Al Baqarah

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنذِرْهُمْ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ

Surely, (as for) those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether you have warned them or have not warned them, they will not believe. (2:6)

خَتَمَ اللّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهمْ وَعَلَى سَمْعِهِمْ وَعَلَى أَبْصَارِهِمْ غِشَاوَةٌ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عظِيمٌ

Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and over their eyes is a covering, and there awaits them a great punishment. (2:7)

Disbelievers, The Second Group

The followers of this group are just the opposite of ‘the pious ones’. Their characteristics are concisely expressed in the above two verses. In the first verse, it says:

Surely, (as for) those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether you have warned them or have not warned them, they will not believe. (2:6)

The first group, i.e., the pious ones, in all aspects and with all of their talents and faculties, are thoroughly ready to accept the truth and follow it when they receive it. But this group, i.e. disbelievers, insist on their aberration so rigorously that they do not agree to show any inclination towards the truth even when it becomes completely clear to them. The Qur’an, which is a guide for the pious ones, is totally non-effective for this group.

It makes no difference to them whether you describe for them or not, warn them or not, give good tidings to them or not. In principle, they are not spiritually ready to follow the ‘right path’ or submit to it. The second verse refers to the reason behind the existence of this bigotry and stubbornness. It indicates that they have sunk into impiety, infidelity, and enmity so deeply that they have lost their power of distinction. It says:

Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing and over their eyes is a covering… (2:7)

And for that reason, a great penalty is appropriate for them as the consequence of their deeds, and they deserve it. As Allah warns:

…and there awaits them a great punishment. (2:7)

Thus, the eyes by which the pious ones see the signs of Allah, the ears through which they hear the words of right, and the hearts (and minds) wherein they conceive realities, are of no avail to the second group. They have minds, eyes, and ears but, when it comes to realities, they are not able to understand, to see, or to hear, indeed, because their disgraceful actions, their stubbornness, and their enmity, like curtains, have covered over these means of acknowledgement.

It is certain that man is worthy of being guided before he reaches this state, even if he is rather astray. But when he loses his sense of distinction, there will not be any way for him to attain felicity, because he does not have the means of acknowledgement. So, it is natural that ‘the great punishment awaits him’. This case is like the situation of a lazy student who, by his own mis-choice, does not strive to study hard enough and consequently becomes involved in the torment of ignorance and lack of certification.

The important fact is that one should be careful of sins, and when he commits one, he should repent soon and wipe it out with doing good deeds, lest the sin will remain as a fast colour stain on his heart, that which would seal the heart (with sin). The turning of the mind and the heart from the ‘real’ towards the ‘unreal’, when it gets rigid is termed in the Holy Qur’an as ‘sealing’. A tradition from Imam al-Baqir (‘a) says: “There is not a believing servant but there is a white bright site on his heart, When he commits a sin, there appears a black dot in that site.

If he repents, the black dot will disappear, But if he continues committing sins, that black dot enlarges until it covers the white bright site completely, When this site is covered (with blackness) the holder of this heart will never return back to doing good deeds.

This is the meaning of the words of Allah, Almighty and Glorious, when He says:

Nay! Rather what they used to do has put rust upon their hearts. (83:14) ¹⁴

Infidelity And Its Meaning

Philologically, the term / kufr / means ‘to cover, to conceal’. In religion it means: ‘to deny the Grace or the Existence of Allah, His Prophet, the prophecies of the apostles, and the Resurrection’. He who denies these principles of the religion, even only one of them, according to the consensus of Muslims, is out of the Circle of Islam and becomes counted among the disbelievers. Anyhow, infidelity is ‘the corrupt tree’ whose root is false ideas, its trunk is immorality, its branches and leaves are sins and vices, and its fruit is disgrace in this world and punishment in the coming world.

But Faith is ‘the good tree’ whose root is true conviction, its trunk is fair virtues, its branches and leaves are good deeds, and its fruit is the happiness and prosperity in this world and the next world which, itself, is eternal salvation. Surah Ibrahim says:

Have you not considered how Allah sets forth a parable of a goodly word (being) like a goodly tree, whose root is firm and whose branches are in heaven, (14:24)

Yielding its fruit in every season by the leave of its Lord? And Allah sets forth parables for men that they may receive admonition. (14:25)

And the parable of an evil word is as an evil tree pulled up from the surface of the earth, it has no stability. (14:26)

Footnotes

1. 14. Usul al-Kafi, Vol. 2, p. 209, Tradition 20.