Tafseer of The Prophets · Al-Anbiyaa · 21:3
With their hearts distracted. And those who do wrong conceal their private conversation, [saying], "Is this [Prophet] except a human being like you? So would you approach magic while you are aware [of it]?"
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah, exalted be His praise, says: لَاهِيَةً قُلُوبُهُمْ — "their hearts heedless" — that is to say: absent, unaware. He says: these people, whose state is described in this Qurʾān, merely listen to it while they are at play, with hearts that are indifferent to it, that do not ponder its wisdom and do not reflect upon the proofs that Allah has set down therein for them.
Thus Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the words لَاهِيَةً قُلُوبُهُمْ : "That is to say: heedless hearts."
His words وَأَسَرُّوا النَّجْوَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا — "And they concealed the secret talk, those who did wrong." He says: these people, to whom the Hour has drawn near while they are turned away in heedlessness with heedless hearts, made public their mutual secret talk among themselves. He says: they revealed the whispering among one another and said: "Is the one who claims to be a messenger whom Allah has sent to you anything but a human being like yourselves?" — that is, they say: is he merely a human being like yourselves in form and creation? By that they mean Muḥammad ﷺ. And it says "those who did wrong" — they are described as wrongdoers because of their deeds and words about which Allah informs in these verses that they perform and speak, namely: turning away from the remembrance of Allah and denying His messenger.
As for the grammatical position of "those who" in وَأَسَرُّوا النَّجْوَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا : in it there are two possibilities — the genitive, as an attachment to "the people" in اقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسَابُهُمْ , and the nominative, as a referring back to the pronouns of "the people" in وَأَسَرُّوا النَّجْوَى , as has been said: ثُمَّ عَمُوا وَصَمُّوا كَثِيرٌ مِنْهُمْ . It may also be nominative as an independent statement, with the meaning: "they concealed the secret talk" — after which it is said: "they are those who did wrong."
His words أَفَتَأْتُونَ السِّحْرَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ — "Do you then come to sorcery while you see?" He says: they made this word public among themselves — and that is the secret talk which they kept concealed among one another — after which some of them said to others: "Do you accept sorcery and believe in it while you know that it is sorcery?" By that they meant the Qurʾān.
Thus Yūnus related to me: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said, concerning the words أَفَتَأْتُونَ السِّحْرَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُبْصِرُونَ : the people of unbelief said about their prophet when he brought that which came from Allah — alleging that he was a sorcerer and that what he had brought was sorcery —: do you then come to sorcery while you see?
