Tafseer of The Romans · Ar-Room · 30:52
So indeed, you will not make the dead hear, nor will you make the deaf hear the call when they turn their backs, retreating.
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.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: Waarlijk, jij kunt de doden niet doen horen, en jij kunt de doven de oproep niet doen horen wanneer zij zich afkerend afwenden (30:52).
The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: Indeed, you, O Muḥammad, cannot make the dead hear. He says: you cannot provide them with a hearing by which they may understand from you what you say to them. This is only a likeness, whose meaning is: you cannot make these polytheists (mushrikīn) understand—those whose hearing Allah has sealed so that He has stripped from them the understanding of the admonitions of His revelation that are recited to them—just as you also cannot make the dead understand, whose hearing Allah has taken away, by providing them with a hearing.
And His saying: And you cannot make the deaf hear the call. He says: and just as you cannot make the deaf, whose hearing has been taken away, hear the call when they turn away from you and turn their backs—so too you cannot enable those, from whom Allah has taken away the understanding of the signs of His Book, to hear and understand that.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation spoke.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his saying: Indeed, you cannot make the dead hear: this is a likeness that Allah has set forth for the unbeliever (kāfir); for just as the dead does not hear the call, so the unbeliever does not hear; and you cannot make the deaf hear the call when they turn away in aversion. He says: if a deaf person turned his back and turned away, and you then called him, he would not hear—so too the unbeliever does not hear and derives no benefit from what he hears.
