouse. One supervisor sits at the end of the table answering emails on his laptop, nodding now and then. An hour later he stops a junior colleague in the corridor. "Quick one", he says. "What was the new thing about the loading bay?" She tells him. She had been taking notes.

The same words reached both of them. Only one of them was there.

This ayah asks a direct question of every reader. Which of the three listeners am I, when the Quran is recited, or a reminder is given? Being in the room is not the same as being present. Hearing the sound is not the same as receiving the message.

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.