Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:39
But those who deny Our verses are deaf and dumb within darknesses. Whomever Allah wills - He leaves astray; and whomever He wills - He puts him on a straight path.
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 discourse on the explanation of His saying: And those who deny Our signs (āyāt) are deaf and dumb, in the darknesses. Whom Allah wills, He lets go astray, and whom He wills, He places upon a straight path (6:39).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: And those who have denied the proofs of Allah, His signs, and His indications are "deaf" with respect to hearing the truth, and "dumb" with respect to uttering it, "in the darknesses," that is to say: in the darkness of unbelief (kufr), lost therein. He says: he is submerged in the darknesses of unbelief; he does not see the signs of Allah so that he might take a lesson from them and know that the One who created him and brought him into being, then governed him and perfected His governance of him, ordained him in the finest manner, gave him strength, and made the instrument of his body sound for him — that He did not create him in vain, did not leave him to neglect, and did not give him the instruments which He gave him except that he might use them in His obedience and in that which pleases Him, and not in His disobedience and in that which angers Him. Through his straying in the darknesses of unbelief and his wandering to and fro in the abysses thereof, he is therefore heedless of what Allah has decreed for him in the Mother of the Book (umm al-kitāb), and of what he will do on the day he is gathered to Him together with the rest of the nations.
Then the Exalted, whose mention is exalted, informed that He is the One who lets go astray whom He wills of His creatures to let go astray, away from faith (īmān) into unbelief, and who guides to the straight path whom of them He wishes to guide. He then grants him, by His grace and abundance, the capacity for faith in Him and for the abandonment of unbelief in Him, in His messengers, and in what His prophets have brought. And that none of His creatures is guided except the one for whom felicity has been foreordained in the Mother of the Book, and none of them goes astray except the one for whom misery has been foreordained therein; and that all good is in His hand, and all favor belongs to Him — to Him belong the creation and the command.
* * *
And in the spirit of what we have said about this, Qatāda spoke:
13225 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "deaf and dumb," this is the likeness of the unbeliever (kāfir): deaf and dumb, he sees no guidance and derives no benefit from it; he is deaf to the truth in the darknesses, he is unable to come out of it, wandering about therein.
