Tafseer of The Hypocrites · Al-Munaafiqoon · 63:3
That is because they believed, and then they disbelieved; so their hearts were sealed over, and they do not understand.
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.
He, exalted be His mention, says: إنهم ساء ما كانوا يعملون ("truly, evil is what they used to do") — these hypocrites who made their oaths into a shield, because they declared Allah and His Messenger to be true and then disbelieved through their doubt concerning that and their denial of it.
And His word: فَطُبِعَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ ("so their hearts were sealed"). He says: Allah has set upon their hearts a seal of disbelief, [which holds them back] from faith. And we have already, in a place other than this one, expounded the nature of the sealing of the heart, with its proofs and the sayings of the people of knowledge, so that this absolves us from repeating it in this place.
And His word: فَهُمْ لا يَفْقَهُونَ ("so that they do not understand"). He, exalted be His mention, says: thus they do not understand the right from the wrong, nor the truth from the falsehood, on account of Allah's sealing of their hearts.
And Qatāda used to say concerning that what Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ آمَنُوا ثُمَّ كَفَرُوا فَطُبِعَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ فَهُمْ لا يَفْقَهُونَ ("that is because they believed and then disbelieved, so their hearts were sealed so that they do not understand"): they acknowledged with the tongue that there is no god but Allah and that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, while their hearts rejected [it] and refused that.
