إِنَّكَ لَا تُسْمِعُ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ وَلَا تُسْمِعُ ٱلصُّمَّ ٱلدُّعَآءَ إِذَا وَلَّوْا۟ مُدْبِرِينَ
Innaka laa tusmi'ul mawtaa wa laa tusmi'us summad du'aaa izaa wallaw mudbireen
کچھ شک نہیں کہ تم مردوں کو (بات) نہیں سنا سکتے اور نہ بہروں کو جب کہ وہ پیٹھ پھیر کر پھر جائیں آواز سنا سکتے ہو
You cannot make the dead hear, nor can you make the deaf hear the call when they turn their backs and walk away.
Consolation is the work this line does for the Messenger, arriving straight after the instruction to trust God and stand on plain truth: what a listener does with the call lies outside his reach. The deaf here are walking away while it is made, so the distance is being added by their own movement. Nearly the same sentence appears again in Surah Ar-Rum.