Surah Al-Kahf 18:101
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 101 of 110
ٱلَّذِينَ كَانَتْ أَعْيُنُهُمْ فِى غِطَآءٍ عَن ذِكْرِى وَكَانُوا۟ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ سَمْعًا
Translation
those whose eyes were blind to My signs, those who were unable to hear.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Those whose eyes had been within a cover from My remembrance, and who could not hear.' Ibn Ashur and al-Saadi note the cause of their ruin named, a self-imposed blindness and deafness to God's remembrance: eyes 'in a cover' (ghita'), ears that could not bear to hear the truth. Ask yourself: their disbelief is described not as an intellectual conclusion but as a sensory refusal, eyes veiled, ears closed, to the reminder of God. It is disturbingly recognisable: not that I cannot see or hear the reminders, but that I keep a cover over them, tune them out, scroll past, stay too busy and too distracted to let them land. This verse warns that a habit of not-looking and not-listening hardens into an actual inability. What 'cover' have I let settle over my eyes toward God's remembrance, and am I still able to lift it, if I choose to look and listen now, before the cover becomes permanent?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Saadi, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Kahf 18:101 is discussed in 3 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Kahf 18:101 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.