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Surah Al-An'am — 6:39

وَٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَا صُمٌّ وَبُكْمٌ فِى ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتِ ۗ مَن يَشَإِ ٱللَّهُ يُضْلِلْهُ وَمَن يَشَأْ يَجْعَلْهُ عَلَىٰ صِرَٰطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ

Wallazeena kazzaboo bi Aayaatinaa summunw wa bukmun fiz zulumaat; mai yasha il laahu yudlilh; wa mai yashaa yaj'alhu 'alaa Siraatim Mustaqeem

Those who deny our signs are deaf and mute, in layers of darkness. God lets stray whom he wills, and sets whom he wills on a straight path.

Reflection

Elsewhere the Qur'an pairs deaf and mute with blind; here the third term is replaced by darkness, so what fails is the light around them rather than the eye itself. The second half has long been a site of disagreement: some read God's letting a person stray as leaving them to a choice already made, others as a decree issued, and the argument remains an open one.

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